Star of Little Britain with David Walliams and more recently as a host of The Great British Bake Off, Matt Lucas had an exceptionally close bond with his late grandmother, Margot, who came to the UK in 1939 as a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany.
Matt has never fully understood what Margot experienced as a young woman in Berlin in the lead up to the Second World War - or what became of the extended family she left behind. Matt's poignant journey takes him to Berlin, and then to Amsterdam where he discovers an extraordinary connection to Anne Frank, as well as the fate of his many family members who had fled to Holland, which was later was invaded by the Germans.
Matt says Margot wasn’t sentimental and would probably have dismissed this poking around in the past. But he’s thrilled by what he finds out and, charmingly, thanks the programme for the chance to reconnect with his beloved grandmother.
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WDYTYA - 16 June - Matt Lucas
Re: WDYTYA - 16 June - Matt Lucas
This looks very interesting, not least for a connection to Anne Frank and the fate of Jews in The Netherlands.
Re: WDYTYA - 16 June - Matt Lucas
There are a few documents on ancestry about Margot's internment in the UK, alas her Home Office file doesn't survive. What the programme didn't mention was that Queen Wilhemina of The Netherlands left instructions in 1940 for the Dutch Civil Service to help the nation and instead they were helped the Nazis!. Indeed Dutch Railways (NS) were paid by the Nazis to transport Jews to Westerbork transit camp and the NS only recently offered compensation to Jews in a paltry sum. Regarding Anne Frank she was originally transported to Auschwitz and had she stayed there she may have survived the war as the Soviet Union got to Auschwitz two months before Britain got to Bergen-Belsen where Anne and Margot Frank were transferred to and died of typhus. For people interested the 'World at War' series by Thames Television in 1975 (available on DVD and on satellite tv) entitled 'Invasion' tells the story of The Netherlands under occupation and is worth a view for what was going on at the time with first-hand accounts.