My Voice: Leo Stein

The My Voice Project is a unique initiative by The Fed, Manchester's leading social care charity serving the Jewish community. The My Voice Project empowers Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK to share their entire life stories including experiences before, during and after the war years. This project involves a bespoke methodological approach, producing books that preserve their unique voices. The My Voice Project ensures firsthand accounts are remembered and valued for future generations, highlighting the critical role of individual perspectives in ensuring a deeper historical understanding. Leo Stein was born in 1922 in the German town of Pforzheim. Growing up in a Jewish family in Germany, Leo witnessed first-hand the rise of the Nazi regime and the horrors of Kristallnacht. Thanks to a Jewish school in Liverpool who granted Leo the promise of a scholarship, he was able to get a visa and escape Germany just before the outbreak of war. Leo describes the kindness of families in Liverpool who provided food and shelter for the new arrivals, as well as the support from entities like the Jewish Refugee Committee. Leo settled in Manchester and was later joined by his uncle and brother, with whom he grew a successful menswear clothing company in Salford. He married Helen and had two children. Leo's book is part of the My Voice book collection.