Jean Joseph (Jozef) Meisel of Czechoslovak nationality was born in Vienna in 1907. After his school education in Vienna he moved to Metz in 1923. In 1929 he went to Paris to work as an electrical engineer. Joseph Meisel volunteered to serve in the Czech Forces in 1939. He was stationed at the Czechoslovak Soldiers' Camp at Sutton Park in 1940 and later Newmarket. He got married to Marianne (Mary) Meth (born in Vienna in 1910) in Newmarket in December 1940. She was a trained dressmaker and received her permit to leave Austria in June 1938. After the war they moved to London and started an electrical shop in Belsize Park. Mary's father, Heinrich Meth, was an electrical supply merchant for Varta batteries. He and his wife Helene Meth were deported to Terezin concentration camp in 1942. The fate of Joseph Meisel's parents is unknown.

The collection also contains the memoirs of family friend, Max Perls, who served in the First World War for Germany. He married Else Neumann in 1918. They ran a business in Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland) which they had to give up in the 1930s. The couple were involved in the activities of their local 'Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden' until it shut down in November 1939. Max and Else Perls obtained permission to emigrate to Santiago de Chile via Liverpool and left the country in August 1939. Following the death of Else in 1954 Max moved to London.