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Eva Evans MBE came to Britain with her family from Berlin in 1939: I wanted to be a writer. But I never felt that I could write in English the way I could have done in German. So that was the end of that. From the time I could read, I was by myself, reading a book. That was my life. My mother used to have tea parties & I’d sit in the corner reading a book. I didn’t hear what they said. I was completely absorbed in books & fantasy life. We had a garden opposite our house. A whole colony of gardens. In Germany they were called Schrebergärten. I played Red Indians there with my schoolfriend. Our main occupation—such a pleasurable thing I remember from my childhood. We had to walk very quietly across the leaves so the enemy wouldn’t hear us. Eva's father's Iron Cross, awarded for heroism in WW1, allowed her to stay on at her Berlin school when other Jewish children were excluded. I remember being asked to a birthday party. The father was in Air Force uniform. I looked at him with a little bit of surprise. He must have realised that I was Jewish & he looked at me with equal surprise. But that was all that happened. The November Pogrom (Kristallnacht) was traumatic for Eva & her family, who left soon after. I did feel terrible during those days—really awful. I had a terrible itch, a rash all down my back but there was nothing to see. The only thing I brought with me—I’ve still got it now: when my friend Steffi & I played Red Indians we had little animals & they were our totems. I've got that still. I’m not quite sure where it is at the moment but I know I brought it with me. At the frontier what I remember is the police & my mother's coat. It had pebbles sewn into the seams so that it hangs. They thought it was jewellery. It wasn’t, it was pebbles. In England all I cared about was going to school. In Norfolk Court Hotel there were people there who knew both German & English. I was always very good writing essays. I wrote in German & they translated it for me. But when I came to England I lost the fluency of my writing. When war broke out the family moved to Torquay & then Barrow-in-Furness. Eva's father was interned. Eva did war work, in a shipyard & then in the fire service. I used to have to work out the amount of petrol to be used by the fire engines. Every weekend I used to hitchhike to see the country. I love nature. It liberates me. I took risks—I would never allow my daughters to do what I did in those days. Stand in the road & hitchhike & lorries. I didn’t go into private cars. I had a pocket knife always to defend myself. But nothing ever happened. Once the RAF had a dance & I went to that. Otherwise I felt such a gulf that I didn’t try to be intimate with anybody. Postwar, Eva went to university & worked first in the rare book trade, then with European academics. She has an MBE for services to European Studies. I had a very good Prussian training. That’s why I’m so good, if I say so myself, at my job. I got that from my father: orderliness. I always did what had to be done whether I liked it or not. That’s a very good thing to be brought up that way. There is some kind of darkness in my childhood & I’ve never got over that, the Nazi atmosphere that affected my parents. But no, I don't want to say that. I've had a happy life. It’s had a very deep effect but it’s a fact of life. There are lots of other refugees. 938: Some Kind Of Darkness Eva Evans MBE Credits & tags Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Previous Memory Next Memory ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Previous Memory Next Memory 938: Some Kind Of Darkness ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Eva Evans MBE Read Full Text Previous Memory Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Next Memory ← Previous Memory Credits & tags Edited from Eva Evans MBE 's interview with Sharon Rappaport for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, July 2006 • Learn More → Eva Evans MBE Asked To Leave School November Pogrom / Kristallnacht Refugee Life War Work Read AJR biography Next Memory → See Instagram & Facebook posts England See Locations Full Text Eva Evans MBE came to Britain with her family from Berlin in 1939: I wanted to be a writer. But I never felt that I could write in English the way I could have done in German. So that was the end of that. From the time I could read, I was by myself, reading a book. That was my life. My mother used to have tea parties & I’d sit in the corner reading a book. I didn’t hear what they said. I was completely absorbed in books & fantasy life. We had a garden opposite our house. A whole colony of gardens. In Germany they were called Schrebergärten. I played Red Indians there with my schoolfriend. Our main occupation—such a pleasurable thing I remember from my childhood. We had to walk very quietly across the leaves so the enemy wouldn’t hear us. Eva's father's Iron Cross, awarded for heroism in WW1, allowed her to stay on at her Berlin school when other Jewish children were excluded. I remember being asked to a birthday party. The father was in Air Force uniform. I looked at him with a little bit of surprise. He must have realised that I was Jewish & he looked at me with equal surprise. But that was all that happened. The November Pogrom (Kristallnacht) was traumatic for Eva & her family, who left soon after. I did feel terrible during those days—really