Erwin Altschul (1877-1949)

This weekend marks 70 years since the death of Erwin Altschul (1877-1949), a glovemaker of Danycoed Rd, Cyncoed. His gravestone hints at a back story, which turns out to be a tragic one. He was born into a large middle-class Jewish family in Prague. His father was also a glovemaker. At some point most of the family moved to Vienna, but Erwin stayed in Prague and continued the family business. When Prague was occupied by the Nazis in 1938, Erwin and his wife fled to the UK and his glove factory in Prague was confiscated. Although some others of his family managed to escape, Erwin lost at least two siblings in the Holocaust. A brother died the Lodz ghetto, and a sister at Auschwitz. Once in Britain, he settled in Cardiff and quickly established another glove factory – Western Glove - in Treforest (and later in Caerphilly) which went on to provide gloves for Marks & Spencer and Woolworth until it was finally wound up in 1973. Some of his relatives also went on to carve out important careers for themselves in Britain. His niece, Annie Altschul CBE became a pioneering mental health nurse, and then Professor of Nursing Studies at Edinburgh University. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2002/jan/08/mentalhealth And his great nephew Felix Weinberg became Professor of Combustion Physics at Imperial College after surviving several years in Auschwitz where he lost his mother and younger brother. He wrote of his life and experiences in the camp in a memoir “Boy 30529”. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/117808/tribute-felix-weinberg/