Vera was born in 1930 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. She grew up in a small town named Klatovy which was just south of Prague. Her father was the head of the Jewish community in the town and her mother was of German origin. In 1934, her grandmother moved from Germany to live with the family in Klatovy to avoid persecution by the Nazis.
Soon after the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939, Vera’s parents decided to send her to England on the Kindertransport. Her parents hoped that they would soon be able to join her but were not able to obtain a visa. Vera was taken in by a foster family in Bury St Edmunds. They had a daughter, Betty, who was a similar age to Vera. Vera was sent to boarding school with Betty; here Vera learnt English quickly and enjoyed life at school.
Throughout the war, Vera hoped that she would be reunited with her parents in Czechoslovakia. However, after the war ended in 1945 she received a letter from the Red Cross telling her that none of her family had survived and she had no home to return to in Klatovy.
Vera went on to train as a teacher and after she qualified spent some time in Israel, where she met her husband, Avram, on a Kibbutz (a communal farm). They returned to England and Vera spent many years teaching. Vera still lives in London and regularly shares her testimony in schools and colleges.