awful. I had a terrible itch, a rash all down my back but there was nothing to see. The only thing I brought with me—I’ve still got it now: when my friend Steffi & I played Red Indians we had little animals & they were our totems. I've got that still. I’m not quite sure where it is at the moment but I know I brought it with me. At the frontier what I remember is the police & my mother's coat. It had pebbles sewn into the seams so that it hangs. They thought it was jewellery. It wasn’t, it was pebbles. In England all I cared about was going to school. In Norfolk Court Hotel there were people there who knew both German & English. I was always very good writing essays. I wrote in German & they translated it for me. But when I came to England I lost the fluency of my writing. When war broke out the family moved to Torquay & then Barrow-in-Furness. Eva's father was interned. Eva did war work, in a shipyard & then in the fire service. I used to have to work out the amount of petrol to be used by the fire engines. Every weekend I used to hitchhike to see the country. I love nature. It liberates me. I took risks—I would never allow my daughters to do what I did in those days. Stand in the road & hitchhike & lorries. I didn’t go into private cars. I had a pocket knife always to defend myself. But nothing ever happened. Once the RAF had a dance & I went to that. Otherwise I felt such a gulf that I didn’t try to be intimate with anybody. Postwar, Eva went to university & worked first in the rare book trade, then with European academics. She has an MBE for services to European Studies. I had a very good Prussian training. That’s why I’m so good, if I say so myself, at my job. I got that from my father: orderliness. I always did what had to be done whether I liked it or not. That’s a very good thing to be brought up that way. There is some kind of darkness in my childhood & I’ve never got over that, the Nazi atmosphere that affected my parents. But no, I don't want to say that. I've had a happy life. It’s had a very deep effect but it’s a fact of life. There are lots of other refugees. 938: Some Kind Of Darkness Eva Evans MBE Edited from Eva Evans MBE 's interview with Sharon Rappaport for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, July 2006 • Learn More → Text adapted and edited by Susanna Kleeman Facebook & Instagram Posts

935: Starting To Speak Mala Tribich MBE spent the war in hiding in Poland & then in Ravensbrück & Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. All her family except her brother were murdered. Today she is a powerful Holocaust educator. Mala Tribich MBE Read Full Text Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Home All Memories About Menu Close ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → ← Previous Memory Credits & tags Adapted from Mala Tribich MBE's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, September 2023 • Learn More → Mala Tribich MBE Bergen-Belsen Close Family Murdered Concentration Camp Ravensbrück Recovery Telling The Story Read AJR biography Next Memory → See Instagram & Facebook posts England See Locations Full Text Mala Tribich MBE spent the war in hiding in Poland & then in Ravensbrück & Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. All her family except her brother were murdered. Today she is a powerful Holocaust educator. Talking about my experiences was a very gradual process. One of the first times was a Jewish club. The man who ran it—he was a teenager then—was very enterprising to have asked me. People weren’t even thinking of asking survivors to speak then. It was very early. He just felt there is something to learn and he asked me to speak. People generally started speaking in 1981. There was a reunion of people who'd been in Auschwitz together. There they used to discuss things & plan for after the war. They said if we survive & we're free, we’ll all meet again. So that reunion took place in Israel in 1981. When I came back, a Jewish group I belonged to organised a meeting—we used to have meetings in people’s houses, we weren’t a very big group. But when I got back, they organised this meeting & actually booked a hall. So many people turned up. People were interested. Before no one was talking & no one asked—liked to ask, so it just stayed silent for all those years. The odd talk here & there. So that’s when people really started talking about the Shoah. I said I wouldn't speak, but I did. And a friend spoke as well. It started from there. Sometimes I didn't want people to know that I am a survivor. We didn't call them survivors. I don't know what we called them. It just seemed so horrific & so out of normal life. I didn't ask to speak, ever. But once I was talking about a camp & this woman made this funny face. Like: oh, dear, how awful. But it was a response that made me realise she really hadn’t a clue because people wouldn't respond like that if they knew. It’s much more than 'oh dear', you know. So many aspects of people’s reactions & what people felt & said & how they said it. Now it’s come to a point where it’s an established thing. People know about it, they teach it at schools, it’s something that can be discussed. But at the beginning it was just weird. Sometimes I felt I didn't want people to know that I was in a concentration camp. If people asked me, where do you come from, sometimes I used to say: Sweden, sort of not fully understanding or pretending not