My Voice: Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines

Lady Milena was born Milena Fleischmann in 1929 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Living with her socialist-leaning grandparents, Milena was exposed to anti-Nazi ideology. Her father organised papers that would allow Thomas Mann, a renowned writer who had been cast out of Germany, to obtain honorary Czech citizenship. In March 1939, life changed when Milena’s father Rudolf was warned of his impending arrest for being both a Jew and a supporter of Thomas Mann. In March 1939, after being baptised for ‘sa