Wendy Lefort family papers

Oscar Lefort (formerly Löwy) was a barrister in Brno, Czech Republic. His father and married brother, Walter, were dentists in Prosteov, a small town near Brno. Oscar’s wife, Else Lefort née Singer, worked as a secretary in her father’s knitwear firm in Brno. Her brother, Franz, was also employed there. Her sister, Annie married a Hungarian called Lajos Bencze who was also a dentist. He conducted dental research in Vienna.

Oscar and Else met each other at the tennis club in Brno.

Else was an athlete. She came third in cross country skiing in the Maccabee games, representing Czechoslovakia.

With the rise in antisemitism Oscar and Else decided to flee. They chose Britain as their place of refuge and started to send funds to a Czech man, Mr Rubenstein, who already lived in London. They came in on domestic visas. Mr Rubenstein met them on arrival. They worked as maid and butler in a property in Chislehurst. Oscar then went to study mechanics at college. Neither was his law training acceptable nor his English good enough to continue as a lawyer in the UK. Else worked as a mother’s help. Oscar was a member of the Home Guard during the war.

Anthony LeFort was born in 1944. Wendy LeFort was born in 1949.

Else’s brother, Franz, took their father’s knitwear factory to Haifa, Israel.