A remarkable story of courage and survival from the eve of the Second World War has come to light, revealing how the family of legendary playwright Sir Tom Stoppard narrowly escaped the Nazis thanks to the bravery of another man's mother.
The Desperate Flight from Czechoslovakia
In 1939, as the shadow of Adolf Hitler's regime fell across Europe, two medical families in Zlin, Czechoslovakia, faced imminent danger. Dr Alexander Gellert and Dr Eugen Sträussler, the father of the young boy who would become Tom Stoppard, were both physicians working at the Bata hospital. They had secured positions at Bata company outposts in Nairobi and Singapore and had obtained British permission to leave. However, their plans were thrown into chaos when Hitler's forces unexpectedly invaded Czechoslovakia, trapping them.
Dr Bohuslav Albert, the director of the Bata hospital, was instrumental in initially trying to save the families, having helped secure their overseas posts. Yet, with the country now under Nazi control, official exit permits were required. Alexander Gellert was interrogated by the Gestapo for over ten days but failed to secure the necessary documents for either family to depart.
Nelly Gellert's Daring Confrontation
With hope fading, a stunning act of personal bravery changed everything. Alexander's wife, Nelly (Kornelia) Gellert, decided to take matters into her own hands. Described as a very beautiful woman, she went alone to the Gestapo headquarters in Zlin. There, she confronted a solitary Gestapo officer and declared she would not leave until he issued exit permits for both the Gellert and Sträussler families.
In a move that left the officer stunned, she openly stated that she was Jewish. The officer reportedly refused to believe her, allegedly saying it was impossible "because she was so beautiful." Captivated by her boldness, the officer relented. Nelly Gellert walked out of the headquarters with all the vital permits, securing the safe passage of both families from the clutches of the Nazi regime.
A Legacy of Gratitude from Tom Stoppard
The profound debt owed to Nelly Gellert was personally acknowledged decades later by Sir Tom Stoppard himself. In 2019, following the death of Vera Gellert—Nelly's daughter, who was born in Zlin just days before Tom—the playwright wrote a letter of condolence to Adrian Phillips.
Stoppard concluded his letter with a powerful testament to that fateful event: "Speaking of survival, you may know that I and [his brother] Peter and our parents owed our lives to Nelly in 1939, because she charmed or forced our exit permits from the Gestapo office. There is so much more to say!"
This poignant revelation, shared in a letter regarding Stoppard's obituary, adds a deeply personal and heroic chapter to the early life of one of Britain's most celebrated literary figures. It underscores the fragile threads of chance and extraordinary courage upon which history, and individual lives, so often hang.
