top of page

Klaus Hinrichsen Interview with AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive

Visit Partner Profile

Institution

<interviewAccessLevel>

Access the Interview

Access Interview Information

Access Partner Site

External Links

Interview(s) below aren't available on our site but may be available online from partner sites. If not, please contact the partner archive directly to arrange access.

Interviewee Summary

Klaus Hinrichsen’s family were from North Germany. On his father’s side the family dates back to the arrival of Jews from Portugal (Henriquez) in the 17th century. On the mother’s side, the family was solidly North German. Hinrichsen’s family was thoroughly assimilated L?beck patrician. His father attended the same school as Thomas Mann. Klaus was born in 1912, the oldest of four children. He was educated at Katharineum, L?beck. He had no experience of antisemitism. He studied at four universities and was able to complete his doctorate in Art History at Hamburg under the Nazi regime, but unfortunately had no prospect of obtaining a job in that field. He emigrated to Great Britain in 1939 to avoid military service. He was interned in 1940. He has detailed and very interesting memories of refugee artists on Isle of Man, especially Kurt Schwitters, Ernst Blensdorf and Erich Kahn. He married a Jewish refugee from Germany. His family (one daughter, one son) are now totally unreligious and very assimilated in British life. He set up Millgate Chemicals, supplying animal by-products for the pharmaceutical industry. He as written and lectured widely on artists in internment and is now an authority in the field. His parents survived the war unscathed thanks to friendly connections in L?beck.

Testimonies

20 November 2003

Institution

View Summary
View Transcript

External Link

External Link

External Link

INTERVIEWEE:

Klaus H.

Born:

1912

Place of birth:

Lubeck

Photos

Caption

Institution

External Link

External Link

External Link

Caption

Institution

External Link

External Link

External Link

Caption

Institution

External Link

External Link

External Link

Maps

Place of Birth

Lubeck

Place of Interview

Location

Recorded Talks

Place of Birth

Lubeck

"The whole reason that we have this interview is to let future generations know what kind of life of we had so they should have a better life, not have to suffer through all the traumas we had to suffer. As time goes on the memory of those days and the importance of it will dim, and this programme will help keep it in people's minds and hopefully let future generations have a better life. It should be a better world."

- Arnold Weinberg, AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive.

"The distribution of life chances in this world is often a very random bus"

- Peter Pultzer.

Experiences:

Tag

Tag

bottom of page