Father Francis Wahle

Father Francis was born in Vienna in 1929. He was Jewish by birth but both parents had converted away from Judaism so Francis and his sister Anne were brought up as Catholic. In fact, they only found out their Jewish roots when they were forced to leave their secular school after the Anschluss. In January 1939 Francis and Anne were sent to England on the Kindertransport and looked after by the Catholic Committee for Refugees. Their parents survived the war in Vienna, thanks to his mother’s inventive nature. Anne would become a nun and Francis a priest. (Catholic Committee for Refugees, In Hiding –Vienna, Return visit to country of birth)