At 98 years of age there isn't much that Sir David Attenborough has not seen or lived through - including the second world war. When he was just 12 years old he and his family were impacted with their lives changing, but surprisingly for the better, as they welcomed two new "sisters" into their home.

The natural historian spoke movingly, during a virtual event organised by The Association of Jewish Refugees back in 2020, as he explained the role his parents played in giving a safe and loving home to Irene, 13, and Helga Bejach, 11. The young girls arrived in Britain in August 1939 as part of the Kindertransport rescue mission that saved some 10,000 Jewish children from the Nazis.

Sir David revealed how the girls – who he considered as his own sisters – came to live with his family for seven years. Explaining how the family welcomed the girls, the broadcaster shared: “It’s moving to think about it now, but my dear father and mother were standing by the radio.

"And my mother turns to the three of us and the two Bejachs and said ‘Well now we are one family. Irene and Helga will be your sisters until such time as the war is over.’”

David shared that at the time of the war his family had been unaware of the “unimaginable” horrors taking place in Europe. He explained: "We didn’t know. We didn’t know about Auschwitz or concentration camps at all until the allies overran Germany and then discovered these dreadful revelations, which are difficult to speak of actually.

“Britain didn’t go to war over concentration camps. We certainly should have done had we known. The atrocity was on such a scale that it was almost unimaginable how appalling it was.”

Sadly, the girls' parents were wrapped up in the atrocities with their father, Dr Bejach, being taken by the Nazis and eventually deported to Auschwitz, where he was murdered in October 1944. Their mother had died years previously and so when the war finally ended, Helga and Irene bade farewell and joined their relatives in America.

The national treasure and his family kept in close contact with the two girls after the war and maintained relationships with their children.