to understand that where you come from isn't where you’ve just arrived from, but where you were born. So I said it quite innocently actually. I've sorted it all out [laughs] in time but I had very mixed feelings. I didn't even tell my husband's family, because it wasn’t a subject for discussion. No framework for talking. It was painful, not just for me. People were so horrified. Then books started coming out. People learned that way. The schools came much later & when they came, they didn't use it because it wasn’t compulsory. It was on the curriculum but they weren’t obliged to teach it. So now it is compulsory, so it’s different. But I don't think of myself as a survivor. I don't like to be branded as something. I’m a lot of other things as well. An ordinary human being. Talking about what happened isn't therapeutic for me but it also doesn't damage me or disturb me. It keeps it alive for me. It’s just part of my life. But I'm very motivated. I think it is so important for people to hear the story. It’s not about me. But I think it desperately needs to be told. People need to know & maybe some of them will be affected in a way to actually become active about it & do something about antisemitism. It matters that it comes from me. If you're hearing something secondhand, well, it’s second-hand. Sometimes when I speak I really have tears in my eyes but I never cry with tears, no matter how tragic or terrible. My eyes fill with tears but they don't come down my face. 935: Starting To Speak Mala Tribich MBE Adapted from Mala Tribich MBE's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, September 2023 • Learn More → Text adapted and edited by Susanna Kleeman Facebook & Instagram Posts

Ruth Jackson, age 12, Berlin, November 8, 1938: For 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 & painted a big white ‘J’ or wrote the word ‘Jude’ meaning ‘Jew’, on all the shop windows in Berlin, so that was an easier target for them. On the actual night I was woken—my parents told me to get dressed, & we all sat & waited, because we could hear all the noise down the roads, of lorries, people being—shouted, being pulled out of their homes. There was a furrier opposite us & he had two small children. They were pulled out in their nightclothes & shoved onto the lorry. It was a very frightening experience. I was waiting for them to come into our house any moment now, but somehow we got missed out. It was a corner house & they went round the corner & they took a young family with a baby. I really couldn’t understand what they could have done wrong. So we sat there waiting & finally with a lot of shouting & banging, a lot of noise everywhere, glass flying, the Nazis left. My mother made the usual cup of coffee & said, ‘Now we can go to bed’, but we really couldn’t go to sleep any more. The next morning she told me not to go to school, but I was fond of school so I went, only to find that my school had been ransacked. We had vines growing up the school & we enjoyed harvesting the grapes, but they had all been pulled down. The books were all smouldering from the fire in the foreground. The building was a new building so it was very much of a concrete block, they couldn’t do much there but the glass windows of course were broken, the furniture was broken or burnt. The Headmistress told us to go home again, very quietly, but in small groups, which we did. After that, my parents thought it was best that I went to another school again, which I did. The new school was not far away from the KDW, if you know where that is, it’s a big store, on Joachimsthaler Strasse, it was called the Josef-Lehmann-Schule. So I went there, just for a short time, until I emigrated. After going to the new school I used to quite often walk to the school, take a bus in the morning, walk home again. I quite liked walking down the Kurfürstendamm, especially at Christmastime, they used to have Christmas trees for sale all along the road, & they had booths along there, selling things, Christmassy things. Like any other child I enjoyed looking at those, but I couldn’t understand why all these people were all in such a happy mood. They didn’t seem to care about what was happening to us at all. And Hanukkah, that’s our feast of lights, was spent very quietly at home. 991: My Ransacked School Ruth Jackson Credits & tags Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Previous Memory Next Memory ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Previous Memory Next Memory 991: My Ransacked School ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Ruth Jackson Read Full Text Previous Memory Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Next Memory ← Previous Memory Credits & tags Adapted from Ruth Jackson's interview with Helen Lloyd for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, August 2004 • Learn More → Ruth Jackson Destruction Of Property November Pogrom / Kristallnacht Read AJR biography Next Memory → See Instagram & Facebook posts Germany See Locations Full Text Ruth Jackson, age 12, Berlin, November 8, 1938: For 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 & painted a big white ‘J’ or wrote the word ‘Jude’ meaning ‘Jew’, on all the shop windows in Berlin, so that was an easier target for them. On the actual night I was woken—my parents told me to get dressed, & we all sat & waited, because we could hear all the noise down the roads, of lorries, people being—shouted, being