Hugo Gryn was born in Czechoslovakia on 25th June, 1930. He was born into a prosperous Jewish family and worked in business in the market town of Berehovo.

In 1938 Hungarian troops moved into Berehovo. The following year they were replaced by the German Army. In 1944 the Jews in the town were forced into the ghetto. Six weeks later the Gryn family were deported to Auschwitz. Hugo and his mother survived but his brother and father both died while in the camp.

After the war Gryn emigrated to the United States where he trained as a rabbi. He later moved to England where he was a rabbi for 32 years in a London synagogue. Gryn became a regular radio broadcaster and appeared for many years on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze.

Hugo Gryn died on 18th August 1996. His autobiography, Chasing Shadows, edited by his daughter, Naomi Gryn, was published in 2000.