Continuing our look at Jewish celebrities on Who Do You Think You Are?, British comedian and actor Matt Lucas has a remarkable family story of his own. For those who may be new to the series, the popular genealogy documentary follows celebrities as they trace their family histories, often uncovering extraordinary stories along the way. Lucas’s episode takes him on a journey into his family’s history in Nazi Germany and reveals a surprising connection to Anne Frank.
Lucas first became widely known in Britain through Little Britain, the sketch-comedy series he created and starred in with David Walliams, which went on to develop an international cult following. American audiences may know him best as Nardole in the sci-fi series Doctor Who, or from his film roles as Gil in Bridesmaids and Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Alice in Wonderland. He also co-hosted The Great British Bake Off and is currently starring as Fagin in the West End revival of Lionel Bart’s classic musical Oliver! at London’s Gielgud Theatre.
Raised in a Reform synagogue in London, Lucas’s parents came from traditional Orthodox families. He writes about his Jewish identity in his memoir, Little Me: My Life from A-Z, which includes a chapter devoted to “J” for Jewish.
His paternal great-grandfather, Harry Lucas, was born in Białystok, in northeastern Poland. On his mother’s side, Matt’s beloved grandmother Margot was born in Berlin in 1911. She grew up closely involved with the Jewish community around the historic Fasanenstrasse Synagogue in Charlottenburg. Her father, Gustav Hillel, was a respected physician, and following in his footsteps, Margot began studying medicine at Berlin University in April 1930. Her education was abruptly cut short as anti-Jewish restrictions intensified following the Nazis’ rise to power.
In his 2022 episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, Matt set out to learn more about his grandmother Margot, who fled Nazi Germany for Britain in 1939. What he discovered was both heartbreaking and astonishing.
Margot left behind an extended family in Germany. Among them was Werner Goldschmidt, Margot’s first cousin, who had rented a room from Otto and Edith Frank while the family was still living in their Amsterdam apartment. Goldschmidt was still living with the Franks when they went into hiding in 1942, and he is mentioned in Anne Frank’s famous diary.
In a clip from the episode, Lucas reads a diary entry Anne Frank wrote on July 8, 1942, describing Goldschmidt as a recent divorcee who was lingering at the Frank family home that evening despite their polite hints that it was time for him to leave.
“I would have read this diary when I was younger and never realized that she was talking about a relative of mine,” Lucas says. At the time, he had only a vague awareness that some members of his family had died in concentration camps.
The connection between Lucas’s family and Anne Frank makes this episode particularly remarkable. It is a very personal link to one of the most widely read Jewish stories of the Holocaust.