pulled out of their homes. There was a furrier opposite us & he had two small children. They were pulled out in their nightclothes & shoved onto the lorry. It was a very frightening experience. I was waiting for them to come into our house any moment now, but somehow we got missed out. It was a corner house & they went round the corner & they took a young family with a baby. I really couldn’t understand what they could have done wrong. So we sat there waiting & finally with a lot of shouting & banging, a lot of noise everywhere, glass flying, the Nazis left. My mother made the usual cup of coffee & said, ‘Now we can go to bed’, but we really couldn’t go to sleep any more. The next morning she told me not to go to school, but I was fond of school so I went, only to find that my school had been ransacked. We had vines growing up the school & we enjoyed harvesting the grapes, but they had all been pulled down. The books were all smouldering from the fire in the foreground. The building was a new building so it was very much of a concrete block, they couldn’t do much there but the glass windows of course were broken, the furniture was broken or burnt. The Headmistress told us to go home again, very quietly, but in small groups, which we did. After that, my parents thought it was best that I went to another school again, which I did. The new school was not far away from the KDW, if you know where that is, it’s a big store, on Joachimsthaler Strasse, it was called the Josef-Lehmann-Schule. So I went there, just for a short time, until I emigrated. After going to the new school I used to quite often walk to the school, take a bus in the morning, walk home again. I quite liked walking down the Kurfürstendamm, especially at Christmastime, they used to have Christmas trees for sale all along the road, & they had booths along there, selling things, Christmassy things. Like any other child I enjoyed looking at those, but I couldn’t understand why all these people were all in such a happy mood. They didn’t seem to care about what was happening to us at all. And Hanukkah, that’s our feast of lights, was spent very quietly at home. 991: My Ransacked School Ruth Jackson Adapted from Ruth Jackson's interview with Helen Lloyd for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, August 2004 • Learn More → Text adapted and edited by Susanna Kleeman Facebook & Instagram Posts

Budapest: Stephen Nagy was nine and a half in September 1944: I contracted scarlet fever, at that time a very serious illness. You had to go to an isolation hospital for six weeks. On October 14th I got a phone call from my father saying to get my clothes together: the next day I'd go home. But the next day was October 15, when the right-wing fascist Hungarians under Ferenc Szálasi took over. So, I was stuck in hospital. At first, I felt reasonably safe. I had a friend there who called me, in Hungarian, büdös zsidó, which means “smelly Jew” which the Jews were called. I wasn't pleased. But he wasn't very nasty about it. I didn't understand why I was still in the hospital. I later learned that first of all no one could come for me because the Germans blew up the bridge. Also, my family arranged through connections with the hospital director that they keep me there until further notice. I heard guns. The Russians were getting nearer. Then on December 21, suddenly this gentleman called Mr. Bujdosi, I remember the name, a lovely gentleman, came with a car. And I was taken to an International Red Cross house. There were a lot of Jewish children there. Conditions were reasonably normal. There was food. I was quite ignorant of what was going on except I knew there was a war. I knew the Russians were coming nearer. I knew that there were daily air raids, the siren sounded. We had to go down to the shelter. The house escaped because there was obviously a Red Cross marked on the roof. I was pretty frightened. I wasn't a happy bunny. But I was 9½ & reasonably streetwise. I was already on my own for nearly two months. I was fending for myself. I found it a relatively normal thing. There were 2 or 3 adults in charge. One woman was a rather old battle axe, not very pleasant to us. Then, soon after Christmas, suddenly, the adults disappeared. I was curious what was happening & went down in the shelter. I found lots of old Jewish people, including my father's second cousin. When she saw me, she just said, 'My God. What are you doing here? Don't go back upstairs. Stay downstairs with me. We've still got some food.' So I stayed. "Then on January 18, after weeks of awful bombing suddenly there was eerie silence. I woke up on a straw mattress next to the lady. She said 'Don't go outside!' but I did & found we were 'free'. The same day, my relative’s daughter came for her & found me there & took me back to their flat. I had my first decent meal there. A potato dish. What happened after that—I never forgave her—was that the daughter took me to a Yellow Star house, saying she didn't know anything about my parents but that my uncle & aunt were there, which they weren't. So I was stuck there alone for another 4 weeks. The remaining Germans tried to dig a tunnel & escape but were all annihilated. So there was lots of bombs. Sadly, my older relative, who was at the International Red Cross house, was in the street & was killed by a shrapnel. Eventually my uncle & aunt arrived. It was ice cold. The Danube was frozen over. My