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Music label to honour aunt killed in Holocaust

Ed James
BBC Radio WM
Shyamantha Asokan
BBC News, West Midlands
Adrian Goldberg A man stands in a room, with children's pictures on the wall behind him. He has short greying hair and glasses. He is wearing a black polo shirt.Adrian Goldberg
Adrian Goldberg's label is called Jenny's Feather Factory in memory of his great aunt

A journalist whose great aunt was killed during the Holocaust has used a belated compensation payment from the German government to start a music label.

Adrian Goldberg, from Birmingham, said he wanted to use the money for something positive after getting an email "out of the blue" that said he was entitled to a small payment.

Mr Goldberg's label is called Jenny's Feather Factory in memory of his relative, who ran a feather factory in Berlin.

Germany's government has run programmes for several decades that pay compensation to Holocaust survivors.

Mr Goldberg told BBC Radio WM he received an email in 2022 from a government office in Berlin, asking if he was the son of Rudolph Goldberg.

"It was so weird. It had a couple of details about my dad that you probably wouldn't know if you were just phishing," said Mr Goldberg, who initially wondered if the message was a scam.

Adrian Goldberg A man sits in a garden. He has grey hair and he is wearing a green striped shirt. Trees can be seen in the background.Adrian Goldberg
Mr Goldberg's father Rudolph had launched a legal case in 1990 to seek compensation on behalf of his aunt Jenny

Mr Goldberg was surprised to learn his father Rudolph, who died in 2012, had launched a legal case in 1990 with his brother Werner to seek compensation on behalf of their aunt Jenny, whose belongings were seized by the Nazis.

Rudolph and Werner fled Nazi Germany for the UK in 1939 via the Kindertransport refugee scheme but most of their family died in the Holocaust.

Adrian Goldberg An old sepia photo shows a teenage boy wearing a dark jumper and a white shirt.Adrian Goldberg
Mr Goldberg's father Rudolph fled Nazi Germany for the UK via the Kindertransport refugee scheme

"Aunt Jenny was the fun aunt," said Mr Goldberg, a music-lover who has previously worked as a BBC presenter.

"[My father] would talk with real enthusiasm about her, how she'd put him on her shoulders, how they'd wade in the river together."

Mr Goldberg said the German government also provided a list of his aunt's belongings, which mentioned "her bedding, her tables, some kind of record player".

He added the list was poignant as it was a sign that "this was a real person".

Adrian Goldberg Three men stand in front of a white brick wall. The man on the left has grey hair and is wearing a blue jacket. The man in the centre has grey hair and glasses, and is wearing a black and white polka dot shirt. The man on the right has dark blonde hair and a beard, and sunglasses, and is wearing a red shirt.Adrian Goldberg
Mr Goldberg's music label has launched with an album by The Leaking Machine, a Birmingham-based band

The Jenny's Feather Factory label launched last week with an album by The Leaking Machine, a Birmingham-based band.

Mr Goldberg said he hoped it would showcase the region's "brilliant musical artists".

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