Original version

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Migrated podcast image for: Outlook

Outlook

Factual: Life Stories

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

Outlook: Secrets of my family's lost café

Magazines & Reviews

Meriel Schindler smiles at the camera as an adult. Overlayed behind her is an old photo of Café Schindler

11/05/2021 GMT

Secrets of my family's lost café

BBC World Service - Outlook, Secrets of my family's lost café

Old photos of her grandfather's café led Meriel Schindler to some shocking family truths

As Meriel Schindler researched the café her Jewish grandfather set up, she uncovered some uncomfortable family truths.

Meriel Schindler grew up in London in a family of émigrés. They were Jewish and had fled Austria in the late 1930s as Hitler's Nazi Party took over and the violent persecution of Jews turned into the Holocaust. When her father died in 2017, Meriel inherited 13 photo albums. One was dedicated to the Café Schindler in Innsbruck, Austria, a venue set up by her Jewish grandfather in the 1920s. As Meriel started to research the café, she discovered it had gone from being a hub of jazz music and delicious pastries, to a Nazi watering hole. But the research would also uncover some uncomfortable truths about her father that she struggled to make sense of.

Meriel has written a book called The Lost Café Schindler.

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Picture: Meriel Schindler and a photo of the Café Schindler in the 1930s
Credit: Holly Falconer / courtesy of Meriel Schindler

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Outlook

Secrets of my family's lost café

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

About BBC World Service