Paul Wolff is a survivor.
"I made it to London only 30 days before Germany took over and made it impossible to get out,” Wolff said.
He and his family lived in Hamburg, Germany when Adolf Hitler took over.
“I got stones thrown at me on my last day of school. The kids I played with the day before threw stones at me and I knew that was my cue not to go back to school,” Wolff said.
Even at just nine years old, he could sense the discrimination that was targeted at his family.
“Jewish children were expelled from school so I was no longer desired in school, and stayed home,” Wolff said.
Soon, the unimaginable happened.
"I remember the house getting raided at night. They were looking for my parents to arrest and I was standing at the top of the stairs watching all this,” Wolff said.
His dad was taken into custody by Nazi soldiers.
“Luckily enough he was released four days later because one of the arresting officers had served under him in World War I and knew him well,” Wolff said.
His family packed up and immediately headed for London, 30 days before the first shots of the war were fired.
He was only allowed to take a few items with him.
“This is the passport we got out with that allowed us to exit and the middle name is put in as Israel and Sarah for women,” Wolff said.
His parents, mother, and two sisters eventually moved from their temporary home in London to San Francisco.
He met his wife in San Francisco who was also a Holocaust survivor.
Together they had three children, his daughter says the experience helped shape who her parents became.
“We watched our parents do work for other people because I think the Holocaust gave them an appreciation of life, that you make the most of your life and work for the good of the world and the good of other people. All my siblings and I and all six grandkids and everyone is doing something to help other people which I think is a result of my parents in the Holocaust and the lessons they learned and imparted on us,” said his daughter Linda Wolff.
Paul Wolff says he’s concerned not everyone has learned enough from the past.
“I was hoping we can learn from the past a little bit more than we have learned. We need more tolerance about different people with different views and opinions because we all have to work together somehow,” Wolff said.