Quote · Empire: World History
370. The First British Indians: Saving Jews In Nazi Germany (Ep 2)
Where this was said
The Hornstein Family: Catherine's First Documented Rescue
At 37:14 · chapter starts 36:10
The story of the Hornstein family is the episode's most human and specific moment. Ilse Hornstein is sitting in a doctor's waiting room in Kassel in 1938; her husband Wilhelm, a Jewish lawyer and decorated WWI veteran, has just been arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Sachsenhausen. Their two young children, Klaus-George and Ursula, are with her. She has no idea if Wilhelm is alive. And then she finds herself sitting next to an Indian princess. According to the family's own account, Catherine immediately offered to be their British guarantor — a complete stranger, known for ten minutes. Wilhelm was eventually released from Sachsenhausen (the camp was overcrowded and releasing prisoners on condition of immediate departure) and the entire family was sponsored to Britain, sheltered initially at Faraday House. In 2002, a descendant of another rescued family walked into Peter Bunz's office to confirm: 'If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be alive today.' [1] — Anita Anand "In 1938, Catherine sat next to Ilse Hornstein in a Kassel doctor's waiting room. Ilse's Jewish lawyer husband had just been taken to the SS…" 36:10
In 1938, Catherine sat next to Ilse Hornstein in a Kassel doctor's waiting room. Ilse's Jewish lawyer husband had just been taken to the SS camp Sachsenhausen. Within minutes, Catherine — a perfect stranger — offered to sponsor the entire family's British visas. Wilhelm got out, the family escaped, and Sophia sheltered them at Hampton Court.
Princess Catherine Duleep Singh used her British passport and royal title to act as legal guarantor for at least six Jewish families, enabling them to obtain British visas and escape Nazi Germany.
Wilhelm Hornstein, a Jewish lawyer imprisoned in the SS camp Sachsenhausen, was released partly because the camp was overcrowded, on condition he immediately leave Germany.
In 2002, a stranger walked into historian Peter Bunz's office and said: 'My mother and my uncles and my grandparents were saved by Princess Catherine. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be alive today.' That spine-tingling moment confirmed the scale of what Catherine had done — and how thoroughly history had buried her.
Lena Schäfer died in August 1938, just weeks before Kristallnacht. Catherine, 67, was alone in Kassel for the first time in half a century. Neighbours begged her to flee — she was brown, she had been helping Jewish families, and without Lena's Aryan status as protection, she was dangerously exposed. She didn't want to leave. Lena was buried there.
Catherine Duleep Singh finally fled Germany after Lena Schäfer's death, arriving in England via Switzerland in November 1938, weeks after Kristallnacht.