job was to go down with a saucepan & bring up water from the ground floor because there was no pressure. I carried this water up, stopping after each floor because by this stage I was quite weak. One day, February 1, I was carrying water, I heard a strange voice, which I thought may have been my brother's but it's gone a bit deeper than what I remembered. I went up there & found my mother & brother in the flat. They'd escaped from Old Buda. They were in a house where Germans moved into the lower ground floor. But on the 31st of January, suddenly these Germans disappeared. So next day, my mother & brother went down to the Danube, where it narrows & was thick ice. They had taken the dog, who was very close to my 7-year-old cousin. Several times, my brother gave it a kick to go back but it wouldn't. They managed to cross the Danube & decided to write a little note, “We crossed the Danube at Ujpest. Come after us.” And my brother gave the dog a huge big kick & it found a way all the way back to the house. And as my cousin put her arms around the dog & kissed the dog she found this note. So the next day, my aunt, with my father & my cousin, came the same way & arrived at my uncle & aunt's yellow star house, where we all were. So that was the family reunion. 929: Fending For Myself Aged 9 Stephen Nagy Credits & tags Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Previous Memory Next Memory ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Previous Memory Next Memory 929: Fending For Myself Aged 9 ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Stephen Nagy Read Full Text Previous Memory Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Next Memory ← Previous Memory Credits & tags Edited from Stephen Nagy's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, March 2019 • Learn More → Stephen Nagy Arrow Cross In Hiding Jewish House Liberation Nerves of Steel Reunited Read AJR biography Next Memory → See Instagram & Facebook posts Hungary See Locations Full Text Budapest: Stephen Nagy was nine and a half in September 1944: I contracted scarlet fever, at that time a very serious illness. You had to go to an isolation hospital for six weeks. On October 14th I got a phone call from my father saying to get my clothes together: the next day I'd go home. But the next day was October 15, when the right-wing fascist Hungarians under Ferenc Szálasi took over. So, I was stuck in hospital. At first, I felt reasonably safe. I had a friend there who called me, in Hungarian, büdös zsidó, which means “smelly Jew” which the Jews were called. I wasn't pleased. But he wasn't very nasty about it. I didn't understand why I was still in the hospital. I later learned that first of all no one could come for me because the Germans blew up the bridge. Also, my family arranged through connections with the hospital director that they keep me there until further notice. I heard guns. The Russians were getting nearer. Then on December 21, suddenly this gentleman called Mr. Bujdosi, I remember the name, a lovely gentleman, came with a car. And I was taken to an International Red Cross house. There were a lot of Jewish children there. Conditions were reasonably normal. There was food. I was quite ignorant of what was going on except I knew there was a war. I knew the Russians were coming nearer. I knew that there were daily air raids, the siren sounded. We had to go down to the shelter. The house escaped because there was obviously a Red Cross marked on the roof. I was pretty frightened. I wasn't a happy bunny. But I was 9½ & reasonably streetwise. I was already on my own for nearly two months. I was fending for myself. I found it a relatively normal thing. There were 2 or 3 adults in charge. One woman was a rather old battle axe, not very pleasant to us. Then, soon after Christmas, suddenly, the adults disappeared. I was curious what was happening & went down in the shelter. I found lots of old Jewish people, including my father's second cousin. When she saw me, she just said, 'My God. What are you doing here? Don't go back upstairs. Stay downstairs with me. We've still got some food.' So I stayed. "Then on January 18, after weeks of awful bombing suddenly there was eerie silence. I woke up on a straw mattress next to the lady. She said 'Don't go outside!' but I did & found we were 'free'. The same day, my relative’s daughter came for her & found me there & took me back to their flat. I had my first decent meal there. A potato dish. What happened after that—I never forgave her—was that the daughter took me to a Yellow Star house, saying she didn't know anything about my parents but that my uncle & aunt were there, which they weren't. So I was stuck there alone for another 4 weeks. The remaining Germans tried to dig a tunnel & escape but were all annihilated. So there was lots of bombs. Sadly, my older relative, who was at the International Red Cross house, was in the street & was killed by a shrapnel. Eventually my uncle & aunt arrived. It was ice cold. The Danube was frozen over. My job was to go down with a saucepan & bring up water from the ground floor because there was no pressure. I carried this water up, stopping after each floor because by this stage I was quite weak. One day, February 1, I was carrying water, I heard a strange voice, which I thought may have been my brother's but it's gone a bit deeper than what I remembered. I went up there & found my mother & brother