Rolf Schild
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Rolf Schild OBE (1924 - 2003), was a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
-born,
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-based businessman, a
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
refugee from
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
who formed the company Huntleigh Technology, based in
Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...
, which manufactured and designed medical equipment.


Background

Schild is perhaps best remembered for being a victim of a notorious kidnapping, with his wife and daughter, by a gang while on holiday in
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
in 1979. He was released 16 days later; his wife was set free in January 1980, and his daughter in March of that year. £220,000 was paid in ransom money; two years later, 13 people were found guilty of the crime and were jailed. Born in
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
, Rolf Schild came to Britain in 1939; he later learned his parents were gassed to death by the Nazis in Chelmno in 1942. He later developed a talent in medical engineering, and in the early 1950s formed his own company, SE Technology, later to become Huntleigh. His achievements in medical design were rewarded with an OBE in 1997.


External links


Rolf Schild obituary by Caroline Richmond
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schild, Rolf 1924 births 2003 deaths Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom 20th-century British businesspeople British Jews Officers of the Order of the British Empire Kidnapped British people