Zdenĕk Lederer collection

Zdenĕk Lederer was born in Prague in 1920 to middle-class Hungarian Jews. He attended business school to train to take over the family haberdashery business. Even before the Nazis came to power, Jews were not allowed to attend or teach at schools. The family business, as well as personal possessions of value, were stolen or bought at very low prices. When war commenced, he was sent to Theresienstadt ghetto as part of the early Aufbaukommando (construction detail) who helped build the ghetto. As a young, male Czech he was among the ghetto 'elite'. He was part of the special prisoners who were given privileges in Terezin. It saved his, and his parents' lives (for the time being). Subsequently, his mother and father were sent to the death camp of Auschwitz. In 1944 he was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp and then Buchenwald. He then escaped during a 'death march' from a munitions factory. After the war, there was no business to go back to, so he tried journalism in Prague as he already had shown talent in writing poetry under various pseudonyms. He drew the ire of the Communist authorities, who were no yet fully in power, for his liberal views and anti-communist stance. He was on assignment in London when the Communists did take full power. He was thus unable to return and never went back. Post-war, the centre of journalism in Europe was Radio Free Europe in Munich so he applied for a position there. Given his experiences and abilities he was a natural for them. He had already learned English in London along with his brother Josef. They both made a conscious decision to have as neutral an accent as possible and both spoke immaculate English as well as half a dozen other languages. During his time at Radio Free Europe he met his future wife, Jarmila, and they subsequently settled in London. He then co-wrote a book about the ghetto and then went on to work for the BBC as the news editor of the Czechoslovak section of the World Service. He had 2 boys - Tom and Andrew - and died in 1981.

Donated 19.4.2018

Donor: Tom Lederer