in the flat. They'd escaped from Old Buda. They were in a house where Germans moved into the lower ground floor. But on the 31st of January, suddenly these Germans disappeared. So next day, my mother & brother went down to the Danube, where it narrows & was thick ice. They had taken the dog, who was very close to my 7-year-old cousin. Several times, my brother gave it a kick to go back but it wouldn't. They managed to cross the Danube & decided to write a little note, “We crossed the Danube at Ujpest. Come after us.” And my brother gave the dog a huge big kick & it found a way all the way back to the house. And as my cousin put her arms around the dog & kissed the dog she found this note. So the next day, my aunt, with my father & my cousin, came the same way & arrived at my uncle & aunt's yellow star house, where we all were. So that was the family reunion. 929: Fending For Myself Aged 9 Stephen Nagy Edited from Stephen Nagy's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, March 2019 • Learn More → Text adapted and edited by Susanna Kleeman Facebook & Instagram Posts

1944: Charles Danson, a Berlin-born British Army tank gunner & wireless operator, sees action in the Battle of Arnhem: The gunner & wireless operator used to change over. I'd been the wireless operator for quite some time, so I said to my comrade ‘Let’s change over now’. He said ‘It’s getting late, don’t let’s bother now, it will soon get dark anyway, then we go back’. I said ‘I’m happy & willing to change with you’. ‘No’, he said, ‘Let’s leave it as it is’. The lieutenant gave the orders to advance. An anti-tank gun had been firing all day. But it stopped firing. So they told us to advance, & no sooner did we advance, that anti-tank gun opened fire. The tank was hit, there were huge flames. I jumped out. The gunner, who hadn’t wanted to change with me was killed outright. If we had changed it would have been me. The commander was killed outright, the driver was also injured. We jumped out. As soon as we jumped out the tank went up in flames, & I felt something sort of streaming down here, & could see a bit of blood, but you are of course in shock so I didn’t pay much attention to it. We sat somewhere for half an hour, the firing died down, I thought I could recall where the other tanks were. I said to my comrade in arms—he hadn't died, was either asleep or fainted or something—I said to him ‘I will see if I can find our tanks, so that we can rejoin. So I started crawling forward because I was also injured in my leg & finger & eye. I started crawling forward. Suddenly, the little bush in front of me opened, & two German officers emerged holding their pistol at me. There’s no use being a hero in situations like that. I put my hands up & was taken prisoner. One officer said ‘What’s the matter with his eye?’ The other said ‘Das Aug’is pfutsch’, that eye is gone. I had a terrible headache & said to one of the officers, in English of course, ‘I’ve got a terrible headache, I’d like an aspirin’. He said to his fellow officer: ‘Have you got an aspirin?’ The other one said: ‘No, I’ve got a peppermint’, in German ‘Give him that, he won’t know the difference’. Of course I understood every word. They put me in the sidecar & started driving away. I must have fallen asleep. The next thing I remember: sitting in a train between the two officers. We pulled up at the station, I looked out. The sign said: ‘Hameln. Willkommen in der Rattenfängerstadt’. Hamelin, welcome to the city of ratcatchers. I was very scared they'd find out I was a German Jew. We got to Düsseldorf, they took me to an army hospital. I was the only English prisoner of war. An eye surgeon came in to examine me. He told me that that eye had gone, that he had to do something to remove what was left & that the next morning I had to have an operation. The next morning, the eye surgeon, I will never forget his name, Dr Hoffmann, came in & said in German ‘Good morning, let me look at you’. I answered in English. He said ‘No, no, no, Mr Danson, you can speak German perfectly well: you spoke German in your anaesthetic. With an English accent, of course’. It flashed through my mind immediately: this man cannot be a Nazi, nobody speaks his mother tongue with a foreign accent. So by that he gave me to understand, that if I spoke German, ever, I should continue to do so with an English accent. I was in that hospital for several days. They very kindly arranged for me to have an artificial eye fitted. If it hadn’t been done the socket would have shrunk, I would have never been able to get one in. Then I was sent to a German prisoner of war camp. It was called Fallingbostel, Stalag 11B, in the Lüneburg Heath, very lovely surroundings, actually. I stayed there until we were liberated by the Desert Rats in April 45. 