My Voice: Peter Mittler

Let no one be excluded – A life dedicated to human rights for all

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• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN:
  9781526186737
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526186720
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Jewish History
• Index: History

Peter Mittler was born in Vienna in April 1930 and witnessed the Anschluss in 1938 when life changed overnight for Jews. He escaped to England on the Kindertransport in January 1939 and stayed with a sponsor family in London. Peter's parents had also managed to get to England, but his father was sent to an internment camp on the Isle of Man for 9 months during the war.

Peter joined the British Army in 1949 and then studied Psychology at Cambridge. He went on to spend 14 years as Director of the Hester Adrian Research Centre (HARC) at the University of Manchester and Peter's leadership in the development of policy and provision for adults and children with intellectual disabilities was recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1981.

Peter's book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.

Table of contents

• Front matter
• My Voice Project
• Dedication
• Contents
• 1 – My family in Vienna
• 2 – The Anschluss: life changes overnight
• 3 – Leaving on the Kindertransport
• 4 – Meeting the Jellinek family
• 5 – Reunited with my parents
• 6 – Two years at boarding school
• 7 – My father is interned
• 8 – Life settles in Surrey
• 9 – The Merchant Taylors’ School in Crosby
• 10 – Dramatics and the world of girls
• 11 – Oxbridge exams
• 12 – National Service
• 13 – Pembroke College, Cambridge
• 14 – Training as a clinical psychologist and family
• 15 – Moving to Reading and new challenges
• 16 – Policy and politics
• 17 – Director of the Hester Adrian Research Centre
• 18 – A pioneer for change
• 19 – The University of Manchester
• 20 – My travels throughout my career
• 21 – International advocacy and involvement with UN organisations
• 22 – New horizons
• 23 – My love affair with Italy
• 24 – What happened to my father’s family after the war
• 25 – The lasting effects of the war on my father
• 26 – Questions about my past
• 27 – My life with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis: 2006 – 2010
• 28 – Postscript by Penny Mittler
• Glossary
• Appendix – Publications and major conferences, 2012 – 2016
• My Voice volunteers
• About The Fed