- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
A young German-Jewish refugee, whose story of courage and endurance is one of many, now and then
Broadcaster Robin Lustig* traces his family’s journey from Nazi Germany to post-war Britain in a newly published chronicle centred on his father, Fritz Lustig, who arrived in Britain carrying a cello and went on to serve the country during the Second World War.
By The Immigrant Times
Fritz Lustig as a British soldier in the 1940s and in later years. His son, Robin Lustig wrote a book chronicling his life and that of his family. AND THE CELLO CAME TOO: A Story of Survival was published in June 2026 (Photos: Courtesy of the Lustig family, Marble Hill Publishers, Social media accounts and the Jewish News)
June 2026: A newly published chronicle tells the story of a young German-Jewish refugee who escaped Nazi Germany just months before the outbreak of the Second World War and went on to build a new life in Britain.
In ‘And the Cello Came Too: A Story of Survival’, veteran journalist and broadcaster Robin Lustig explores the history of his family, drawing on letters, memoirs and personal recollections. At the centre of the book is his father, Fritz Lustig, who arrived in Britain from Berlin in 1939 carrying a cello that would remain a symbol of continuity throughout exile, war and resettlement.
Published by Marble Hill Publishers, the book combines personal memoir with a wider account of Jewish life in Europe before, during and after the Holocaust. According to the publisher, it traces centuries of Jewish history, the devastation caused by Nazism and the rebuilding of lives in the years that followed.
Escape from Germany
Fritz Lustig left Germany in April 1939, at a time when opportunities for Jews to escape Nazi persecution were rapidly diminishing. The anti-Jewish measures introduced by the Nazi regime had escalated dramatically after Kristallnacht in November 1938, when Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues were attacked across Germany and Austria.
Like many refugees of the period, he arrived in Britain seeking safety but confronting an uncertain future. His cello accompanied him on the journey and became one of the few tangible links to the life he had left behind. The instrument later inspired the book’s title.
The story is not just about survival. It also covers what happened afterwards: how refugees adjusted to unfamiliar environments, rebuilt careers and relationships, and created new identities while staying connected to their past. Historian Neal Ascherson has described the memoir as a “tender” account of survivors who gradually settled into new lives after displacement.
From refugee to soldier
One of the more striking aspects of Fritz Lustig’s story is that his arrival in Britain did not immediately bring security.
Following the outbreak of war, he was briefly interned as an ‘enemy alien’, part of a wider British policy that affected many refugees from Germany, Austria and Italy, including people who had fled Nazi persecution.
His circumstances changed dramatically when he joined the British Army. Initially serving in the Pioneer Corps, he later became part of a military intelligence operation that secretly monitored conversations among captured German officers. The work was carried out at interrogation centres, including Latimer House in Buckinghamshire.
Information gained through these covert listening operations contributed to Allied understanding of German military projects, including weapons development programmes. According to Robin Lustig’s recent article in The Guardian, intelligence collected from intercepted conversations helped Allied planners grasp aspects of the Nazi rocket programme.
Fritz Lustig’s journey from refugee to British serviceman was not unique. Thousands of refugees fleeing Nazi persecution later played important roles in Britain’s wartime effort across military, scientific and intelligence fields.
The family history
The book extends beyond Fritz Lustig’s wartime experiences.
Robin Lustig began investigating his family’s history after his mother's death in 2013. The result is both a family chronicle and a personal reflection on memory, identity, and belonging. Using documents and correspondence accumulated over generations, the author reconstructs a history that extends well beyond the events of the Second World War.
The memoir traces family members across various countries and generations, exploring how political turmoil altered lives and separated relatives, while also recording the rebuilding of communities after the Holocaust.
Robin Lustig is well known in Britain as a journalist and broadcaster. During a career spanning several decades, he worked for Reuters, The Observer and the BBC, presenting programmes including The World Tonight and Newshour.
A story that matters today
Robin Lustig has drawn parallels between his father’s experiences as a refugee in 1939 and contemporary debates about immigration and asylum.
Writing recently in The Guardian, he noted that Fritz Lustig arrived in Britain as a 20-year-old refugee travelling alone, speaking with a foreign accent and carrying few possessions apart from his cello. “An unaccompanied male of fighting age, seeking asylum and hoping for a chance of a better life,” he wrote, observing that the description may sound familiar to modern readers.
The author also points out that hostility towards refugees was not uncommon in Britain before the Second World War. Newspapers and public figures warned about an influx of foreigners, while many Jewish refugees struggled to obtain permission to enter countries that might have offered them safety.
Britain admitted between 70,000 and 80,000 Jewish refugees before the war, but up to 10 times as many were refused entry. Among them was the author’s maternal grandmother, who was shot by a Nazi execution squad in 1941.
After war broke out, Fritz Lustig experienced another challenge faced by many refugees from Germany and Austria. Despite having fled the Nazi regime, he was arrested in 1940 and interned as an ‘enemy alien’ after the British government ordered the detention of thousands of foreign nationals amid fears of invasion. He was later released and went on to serve in the British Army with distinction.
* About the author
Robin Lustig is well known in Britain as a journalist and broadcaster. During a career spanning several decades, he worked for Reuters, The Observer and the BBC, presenting programmes including The World Tonight and Newshour.
In his online letter, he explains why he wrote the book: “First, after my father died, I inherited a huge family archive containing not only his unpublished memoirs, but also those of his father and his brother, as well as several boxes of documents, letters, and photographs.”
“But also, like many assimilated German Jews of the early twentieth century, the Lustigs largely abandoned both Jewish faith and tradition: no Friday nights, no high holidays, no Jewish weddings or funerals. My father and his three siblings were all baptised Lutherans.”
And the Cello Came Too: A Story of Survival was published on 4 June 2026 by Marble Hill Publishers and is available for £20 from the publisher, online booksellers, and bookshops across Britain and Europe.
Further reading from The Immigrant Times: Banksy's art and migrants || Dame Stephanie Shirley, an immigrant who became a pioneering scientist || A teenager’s journey from Western Africa to France || Immigrant writers offer their stories of hardship, longing and joy ||
COMMENTS
FOLLOW