962: Speaking German With An English Accent Charles Danson Credits & tags Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Previous Memory Next Memory ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Previous Memory Next Memory 962: Speaking German With An English Accent ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Charles Danson Read Full Text Previous Memory Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Next Memory ← Previous Memory Credits & tags Edited from Charles Danson's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, June 2003 • Learn More → Charles Danson British Army Helped By Non-Jews Near Escape Prisoner Of War Read AJR biography Next Memory → See Instagram & Facebook posts Germany See Locations Full Text 1944: Charles Danson, a Berlin-born British Army tank gunner & wireless operator, sees action in the Battle of Arnhem: The gunner & wireless operator used to change over. I'd been the wireless operator for quite some time, so I said to my comrade ‘Let’s change over now’. He said ‘It’s getting late, don’t let’s bother now, it will soon get dark anyway, then we go back’. I said ‘I’m happy & willing to change with you’. ‘No’, he said, ‘Let’s leave it as it is’. The lieutenant gave the orders to advance. An anti-tank gun had been firing all day. But it stopped firing. So they told us to advance, & no sooner did we advance, that anti-tank gun opened fire. The tank was hit, there were huge flames. I jumped out. The gunner, who hadn’t wanted to change with me was killed outright. If we had changed it would have been me. The commander was killed outright, the driver was also injured. We jumped out. As soon as we jumped out the tank went up in flames, & I felt something sort of streaming down here, & could see a bit of blood, but you are of course in shock so I didn’t pay much attention to it. We sat somewhere for half an hour, the firing died down, I thought I could recall where the other tanks were. I said to my comrade in arms—he hadn't died, was either asleep or fainted or something—I said to him ‘I will see if I can find our tanks, so that we can rejoin. So I started crawling forward because I was also injured in my leg & finger & eye. I started crawling forward. Suddenly, the little bush in front of me opened, & two German officers emerged holding their pistol at me. There’s no use being a hero in situations like that. I put my hands up & was taken prisoner. One officer said ‘What’s the matter with his eye?’ The other said ‘Das Aug’is pfutsch’, that eye is gone. I had a terrible headache & said to one of the officers, in English of course, ‘I’ve got a terrible headache, I’d like an aspirin’. He said to his fellow officer: ‘Have you got an aspirin?’ The other one said: ‘No, I’ve got a peppermint’, in German ‘Give him that, he won’t know the difference’. Of course I understood every word. They put me in the sidecar & started driving away. I must have fallen asleep. The next thing I remember: sitting in a train between the two officers. We pulled up at the station, I looked out. The sign said: ‘Hameln. Willkommen in der Rattenfängerstadt’. Hamelin, welcome to the city of ratcatchers. I was very scared they'd find out I was a German Jew. We got to Düsseldorf, they took me to an army hospital. I was the only English prisoner of war. An eye surgeon came in to examine me. He told me that that eye had gone, that he had to do something to remove what was left & that the next morning I had to have an operation. The next morning, the eye surgeon, I will never forget his name, Dr Hoffmann, came in & said in German ‘Good morning, let me look at you’. I answered in English. He said ‘No, no, no, Mr Danson, you can speak German perfectly well: you spoke German in your anaesthetic. With an English accent, of course’. It flashed through my mind immediately: this man cannot be a Nazi, nobody speaks his mother tongue with a foreign accent. So by that he gave me to understand, that if I spoke German, ever, I should continue to do so with an English accent. I was in that hospital for several days. They very kindly arranged for me to have an artificial eye fitted. If it hadn’t been done the socket would have shrunk, I would have never been able to get one in. Then I was sent to a German prisoner of war camp. It was called Fallingbostel, Stalag 11B, in the Lüneburg Heath, very lovely surroundings, actually. I stayed there until we were liberated by the Desert Rats in April 45. 962: Speaking German With An English Accent Charles Danson Edited from Charles Danson's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, June 2003 • Learn More → Text adapted and edited by Susanna Kleeman Facebook & Instagram Posts

Australian Internment Memories 961: Having My Revenge Willy Field I was a refugee from Nazi oppression. I wanted to have my revenge & I had my revenge. That was a wonderful feeling... Read Full Memory Previous Experience Next Experience

Foster Family Memories 931: Let Down Too Many Times Ruth Barnett MBE My mother appeared out of nowhere. Which was how I experienced it: the grown-ups made arrangements & then I was told... Read Full Memory 977: The Cruel Guardian Maria Ault My first guardians were fine. But when we were evacuated we stayed with a very, very, very, very bad person who used to hit us... Read Full Memory 998: Red Oaks Boarding School Ruth Jackson I 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... Read Full Memory Previous Experience Next Experience

Encounter With Hitler Memories 993: Jews Not Welcome Ruth Jackson One 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... Read Full Memory Previous Experience Next Experience

