Centre welcomes special guests with secret stories (From Times Series)

London Jewish Cultural Centre in Golders Green welcomes special guests with secret stories

4:12pm Thursday 31st January 2013 in News By Chris Hewett

In a quiet room at a British Intelligence base in the middle of the Second World War, army recruits Fritz Lustig and Eric Mark eavesdropped on some of the most secret Nazi conversations.

The pair had escaped Germany and fled to Britain, where they ended up working as translators at Trent Park, providing vital transcripts for the war effort.

Now, as the last two surviving members of the ‘M Room’, or ‘Microphoned Room’, their memories have been recorded in a new book.

Mr Lustig, 93, and Mr Mark, 90, both attended the London Jewish Cultural Centre in Golders Green yesterday to speak about their experiences.

A packed room of 170 people squeezed in to meet the pair, who have only been able to give accounts of their war experiences since 1997 because of restrictions under the Official Secrets Act.

Head of marketing at the centre, Mandy King, said: “It was a privilege to have them here. Their stories need to be told and they are so unique.

“It resonated with so many survivors that they just wanted to make a contribution to the country that allowed them in at that time. There was a full house to hear them speak and it was a real pleasure.”

Historian and author Helen Fry has written a book on the accounts of the war survivors entitled The M Room.