Ruth Prawer was born in Cologne , Germany to Jewish parents Marcus and Eleanora ( Cohn ) Prawer . Marcus was a lawyer who moved to Germany from Poland to escape conscription and Eleanora 's father was cantor of Cologne 's largest synagogue . Her father was accused of communist links , arrested and released , and she witnessed the violence unleashed against the Jews during the Kristallnacht . The family was among the last group of refugees to flee the Nazi regime in 1939 , emigrating to Britain . Her elder brother , Siegbert Salomon Prawer ( 1925 – 2012 ) , an expert on Heinrich Heine and horror films , was fellow of The Queen 's College and Taylor Professor of German Language and Literature at the University of Oxford
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala