S I G G Y   R E I C H E N S T E I N
Biograpy

   Siggy Reichenstein was born on 7th March 1923 and grew up with his two sisters Nelli and Helga and his brother Helmut next to the Roonstraße synagogue in Cologne. His parents Leo and Elli Reichenstein set great value on a traditional Jewish upbringing, so Siggy first went to the orthodox Moriah ‘Volksschule’ and later to the Yavneh Jewish Reform Grammar School.

   After the takeover by the National Socialists, living conditions for the Reichenstein family deteriorated more and more, so that they all tried to emigrate together. When this attempt failed, the parents decided with a heavy heart that their son Siggy should participate in one of the Kindertransports organised by Erich Klibansky, the Yavneh’s school principal. At the end of May 1939, Siggy Reichenstein left Cologne and travelled to Liverpool where he moved into the hostel in Linnet Lane along with his classmates from the two English sixth form classes of the Yavneh School.

   It was during the Second World War that Siggy Reichenstein began an apprenticeship in Liverpool as a carpenter. Since the German authorities had denied him German nationality and he was ‘stateless’ according to his identity papers, he was not interned. On the advice of a school friend, he went to London and started to work in the metal trade. In 1947 Siggy Reichenstein married Hanna, who came from Berlin, and started a family with her. Today (2010) he lives in London with his wife. They have two children and a grandchild.

   Siggy Reichenstein never saw his parents and his two sisters again. His father died in Cologne; his mother and sisters were deported first to Riga and then to Stutthof, and murdered. His brother Helmut was also deported to Riga and Stutthof, and declared dead after the war. Only many years later did Siggy Reichenstein learn from the Red Cross that his brother had survived and was living in Odessa.
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