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Memories

962: The Ratcatchers & The Artifical EyeCharles DansonI'd been the wireless operator for quite some time, so I said to my comrade ‘Let’s change over now’...
963: Experiencing AntisemitismStella ShinderI had a little umbrella with red stripes. A little schoolmate of mine said, 'Is that the blood of German babies that the Jews are killing?' 
964: The Next Thing Is We Were GoneRuth EdwardsI was on the train and saw my father crying. That made me cry. My mother said, perhaps she doesn't want to go. I said, yes, I do want to go...
965: Wounded Animals On The FarmWalter KammerlingIt’s that type of work that put me off gardening. When you go on a cold, wet January & you get a big bag & are told to pick up...
966: I Thought You Were A NaziBea Green MBE There were two girls who often turned up with their Hitler Youth uniform. I stayed clear of them. One of them found me after the war...
967: Fitting InHella Pick CBEThe other pupils must have known I was a refugee. I became a Girl Guide & we were performing something & I was an African chief...
968: How To Talk Without CryingIda SkubiejskaEverybody was killed in Auschwitz: my parents, my sister, all my uncles, aunts & cousins. Absolutely everybody except my other sister & my cousin...
969: No One In My SituationLia LesserIn 1939, my father married again in Prague. His wife was called Ola & she was a seamstress. When she came out of Auschwitz she got in touch...
970: Mother's Death At Our LiberationMirjam FinkelsteinBy January 1945 there were rumours. People got quite excited. There was a wooden table, we had to walk past the camp doctor...
971: Equalising What HappenedDr Charlotte FeldmanThey used to demonstrate in the street below us. They used to shout, ‘Jews to Palestine!’ I had a very happy childhood...
972: Discovering My Brother Was AliveMala Tribich MBEOne day I got a letter from my brother Ben. We were in this stately home with all its beauty, I opened it, I read it & was so excited...
973: The Puzzle & The BlanksJacques Weisser BEMI should've delved more into it, asking questions. But most of the time after the war I wasn't with my father...
974: How To RecoverSusan Pollack OBEIt took a long time for me to strengthen my own needs. I made a friend & she made a very big, deep impression on me. A shared nightmare...
975: Life In A Siberian Labour CampIzak WiesenfeldWe were taken by lorries into the forest, to a huge barrack. The first speech: “You will never get out of here, here you will die..."
976: Coming To England Alone Aged 5Hannah WurzburgerIt's a bottomless pit. So absolutely appalling. Children are so vulnerable. Especially when they're separated from their family...
977: The Cruel GuardianMaria AultMy first guardians were fine. But when we were evacuated we stayed with a very, very, very, very bad person who used to hit us...
978: Hitler On The LoudspeakersSimon JochnowitzI remember Hitler on all the loudspeakers everywhere. You couldn’t escape it. I remember being in bed & saying “Oh I can’t sleep, I can't sleep...
979: Sitting Through ThatBronia SnowMy parents always discussed everything. But not a word was spoken about my going to England. So I found myself one fine day...
980: Getting StreetwiseMargot HarrisWhen we were packing for England, the Gestapo came & went through all the cutlery drawers & took the silver cutlery & this & that...
981: 4th of the 4th, 1944Jack CynamonMy first recollection is aeroplanes in the sky in Brussels. One morning the sky was full of aeroplanes. There must have been 60...
982: Not Dwelling On ThingsGerta RegensburgerI have no feelings & not many memories. I’m not a very retrospective person. It always amazes me that so many people remember...
983: The Struggle To Stay AliveHelen Aronson BEMWe were taken to a disused prison. People were crying & hungry, not knowing anything. In the morning, Chaim Rumkowski came...
984: The Attack On Our SchoolAlbert LesterI was playing with a little car in the common room when there was this huge commotion, children were running, screaming...
985: Black Heart Outside The FlatMiriam FreedmanIt's difficult. Children feel very protected. Everything goes well. Then all of a sudden you see terrible things, like people disappearing...
986: The End of Łódź GhettoHelen Aronson BEMIn 1944, the ghetto was closed, everybody sent to camps. But the Germans decided: there's still some money to be made...
987: Father's DeportationBetty BloomUnfortunately, at 6am, there was a knock on the door & two Gestapo officers marched in & arrested my father...
988: Getting Up From The DustIvor Perl BEMI was only 12 when I was taken to Auschwitz. I feel very, very hurt that I haven’t got many memories of my family...
989: Buying Sauerkraut & SoapEva MendelssonWhen you're a child, when nasty things happen, you remember. It makes a tremendous impression, even if you don’t quite understand...
990: The ShockMarianne Summerfield BEMMy father was asked to report to Nazi headquarters. Stupidly, although my mother told him not to, he just walked into it...
991: My Ransacked SchoolRuth JacksonFor the Nazis, you didn’t have to do anything wrong, you just had to be Jewish. On the day before Kristallnacht, the Nazi Youth went round...
992: ChickenpoxBridget NewmanI was stuck. Then one day, the doorbell rang: a Gestapo. He came in, he was really rather nice. He had white hair & a big, white moustache...
993: Jews Not WelcomeRuth JacksonOne thing stands out in my mind. I went shopping with my mother & saw a man in front of me with a swastika burnt into his skull...
994: Grass Snakes At The BeaconLilly LampertAll I know: I wanted to come to England to be with my sister Gertie. I didn't know I wasn't going to see my parents again...
995: Father's ShopHarry Bibring BEMIt was perfectly OK to try & obtain Jewish property by purchasing it at a peppercorn price...
996: How To Hide In BerlinHans DanzigerMy father had nerves of steel. Before the war, Jews were obliged to put ‘Israel’ in front of their names. My father refused...
997: My Mother & FatherTrude Silman MBEMy mother is a question mark. I know she survived ‘til 1944 because we used to get the odd occasional 25-word Red Cross letter, but then it stopped...
998: Red Oaks Boarding SchoolRuth JacksonI was led upstairs to an empty dormitory & told that the very end bed was mine & I should have a bath & come down to tea. I felt miserable...
999: The Caretaker & His DaughterMiriam FreedmanAt night time, the caretaker used to bring us food. We sat there, never able to talk, no toys or books or anything. Things becoming all the time worse...
1000: IdziaMala Tribich MBERumours started circulating that there's going to be a deportation. So people were in panic, trying to find ways of saving themselves...
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