Edgar Rothschild

HANOVER-BORN EDGAR Herman Julius Rothschild was the only son of County Court Judge Walter Rothschild and Charlotte Fiedler. The Nazi rise forced his father out of office when Edgar was ten, and the family moved to BadenBaden. However, Walter made no real attempt to leave Germany, saying – “When the judges leave, there will be no justice here any more.” This did not prevent him being arrested and taken to Dachau on Kristallnacht, on November 11, 1938. Charlotte somehow arranged his release a month later and the pair were able to move to Switzerland, where Walter died in 1950 from the effects of his injuries.

Edgar was sent to England and after attending Seaford College he worked in a London factory, moving to Bradford during the Blitz to stay with the family of his former head teacher from Baden-Baden Dr. Artur Flehinger. Following service with the RAF as a meteorologist in India and Europe he returned to Bradford where he met and married Esther Bergson-Brown in 1952. After a period as a draughtsman at English Electric’s Phoenix Works at Thornbury in Bradford, he became a mathematics teacher.

An active member of the Bradford Synagogue in Bowland Street, which he had joined in 1948, he eventually became chairman, and in 1984 was appointed a Life President. Two of his children became rabbis and the third ran a synagogue and a Jewish choir.

Edgar was a man of varied and passionate interests, including music. In his later years he took piano lessons and struggled with complex Schubert pieces, but he had a large collection of LPs and CD’s. Woodwork, electronics, bookbinding and piano-tuning were other interests. He largely rebuilt and furnished the family home in Heaton. An enormous model railway in the attic reflected his beloved Alpine landscape, but incorporated the station at BadenBaden! He reached out to all members of society, remembering his own refugee experiences.

He attended the Bradford AJR meetings and was active in the Bradford Community Relations Council and Neighbourhood Watch. His chief love, apart from his family, was the succession of family dogs and various injured birds and animals that came into his tender care.

He is survived by Esther, their three children, Walter, Joyce and Sylvia, and eight grandchildren .