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My father was on both sides — in World War One, he was a surveillance photographer, photographing the British lines for the Germans.

He was born in 1899 in the Sudetenland. By 1938, this had become a distinct part of Czechoslovakia. When Chamberlain allowed the Germans into Czechoslovakia, they began to clear the Sudetenland. My father’s family owned a 40-bedroom hotel in Czechoslovakia (which is still there). The invading Germans worked on the principle that if he owned a hotel, he was rich. If he was rich, he was a Jew and if he was a Jew he should be shot. In fact my father and his family were Catholic but this did not save them.

The family were running down the street carrying their cases when the Germans opened fire. Karl saw his parents shot and fall and he saw his brother shot but did not see him fall. He only found out later that his brother had been killed.

His sister survived and stayed in Germany during the war. Karl was shot and wounded. Somehow he made his way to the UK where he was interned as an enemy alien. He never spoke about that. Once he was released from the internment camp, Karl worked as an ambulance man for the rest of the war.

Karl Fischer’s story was told by his son to Jenni Waugh, ´óÏó´«Ã½ People’s War Outreach Officer, at the ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ Roadshow in Kidderminster Town Hall on 5 December 2004. Mr Fischer is aware of and accepts the site’s terms and conditions.

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