Peter Briess

Peter Briess was born in September 1931 in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, into a well-established Jewish family whose roots in Moravia extended back several centuries. He describes growing up in a prosperous, bilingual environment in which Czech and German cultures coexisted. His family lived in a modern Bauhaus-style villa designed by architect Jacques Groag, while his father managed the long-established family grain and seed business. Peter recalls a secure childhood characterised by extended family life, educational achievement, and a thriving Jewish community in Olomouc.

Peter describes family gatherings and attendance at the Byzantine-style Olomouc synagogue, where the family celebrated festivals and life-cycle events. His maternal grandfather, Karl Schulhof, was a teacher at the cheder and represented the more traditionally observant branch of the family, while the Briess family participated actively in Jewish communal life without being strictly religious.

Political developments following the Munich Agreement profoundly altered this secure environment. Peter recalls the arrival of relatives expelled from the Sudetenland after the German annexation. Although Kristallnacht did not occur in Czechoslovakia itself, news of events in Germany convinced his father that emigration had become essential. His father travelled to London to secure British entry permits through relatives already living there. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Peter witnessed German troops entering Olomouc and learned the following morning that the city's synagogue had been deliberately burnt. Shortly after the family was told that they had to give up their villa to the Gestapo Kommandant and move out. However, Peter’s father was able to negotiate exit visas for the family in exchange and family left Czechoslovakia on 30 June 1939, travelling through Germany to the Hook of Holland before reaching Britain. Peter vividly recalls both the anxiety of border inspections and the overwhelming relief experienced by his parents once they had crossed into the Netherlands.

Arriving in London, the family initially lived in rented accommodation before Peter and his younger sister were sent to a Jewish boarding school in Sussex. Peter was very unhappy, became homesick and eventually persuaded his parents to remove him. Shortly afterwards, the family enjoyed a brief stay on a Sussex farm before moving temporarily to Chagford in Devon at the outbreak of the Second World War, where Peter began learning English and developed an early fascination with science through practical school experiments.

The family eventually settled in Harpenden, where they became part of an active refugee community. Peter's parents also took responsibility for his two cousins, who had arrived earlier on a Kindertransport after their parents decided to remain in Czechoslovakia. Peter's mother established a successful dressmaking business, having trained before emigration, and became the family's principal breadwinner during the early war years, while several refugee families shared accommodation and domestic responsibilities. Peter adapted quickly to English schools, consciously abandoned Czech in favour of English, and gradually developed a strong sense of belonging in Britain despite occasional experiences of antisemitism later in life.

He studied chemistry at the University of Geneva, completed National Service in the Royal Air Force, and pursued a successful scientific career.