The Outlook Podcast Archive - Secrets of my family's lost café

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Meriel Schindler grew up in London in a family of émigrés. They were Jewish and had fled Austria in the late 1930s as Hitler's Nazi Party took over and the violent persecution of Jews turned into the Holocaust. When her father died in 2017, Meriel inherited 13 photo albums. One was dedicated to the Café Schindler in Innsbruck, Austria, a venue set up by her Jewish grandfather in the 1920s. As Meriel started to research the café, she discovered it had gone from being a hub of jazz music and delicious pastries, to a Nazi watering hole. But the research would also uncover some uncomfortable truths about her father that she struggled to make sense of.

Meriel has written a book called The Lost Café Schindler.

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Presenter: Emily Webb
Producer: Katy Takatsuki

Picture: Meriel Schindler and a photo of the Café Schindler in the 1930s
Credit: Holly Falconer / courtesy of Meriel Schindler

Published on Tuesday, 11th May 2021.

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