My Voice: Kurt Marx : The boy from Cologne

Kurt’s book is part of the My Voice Project, a collection of firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. Growing up in Cologne under intensifying antisemitism, Kurt Marx survived camps and death marches before he rebuilt his life in the UK and committed himself to sharing his testimony. -- .

Growing up in Cologne in the 1920s and 1930s, Kurt Marx witnessed the steady destruction of Jewish life as Nazi ideology took hold. Anti-Jewish laws stripped families of livelihoods, rights, and safety, while public humiliation and violence became commonplace. As persecution deepened, Kurt saw his community collapse and his own future disappear. After Kristallnacht, increasing restrictions forced him into labour and eventually into the wider Nazi camp system, where hunger, brutality, and relentless fear shaped daily survival. In early 1945, as Germany fell, he was driven across the country on deadly forced marches. After liberation, he faced profound loss while searching for surviving relatives and rebuilding his life. Settling in Manchester, he created a new future shaped by resilience. His testimony forms part of My Voice, The Fed’s project preserving Holocaust survivors’ recorded life stories for future generations. -- .