Eberhard Rosenberg (Bob Mackenzie)

Three years after his birth, Eberhard Rosenberg moves with his family to nearby Neukirchen. His father, Herbert, is Jewish; his mother, Margarete, is Protestant. Eberhard and his sister are raised as Protestants, and the Jewish faith plays no part in their home life.

For the Nazis, this makes no difference. Herbert Rosenberg is deported to Buchenwald concentration camp during the November pogroms and is not released until February 1939. As a result of these experiences, the decision is made to send the children to England.

The siblings arrived in Harwich, England, on 16 March 1939 on a ship from Hoek in the Netherlands. Their escape was organised by the British umbrella organisation Refugee Children’s Movement, which looked after the majority of the children. The siblings were initially housed in Selkirk in the south of Scotland, before being moved after a few weeks to Forres, near Inverness, in the north of Scotland. There, they were taken in by the Mackenzie family.

They kept in touch by letter with their parents, who wanted to follow the children to Scotland. However, their application was processed too late and the attempt to leave the country failed. Herbert Rosenberg was deported to Theresienstadt in February 1945, but survived and returned to his wife.

Eberhard Rosenberg becomes a mechanic and an electrician, and in 1949 he also becomes a British citizen. Out of loyalty to his host family, he changes his name to Bob Mackenzie.

Margarete Rosenberg is able to visit her children in Scotland in 1952, but her husband is refused a visa. It is not until 1958 that both are allowed to travel and see their grandsons. During this visit, Bob Mackenzie sees his parents for the last time. As he works for the government, he fears that his British citizenship will not be recognised in the GDR and therefore never travels to see his parents. It is not until September 1996 that he visits Neukirchen and Chemnitz.

You can listen to an interview with Bob Mackenzie on "Gathering the Voices". You can also find more pictures there

There is also a detailed interview with him on YouTube .