George Summerfield, who lived in Stanmore, died on March 31 surrounded by love, his daughter Jacky Summerfield said.
He was born Heinz Günther Sommerfeld in Berlin in June 1933 to Margot and Frank Sommerfeld, a twin brother to Peter, who currently lives in Hendon.
George and Peter were six when they escaped with their family on one of the last trains from Berlin to the UK in August 1939, thanks to the help of their non-Jewish caretaker.
Twins George and Peter Summerfield with their parents Margot and Frank Sommerfeld (Image: Jacky Summerfield)
On their arrival at Liverpool Street station, the Central British Fund (CBF) for German Jewry – now World Jewish Relief – picked the family up and put them in a hotel for two weeks and they eventually moved to Eastbourne.
Shortly after that George’s father was arrested and interned on the Isle of Man, and George, Peter and his mother moved back to London because as ‘enemy aliens’ they were not allowed to stay on the coast.
They lived in a room in Chalk Farm and spent every night in Tottenham Court Road underground station because of the Blitz.
The boys first went to a local primary school, where they were bullied as ‘Germans’, but then the Hall School in Swiss Cottage offered them two places for one school fee.
The family joined Belsize Square Synagogue. George and Peter were the only two children of that age in the community and started performing, singing and tap dancing for the synagogue, the Blue Danube Club and for American troops.
The brothers went to what was then William Ellis Grammar School, in Highgate Road, and received scholarships to study at Oxford University.
They completed their National Service and were sent on active duty to Egypt and Malta.
In the late 1950s George met his wife Giselle, with whom he had two children, Jacky and Michael.
“She was still at school and they met at a party,” said Jacky. “When she was 18 they married at Belsize Square Synagogue.”
The brothers’ careers at first developed in parallel. Both initially worked as lawyers until George, who spoke six languages, went into tourism and later become an educational psychologist and career consultant.
In 1960 he set up Career Analysts with his Cambridge graduate friend Joshua Fox, where he connected with people from all walks of life.
Jacky said growing up with her father was a “huge adventure”.
She said: “We had the most fantastic parties. Everybody was always invited, they were a huge affair. We were given every opportunity in life.”
As a teenager she recalls going to work with him during the summer holidays.
She added: “My dad was a very open person, a very welcoming person, a very inclusive person to the point that the staff in his office came from all walks of life. The more educated, the less educated, people from across the world. He was doing diversity before diversity was a thing. Our house was always full of people.”
After Giselle died in 1991, George remarried Marion and enjoyed spending time with her, his brother Peter and his wife Marianne.
In 2021, George and Peter’s story was featured in the BBC film series Saved by a Stranger, in which they reconnected with the family of Rolf Schädler, the caretaker who played a crucial role in their escape from Nazi Germany.
Michael Newman, chief executive of the Association of Jewish Refugees, said George’s life was “rich with experiences”.
Mr Newman added: “George dedicated much of his later life to Holocaust education – sharing his testimony and experiences with school pupils in the UK and in Germany and we are proud to have captured his testimony as part of AJR Refugee Voices Archive.
“He will be dearly missed by the whole community.”
George is survived by his twin Peter, his two children and four grandchildren – Jonluke, Nathan, Raphael and Lotte.
