Henry John Goldsmith (formerly Hans Goldschmidt) was born in 1924 in Oberkassel, near Düsseldorf. His father, Hermann Goldschmidt was from Dortmund and died when Henry was still quite young. His paternal grandfather, Isidor Goldschmidt had a grain import business and was an established member of the Jewish community and also practised a s commercial judge. His mother Amalie née Loewenstein was from Bocholt. She trained as a dentist and divorced Henry’s father while Henry was still quite young. Amalie met another dentist, Alfred Meyer, allegedly a very good dentist with a practice in Wuppertal and politically of the left. He was murdered by a rival dentist who was also the head of the local SA. 

See AJR Refugee Voices interview 23 for details of this event and a full account of his family history.