Franz and Franziska Mykura with their two sons Walter (left) and Helmut (right) in 1930. Franz Mykura (1896-1966) and Franziska (Fanni) Mykura (1905-1965) were Czech citizens who arrived in the UK in late 1938 as German-speaking political refugees with their two children, Walter Mykura (1926-1988) and Helmut Mykura (1927-1991). Their third child, Eleanor Mykura, was born in the UK in 1941.
Franz and Franziska got married in 1925. Their new family with two sons grew up in the new democracy in the new country of Czechoslovakia in the 1920s and 1930s. Their political commitment to social-democracy in Czechoslovakia meant they opposed the Nazis. Their small industrial and mining town of Falkenau (now Sokolov) had a large and impressive newly built (1925) ‘Bergarbeiterheim.’ (Miners’ Institute). Their social-democratic links, combined with support from the UK, meant they were fortunate, unlike many others who were unable to get visas, to be able to flee in 1938 from the Nazis in Czechoslovakia.