Steffi-Carola Leyser (Stephanie Kester)

Steffi-Carola Leyser was born on 26 February 1927 in Chemnitz, the only child of the Jewish entrepreneur Martin Leyser and his wife Paula, née Sommerfeld. Her childhood was characterised by a sense of family security. From 1935 onwards, she experienced exclusion at school and was forcibly transferred to the newly created ‘special Jewish classes’ in 1938. In 1939, her father was forced to sell the factory.

Following her formative experiences at school and the November pogroms of 1938, she fled to England in February 1939 on a Kindertransport. She travelled separately from her parents, who were, however, able to follow her a few weeks before the outbreak of war in 1939. Steffi’s luggage consists of just a few belongings: her crammed rucksack and a small bag contain her teddy bear, a cat hand puppet from her uncle and a geometry set from her father.

Through relatives, Steffi makes contact with a family who take her in. She develops a close friendship with the youngest daughter, which continues even after the war ends. Steffi attends schools in Warwickshire and Birmingham, whilst her parents strive to gain recognition as refugees.

Thanks to a scholarship, she studied at the Birmingham School of Art and began a career in the fashion industry. In 1957, she married Simon Kester. Apart from visits to Chemnitz (in 1993 and 1997), she devoted herself to her family and the charity Women's International Zionist Organisation. Steffi lives in London with her husband and their two children.

In 1997, she gave an interview and recounts her life in Chemnitz and her escape to England. In 2007, she was interviewed again for the Imperial War Museum in London . The museum preserves the few items that Steffi Kester was able to take with her from Chemnitz: the hand puppet, a geometry set, her leather briefcase, a wallet and a silk cover for a prayer book.

Stephanie Kester, as she is known in England, died in 2019 at the age of 92. Her husband Simon died a few weeks later. Both are buried at Waltham Abbey Jewish Cemetery near London.