Payne - Edith - née Guttmann 1921-2003

Edith Payne (née Edit Guttmann, formerly Goldman, 1921-2003) was born in Trnava, Czechoslovakia. Her parents were Adolf Guttmann (born in 1894) from Slovakia and Paula Horner from Vienna (born 1897). Edith grew up in Bratislava where she went to secondary high school ('Gymnasium'). She left Czechoslovakia to study in Caen in 1937 but when the Second World War broke out she was forced to move to England being Jewish. She initially went to Birmingham where her aunt Fritzi and some friends were living. Working at Leytonstone town hall she met her future husband, Paul Benjamin Payne (formerly Goldman, born in 1914) from London. They got married in 1940. During Paul's army postings Edith lived at several addresses nearby. She worked as a teacher at a school in Llandudno, Wales, during this time.

Edith's parents were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942 where they perished soon after arrival.

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