George Donath came from a well to do Jewish family in Budapest whose father owned factories. On his mother's side the family owned one of the largest tanneries in Hungary. The family managed to get a place on the famous Rudolf Kastner train. Otto Komoly (Nathan Kohn), an associate of Kastner, was a friend of the family. After the war George managed to obtain a British Council scholarship which financed his education in a boarding school in West Cumberland.