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.