By the end of the week, our home would officially belong to the Nazi regime, along with everything in it. All we would own would be whatever we could fit into two cases and our passports with the big red ‘J’ for Jew stamped on them, in case anyone mistook us for something other than the dregs of society.

I took my case to my bedroom and began to pack. Soon it was almost filled with clothes, books, a few toys and some odds and ends.

I opened the drawer by my bed and took out the photograph from my ninth birthday.

Sitting on the side of my bed, I squinted at the photo. It was hard to believe it was only three years ago. It felt like a lifetime. The carefree smiles on our faces – I couldn’t imagine smiling so freely like that ever again.

The last happy day of my childhood and the day we had met Mr and Mrs Stewart. A tickle and a chase and a trip over a lady’s foot. And to make up for it, an extra ride on the Ferris wheel and a piece of Sachertorte. That was what we had given them.

And in return they were offering us a whole new life.

ELSA

‘Children, hurry. We haven’t got long,’ Mutti whispers.

Vati is already at the door, looking down the street. I pull my rucksack on to my shoulders and pick up the other bag I’m allowed to take. As well as some practical things, I managed to fit in two of my favourite dresses and one pair of shiny shoes. I couldn’t bear to leave without them.

I wonder briefly if there’s anything else I should have brought. I cannot possibly answer the question as I have no idea how long I will be gone, so I push it away and follow my family out of the house.

In the black of the night, Vati softly closes our door behind us and the four of us scurry like field mice down the street.

All the way to the station, I dream up scenarios that help take the pain away.

The whole of the last three years has been a dream. I will wake up in a moment and find myself back in Vienna. We never even moved away from there.

Leo and Max will turn up around the next corner, telling me they are coming too. The three of us will go together to the same house in England.

Greta will be waiting at the station.

All the ‘No Jews’ signs around the city will disappear. Nobody really hates us. It was all just a bad, bad, awful nightmare. Someone is waiting at the station to tell us that it is not real, any of it.

None of these things happen.