The heartbreaking story of Jewish refugee and QEGS teacher buried in an unmarked grave in Yorkshire after taking his life

WWII Jewish refugee Dr Ernst Neustadt took his life after being widowed and losing his job at Quuen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield

Classics professor Dr Ernst Neustadt is buried in an unmarked grave at St Helen's Church in Sandal, Wakefield – more than 600 miles from his home in Frankfurt, Germany.

Although a Christian, Dr Neustadt was Jewish by race and fled Germany in July 1939 with his wife, Gertrude, just weeks before WWII was declared.

The academic had been headmaster at Goethe-Gymnasium school in Frankfurt when he had to leave because of Nazi laws which dictated Jews could no longer work.

St Helen's Church, Wakefield, where Dr Neustadt is buried in an unmarked grave. Money is now being raised for a proper tombstone.

Escaping across the channel, he took up a post teaching pupils at Gordonstoun School in Scotland – famously the school where the Duke of Edinburgh and later his son, Prince Charles, were taught.

He was later transferred to an internment camp on the Isle of Man before released on compassionate grounds due to Gertrude being ill with cancer, and later moved to Yorkshire to teach history at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS) in Wakefield.

Nearly 80 years later, another history academic is now raising the money to give Dr Neustadt a proper grave stone after he tragically took his life in 1942, embittered by his fallen career, heartbroken by Gertrude's death from cancer and impoverished after losing his job at QEGS.

Masters student Charlie Knight has been uncovering Dr Neustadt's tragic story while researching Jewish refugees at the University of Exeter.

A headstone for Dr Neustadt laid recently in the academic's hometown of Frankfurt, Germany

He said it was as important to tell the stories of Jewish refugees who did not flourish after escaping the horrors of Nazi Europe as it was to tell the stories of those who did.

"There is this narrative in Britain about Jewish refugees and you only ever hear about the success stories of those who became writers or sculptors," said Mr Knight.

"I thought it was important to tell the stories of those who fall through the cracks."

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Academic Charlie Knight has been researching Dr Neustadt's life and death in Yorkshire for his masters degree researching Jewish WWII refugees in England

Mr Knight began researching Dr Neustadt's life after stumbling across a letter in Devon's local archives sent while he was planning to escape Germany by Wolfgang von Turpitz - a friend of the professor's - enquiring about job vacancies at Dartington Hall in Totnes, used as an arts learning centre at the time.

His research has now come full circle after tracking his life right until it ended tragically early in Yorkshire.

"His relationship with the boys at QEGS had become raw," Mr Knight said.

"He wasn't enjoying his job anymore and he had become bitter, which led to him being sacked. He'd gone from being the head of a school and a respected academic to a regular history teacher which would have been tuppence compared with what he was paid before. By the end, he had very little money.

Dr Neustadt's wife Gertrude is also laid to rest at St Helen's in Wakefield in a marked grave, although her husband who died months later lies unmarked

"On top of this he had lost his wife.

"In my mind, Dr Neustadt was also a victim of the Holocaust because he would not have been left to fall through the cracks if he hadn't been forced to flee. It's important to remember that people were forced to leave their homes with nothing – no money, no possessions – and emigrate, which is very difficult under normal circumstances."

Mr Knight is raising £2,000 to erect a tombstone at St Helen's Church for Dr Neustadt so that his name is not forgotten. You can donate to the GoFundMe page for a headstone for the academic here.