‘I could relate to Anne Frank. We were both teenagers in hiding, in danger and frightened and there was nowhere to escape.’ Annabel Schild
As a young teenager in 1979, Annabel Schild was kidnapped by Sardinian bandits and held in captivity for many weeks. The Schild kidnapping case, as it unfolded, received a lot of media coverage in the UK. It had happened unusually, in the prevailing international climate of kidnappings, to a British family, so the British media were extremely interested. The Schild family went on to become great supporters of the Anne Frank Trust, for several profound reasons.
One of the highlights of the year for the Schild family was escaping London to stay at their villa in Sardinia. At that time Sardinia was not the tourist destination it is now, and the Schild family considered themselves pioneers in its discovery. In August 1979, the family arrived on the island for their summer break. Two weeks into the holiday, Rolf, Daphne and Annabel were returning to their villa after dinner when they were pounced on by a gang of waiting Sardinian bandits. The bandits threw the Schild family back into their own car and drove it up into the mountains. Kidnappings by Sardinian bandits were rife that summer, and over a dozen tourists had already fallen victim, most quickly released. After two weeks in captivity, Rolf was freed and instructed by the kidnappers to return to London to raise the ransom, believed to be several million pounds, which the bandits were demanding for the safe return of his wife and daughter.
Throughout the 1970s there had been several very high-profile kidnappings both for political and mercenary motives, carried out by gangs and terrorist groups such as the paramilitary Red Brigades in Italy, who murdered Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978. Patty Hearst, the granddaughter of American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, was abducted in 1974 and notoriously took part in violent robberies along with her own kidnappers. Sixteen-year-old John Paul Getty III, grandson of the billionaire J. Paul Getty, had his ear sliced off by his kidnappers to demonstrate their seriousness. Canadian politician and lawyer Pierre LaPorte was murdered by his kidnappers, the Front de Liberation du Quebec, in 1970.
Back in London, Rolf was able to raise £350,000, a huge sum in those days. After an appeal by Pope John Paul, Daphne was set free in mid-January 1980, but the 14-year-old Annabel was held on her own for a further two months. One can only imagine how her parents and older brothers Julian and David felt on every one of those remaining days, especially in the knowledge that Annabel had been born with a hearing disability. Upon her release on 21 March, Annabel told the media, ‘After my mother was freed, I felt very lonely. I had no-one to talk to and no-one to speak English to.’
But Annabel felt she wasn’t completely on her own and many years after the event she divulged to me the reason why.
The first autobiography I read at the age of 13 was the diary of Anne Frank. To this day it certainly must be one of the most influential books I have ever read. I remember I was very interested in this book and it gave me a sense of real understanding of what my father and his family went through during the Nazi era. The following year at the age of 14, I was kidnapped from our family home in Sardinia with my parents. After both my father and mother were freed, I was left alone with the kidnappers for two months. I was locked up in a dirty and cramped loft without electricity, cleaning facilities and sanitation, not being able to hear without my hearing aids and sitting in total darkness with nothing to do. During that time, I was struck by how much I could relate to Anne Frank. We were both in hiding, in danger and frightened and with nowhere to escape. I found comfort in thinking if Anne Frank can do it so can I, and if I do not make it then at least I was brave like Anne Frank.
Daphne later told me: ‘It was one of those situations you could not believe you were in.’ Echoing what concentration camp survivors have told me, she went on, ‘It was the isolation that was so frightening. No-one knowing where we were. Even the local solicitors were in cahoots with the bandits.’
I had been introduced to Rolf in 2002 by the MP for Luton, Kelvin Hopkins, as Kelvin thought Rolf could be interested in supporting the work of the Anne Frank Trust. Rolf’s company was based in Kelvin’s constituency so he knew him well. It was an auspicious meeting that resulted in many years of close association and friendship with the Schild family.
Rolf Schild was a handsome and engaging man, a born entrepreneur with strong views on free markets and capitalism. He came from Cologne to the UK as a 14-year-old boy in a group of 100 Jewish boys who were brought out of Germany by their teacher. Rolf was reunited with his older brother Walter, who had arrived in England earlier. After the war ended Rolf and Walter learnt that their parents, grandparents and wider family had been murdered by the Nazis. Rolf took his first job in 1943 as a machine operator in a Manchester company, while at the same time studying for his degree in engineering. After the war he moved to London and found work with a small medical instruments company, where he developed a phono-cardiograph to measure and record the sound of the heart, and a transducer device to measure pressure within the heart. His next career move came when he was approached by the aero engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce who needed a device to measure engine pressures. Rolf’s view was that ‘an engine is just a pump, similar to the heart’, and that it was a matter only of adapting the medical technology. His boss thought the potential in the aviation industry too limited, and was not interested in diversifying, but Rolf had what he called ‘fingerspitzengefuhl’ (a feeling in his fingertips) about the new product.
He set up his own company with a business partner and they began assembling components in Rolf’s Hampstead kitchen for manufacturers such as De Havilland. After winning a government contract to provide transducers for ballistic missiles, they took over a rented factory and the business took off. The company, SE Laboratories, went on to contribute to the development of the first heart and lung machine at Hammersmith Hospital, helping to advance open heart surgery. Rolf then went on to invest in Hymatic Engineering, a military equipment manufacturer, which became Huntleigh Technology in 1975. In 1954 he had met Daphne Scholtes, who was working at the BBC in Langham Place as an assistant to the Presentations Editor. They married and had three children, Julian, David and Annabel.
After the arrest of the Sardinian bandits who kidnapped the Schild family, it was reported that this uneducated group of men had actually mistaken the name Rolf Schild for Rothschild. That was one of the theories, another was that it was a case of mistaken identity, and that the gang had confused the Schild family with that of a famous football manager who lived in the next-door villa.
After these terrible and traumatic events, the family carried on their lives as best they could. On returning to school Annabel’s head teacher had apparently told the pupils not to mention anything to Annabel, to treat her as though nothing had happened. It is difficult to know whether this was the wisest policy, although Annabel is a remarkably successful, down-to-earth and caring woman.
Rolf Schild was appointed OBE in 1997, and was also awarded the German Order of Merit for his contribution to Anglo-German relations. He also remained a practising engineer, both in the research department of Huntleigh Technology and as a hobby, and travelled widely in search of new ideas. In the final months of his life, he designed the ‘air walker’, an exercise device to help airline passengers avoid deep-vein thrombosis. He also became known for his charitable interests, and was the proud host of the very first Anne Frank Trust lunch in January 2003. Despite his great support of the Conservative Party, Rolf agreed to the speaker being the Labour government’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Paul Boateng, and at the lunch they enjoyed a very lively conversation. Less than three months after hosting the lunch, Rolf died suddenly. Ironically, this man who had cheated murder by the Nazis and given so much to the medical industry, helping the lives of so many, died due to a medical misdiagnosis.
In August, when planning our second annual fundraising lunch, I called Daphne and suggested she may wish to host the lunch in honour and memory of Rolf. She readily agreed, and has generously hosted the lunch for the following fifteen years. Her children Julian, David and Annabel have all been wonderful supporters too. I once asked Daphne what was so appealing to her about the event. As well as the diversity of the guests that regularly attend, Daphne told me why Anne Frank had been so important to her and Annabel. During their lonely days of captivity together in the cold and isolated cave in Sardinia, they had often spoken about Anne Frank and her days hiding in the secret annexe. Anne had become part of their own life in captivity, and remained to this day very special to them.