Herbert Siegesmund Brent was born on 20th September 1922. His parents were Georg Benjamin (originally from Breslau in Germany) and Stephanie Benjamin (born in Czechoslovakia). He had a younger brother called Edgar (known as Eddi). His profession before the war is recorded as being a locksmith.
When the Nazi’s seized power of Germany in 1933 things started to change for the worse. The Nazi’s implemented their anti-Semitic ideology and policies and the Jewish community was increasingly persecuted. About 60% of Jews emigrated during the first six years of the Nazi dictatorship. In 1933, persecution of the Jews became an official Nazi policy. In 1935 and 1936 the pace of anti-Semitic persecution increased. In 1936 Jews were banned from all professional jobs, effectively preventing them from participating in education, politics, higher education and industry. The SS ordered the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht) on the night of November 9–10 1938. The storefronts of Jewish shops and offices were smashed and vandalized and many synagogues were destroyed by fire. This prompted a wave of Jewish mass emigration from Germany throughout the 1930s. Only roughly 214,000 Jews were left in Germany (1937 borders) on the eve of World War II.
Herbert’s father, Georg, was arrested and sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp on 12th November 1938. It’s likely that due to his age Herbert was also sent to a camp.
During his father’s imprisonment, his mother Stephanie was desperately trying to find a route out of Germany for her youngest son Edgar who had just turned 10 years old.
Fortunately, a program called ‘Kindertransport’ was created and his mother Stephanie was able to obtain a place for Edgar.
Herbert was 16 years old when his brother Edgar was sent to England on the Kindertransport. I suspect that Herbert had been arrested with his father and therefore missed the opportunity to travel on the Kindertransport. His father Georg (and possibly Herbert) were released from Buchenwald Concentration Camp in December 1938 on the condition that they made plans to leave Germany urgently and had to report to the police office regularly until their emigration was arranged.
A census carried out in 1939 shows that Herbert and his parents were still living in Breslau at that time.
In recent years his wife Kathleen explained to me that Herbert was sent to a concentration camp in Poland at some point but managed to escape and made his way across Europe to Palestine. I have no evidence of his whereabouts from the date of the Census in 1939 until his enlistment in the British Army in November 1940
I have managed to find a brief history of his time after arriving in Palastine.
Records show that he enlisted with the British Army in Sarafand Israel on 28th October 1940. His enlistment records show that he gave his name as Zvy Benjamin and stated that he was born in Katowice Poland. He also falsified his date of birth by changing the year to 1921 which showed his age as 19 years old instead of 18 years old.
I suspect Herbert still felt he was escaping the Nazi’s and didn’t want to be traced at any point as having just escaped Germany. I think by changing his place of birth he felt ‘less German’ or perhaps he thought that the British Army wouldn’t recruit a German national when they were at war with the Germans.
He joined the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps and his army no. was PAL/13005. His military records show that he spent over 5 years in the British Army and left after the war in 1946. During these years he served in a number of countries including Cyprus, Greece and Africa. He fought in the Battle of Greece (1941) and narrowly avoided capture by the Nazi’s by escaping Athens shortly before it’s capture. He fought with the British Eighth Army during the Battle of Tripoli (1943) when the Germans withdrew from Tripoli, and the Allies entered the town to great worldwide fanfare.
He was awarded several medals following the war including the 8th Army African Star which was a military campaign medal awarded to forces who served in North Africa during the war. He also received the 1939-45 Star, Defence Medal and War Medal 1939/45.
Whilst on demobilisation leave in July 1946, Herbert was living in Tel-Aviv, and he obtained Palestinian Naturalization on 1st August 1946.
In the meantime Herbert’s father Georg and younger brother Edgar were now living in England having previously been in Scotland during the war. Herbert’s mother Stephanie had been unable to escape Germany and was eventually sent to her death in Kaunas, Lithuania in November 1941.
Edgar Benjamin was 19 years old in 1948 and signed up to fight in the 1948 Arab/Palestine War. He travelled to Palestine where he met up with his brother Herbert for probably the first time since they separated in 1938.
Herbert eventually left Palestine and moved to York, England to be near his father Georg and brother Edgar. Shortly after settling in England, Herbert (later known as Benny) changed his surname to Brent – it was very common after the war for survivors to hide their Jewish heritage in order not to be persecuted and perhaps this is why he changed his surname. However, Herbert was also an active member of the Jewish community in York so perhaps that wasn’t the main reason for the change. This name change caused some tension between Herbert and his brother Edgar.
Herbert spent his working career in the Jewellery business and married Kathleen in 1952 becoming step-father to Kathleen’s daughter, Trish, from her previous marriage.
In later life Herbert became the secretary of the York Anglo Israel Friendship Society. He was the moving force behind the annual scholarship competition which sponsored York sixth-formers on working holidays on a kibbutz in Israel. He was committed to building a bridge between the Christian and Jewish communities. He was an enthusiastic supporter of a number of projects concerning young people, including the York International Youth Festival. His commitment to voluntary work saw him involved in promoting an understanding of the State of Israel and it was through his efforts that the friendship society was formed.
After Edgar’s death in 1981, Herbert was in regular contact with Edgar’s widow Maureen and the children, Suzanne and George. Unfortunately, this was short lived as Herbert died on 7th January 1984 of a heart attack.
