Leslie Brent collection

The collection consists of wartime correspondence between Lothar Baruch/ Leslie Brent and his family and other individuals in Germany; both short Red Cross messages and longer letters. Lothar Baruch was born in Köslin in 1925, the son of a salesman, Arthur Baruch, and Charlotte Baruch née Rosenthal. After rising antisemitism made it impossible for him to continue his studies at the local middle school, his parents sent him to the Jewish Orphanage in Berlin in 1936. From there he was sent to England on the first Kindertransport train from Berlin in 1938, and became a pupil at Bunce Court School. During his time at the school he learnt via correspondence with family first of the transportation of his grandmother, and later of that of his parents and sister, as well as other family members. He joined the army in 1943 and, being advised to change his name to something English sounding, became Leslie Brent. After the war he discovered his parents and sister had been transported to Riga, Latvia, and had most likely died there. Brent became a prominent zoologist and immunologist, being involved in the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance. Open