Liesl Herbst’s Journey, from Vienna to Wimbledon
Liesl Herbst, Austrian National Tennis champion, fled Nazi occupation with her family – this is the moving story of their escape and of what happened to those left behind.
In 1930, at the age of twenty-six, Liesl Herbst was the Austrian National Tennis Champion, a celebrity in Vienna. Liesl, her husband David and their daughter Dorli came to Britain after escaping the Nazis.
On arrival in London, she and her family had already been stripped of their Austrian citizenship and rendered stateless aliens. Nevertheless, both Liesl and her daughter Dorli competed at Wimbledon. They remain the only mother and daughter ever to have played doubles together at The Championships.
This moving story of escape and survival is told by Liesl’s granddaughter Felice. It is as much a search for the author’s own identity as for her own children and grandchildren to ensure that their remarkable family history is never lost again.
Illustrated throughout with family photographs and original documents, this is a story of survival against terrible odds, an inspiring tale of resilience and hope.
Felice Hardy is a journalist and Amazon No.1 Bestselling author. As a travel writer, Felice has toured the world for a variety of publications including the Guardian, Telegraph, Condé Nast Traveller and British Airways’ High Life magazine. For 15 years she co-edited the ski information website Welove2ski and today she hosts the podcast Action Packed Travel.
