A survivor of the Holocaust gave a talk in Watford about his escape from Austria at the beginning of the Second World War.

Harry Bibring, 87, addressed a congregation of around 50 people at the Watford and District Synagogue, in Nascot Road last Sunday.

Mr Bibring was 14 years old when he was evacuated to England with his sister, Gerta, and 600 other children.

He said: "We crossed to England on the night ferry from Hook of Holland to Harwich and arrived at Liverpool Street station in the afternoon of the 15th March 1939."

Although he and his sister made lives for themselves in England they never saw their parents again.

Mr Bibring’s father, who ran a successful menswear business, died of a heart attack in November 1940 while being taken away by soldiers.

His mother was deported to a Jewish ghetto and death camp in the German-occupied towns of Izbica and Sobibor in early 1942.

Mr Bibring’s visit to the synagogue was funded by the Holocaust Educational Trust as part of its outreach programme.

Ronnie Jacob, chairman of the synagogue, said: "As the numbers of survivors dwindles as the years pass this was a precious opportunity to hear Harry’s testimony first-hand".