THE six months young Paul Oppenheimer spent in England in 1936 were to prove the most important of his life.

At the time, they seemed nothing special, merely a break for the family while their father changed jobs from a bank in Berlin to a bank in Amsterdam.

But, as luck would have it, a daughter was born to the Oppenheimers during their short stay over here, and a few years later, Eve Oppenheimer's British nationality was to save her parents and brothers from the Holocaust that took the lives of millions of their fellow Jews.

The family was interned in 1943 after the German jackboot crushed Holland.

We were lucky, said Paul.

Because Eve was born in England and we had relations over here, we were not sent to the gas chambers at Auschwitz.

"Instead, the Nazis held us as 'exchange Jews' at Belsen. They were hoping to swap us for Germans who were under guard in Britain. They thought the Allies would be prepared to do a deal.

Of course, that never happened, but by the time Belsen was liberated in 1945 both my parents had died from disease. Father only a month before the Russians freed us.

However, Paul, his brother Rudi and sister all survived.

He came to Britain after the war and carved out a highly successful career in the motor industry, culminating in the award of the MBE in 1990.

For many years, Paul, who now lives among the leafy avenues of Solihull, put the horrors of Belsen and the Nazis behind him. He preferred not to talk about them. To blot the period out of his life.

But now, encouraged by the increasing historical interest in the period, he gives lectures about his experiences throughout the country and he'll take the stage at Worcester's Huntingdon Hall on Tuesday, January 22.

Perhaps the irony of all this is that we were not very good Jews, Paul explained. We never went to the synagogue or celebrated the Jewish festivals.

We were what was known as 'assimilated Jews'. We didn't even look particularly Jewish.

Indeed, the Oppenheimer family had lived in Germany for a long time. As well as his parents, Paul's grandparents were born there too and they felt naturally part of the community.

I was born in 1928 and I can honestly say I never experienced any racial or religious hostility at all in the early years, he added.

The first thing I remember about the Nazis was that they seemed to have such nice bands.

They would march down the street and like a lot of other youngsters, I would join in and dance along behind them.

I suppose in those days you could call me a Nazi supporter!"

After their brief sojourn in England in 1936, the Oppenheimer family moved to Amsterdam where they were trapped when in May 1940, the Nazis swept through Holland in just five days.

At first nothing happened, but slowly the persecution of the Jews began to creep in.

They always gave very good reasons for what they were doing and my father, working in a bank and used to doing things properly, readily complied.

At first you had to register, then you all had to go to Jewish schools, then there was a curfew and so it went on.

We had to wear yellow stars to show we were Jews.

Finally, on June 20, 1943, the Oppenheimer family were among 10,000 Jews rounded up and sent by train to a transit camp.

Fortunately, Eve's birthplace and their status as 'exchange Jews', saved them from Auschwitz and instead they were sent to Belsen.

At first conditions were quite good. There were wooden barracks to sleep in, but nothing to do.

We were not allowed any education or to play games and we were restricted to small areas. It was very boring and as children we used to pass the time playing hop-scotch or throwing stones.

But then in 1944 and 1945 everything went wrong. Food became very scarce. I remember we had a cup of coffee in the morning, turnip soup at lunchtime and a piece of bread about one and a half inches long in the evening.

It was freezing cold and we used to have to stand in the rain and snow for hours while they did roll call.

People became very skeletal and if you fell ill it was difficult to recover.

An epidemic of typhus fever swept the camp and Paul's mother died in January 1945 and his father two months later, only weeks before liberation.

Do I hate the Germans? he said.

"No. But I hate the Nazis. It must have been very difficult for ordinary German people, because they were virtually forced to join the Nazi party.

An interesting footnote to this story is that in his subsequent career in the motor industry, Paul often sat at meetings alongside Germans.

They never asked me and I never told them I could speak German, he added. It was interesting to hear what they were saying about me!