Dad had just turned six when he set foot for the first time on English soil. It was to be his safe haven for the rest of his life. Arriving in high summer with Grandma and Grandpa, after a sea crossing from Italy to Tilbury Docks at the mouth of the Thames. The second world war was declared a week later. Just in time, the Schrotters arrived in the UK after a tumultuous year, thanks to the benevolence of a family in Leeds with whom there was a business connection.

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In a letter from her sister, Elsa Breier in Hungary to her daughter Lily in the US on the 29th August 1939, Elsa writes " Today we received a letter from Hedwig. She is no longer in ---- but in London and they are no longer afraid for their life. Their guarantor gives them everything they need".

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Their first "home" was a one bedroom apartment in the recently built residences of Dolphin Square in Pimlico near the river Thames. Dolphin Square provided a range of stylish flats for professional men and women. Their address was 305 Grenville House just a short walk from 311 Howard House on the other side of the Square owned by Ida and Louise Cook – the incredible sisters whose contribution to the rescuing of 29 Jewish refugee families leading up to the outbreak of the war, earned them the title of "Righteous Among The Nations" by Yad Vashem in 1965 and "Heroes of the Holocaust" by the British government in 2010.