Ms Lever was born in Saujon, in the south west of Nazi-occupied France, in November 1943, to a Jewish mother and a Catholic father. “But when they were out, they realised they could not leave their parents,” Ms Lever told the Press Association. Ms Lever remembered her grandparents Jacob Foks and Helene Foks (left), and her parents Lilian Xavier and Pierre Xavier (Jordan Pettitt/PA)“I fear it and I feel it. “And to hear that from a German person who was involved in the war, not only a citizen but involved in the war, I must say really marked me. This family history was never fully explained to Ms Lever, who pieced the parts of the puzzle together bit by bit over time.

Source: The Times January 25, 2026 00:09 UTC