929: Fending For Myself Aged 9 Budapest: Stephen Nagy was nine and a half in September 1944: Stephen Nagy Read Full Text Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Home All Memories About Menu Close ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → ← Previous Memory Credits & tags Edited from Stephen Nagy's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, March 2019 • Learn More → Stephen Nagy Arrow Cross In Hiding Jewish House Liberation Nerves of Steel Reunited Read AJR biography Next Memory → See Instagram & Facebook posts Hungary See Locations Full Text Budapest: Stephen Nagy was nine and a half in September 1944: I contracted scarlet fever, at that time a very serious illness. You had to go to an isolation hospital for six weeks. On October 14th I got a phone call from my father saying to get my clothes together: the next day I'd go home. But the next day was October 15, when the right-wing fascist Hungarians under Ferenc Szálasi took over. So, I was stuck in hospital. At first, I felt reasonably safe. I had a friend there who called me, in Hungarian, büdös zsidó, which means “smelly Jew” which the Jews were called. I wasn't pleased. But he wasn't very nasty about it. I didn't understand why I was still in the hospital. I later learned that first of all no one could come for me because the Germans blew up the bridge. Also, my family arranged through connections with the hospital director that they keep me there until further notice. I heard guns. The Russians were getting nearer. Then on December 21, suddenly this gentleman called Mr. Bujdosi, I remember the name, a lovely gentleman, came with a car. And I was taken to an International Red Cross house. There were a lot of Jewish children there. Conditions were reasonably normal. There was food. I was quite ignorant of what was going on except I knew there was a war. I knew the Russians were coming nearer. I knew that there were daily air raids, the siren sounded. We had to go down to the shelter. The house escaped because there was obviously a Red Cross marked on the roof. I was pretty frightened. I wasn't a happy bunny. But I was 9½ & reasonably streetwise. I was already on my own for nearly two months. I was fending for myself. I found it a relatively normal thing. There were 2 or 3 adults in charge. One woman was a rather old battle axe, not very pleasant to us. Then, soon after Christmas, suddenly, the adults disappeared. I was curious what was happening & went down in the shelter. I found lots of old Jewish people, including my father's second cousin. When she saw me, she just said, 'My God. What are you doing here? Don't go back upstairs. Stay downstairs with me. We've still got some food.' So I stayed. "Then on January 18, after weeks of awful bombing suddenly there was eerie silence. I woke up on a straw mattress next to the lady. She said 'Don't go outside!' but I did & found we were 'free'. The same day, my relative’s daughter came for her & found me there & took me back to their flat. I had my first decent meal there. A potato dish. What happened after that—I never forgave her—was that the daughter took me to a Yellow Star house, saying she didn't know anything about my parents but that my uncle & aunt were there, which they weren't. So I was stuck there alone for another 4 weeks. The remaining Germans tried to dig a tunnel & escape but were all annihilated. So there was lots of bombs. Sadly, my older relative, who was at the International Red Cross house, was in the street & was killed by a shrapnel. Eventually my uncle & aunt arrived. It was ice cold. The Danube was frozen over. My job was to go down with a saucepan & bring up water from the ground floor because there was no pressure. I carried this water up, stopping after each floor because by this stage I was quite weak. One day, February 1, I was carrying water, I heard a strange voice, which I thought may have been my brother's but it's gone a bit deeper than what I remembered. I went up there & found my mother & brother in the flat. They'd escaped from Old Buda. They were in a house where Germans moved into the lower ground floor. But on the 31st of January, suddenly these Germans disappeared. So next day, my mother & brother went down to the Danube, where it narrows & was thick ice. They had taken the dog, who was very close to my 7-year-old cousin. Several times, my brother gave it a kick to go back but it wouldn't. They managed to cross the Danube & decided to write a little note, “We crossed the Danube at Ujpest. Come after us.” And my brother gave the dog a huge big kick & it found a way all the way back to the house. And as my cousin put her arms around the dog & kissed the dog she found this note. So the next day, my aunt, with my father & my cousin, came the same way & arrived at my uncle & aunt's yellow star house, where we all were. So that was the family reunion. 929: Fending For Myself Aged 9 Stephen Nagy Edited from Stephen Nagy's interview with Dr Bea Lewkowicz for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, March 2019 • Learn More → Text adapted and edited by Susanna Kleeman Facebook & Instagram Posts

19 March, 1944 German troops invade Hungary. Laszlo Roman is 3: It wasn't unusual for little children walking outside with their mum, if they needed a pee, going to the side of the road. I was always told I mustn’t do it because someone might see that I am circumcised. My father was in the forced labour brigade. Jews weren’t allowed in the army, they were in the munkaszolgálat labour brigade. In the east they used them to clear mines. They marched them across & blew them up so the army would be OK. My father was lucky. He stayed in Romania & eastern Hungary so he sort of came home but most of my time he wasn’t there. His photo was up on the mantelpiece. That was your dad. Once he came home & wanted to kiss me: ‘Who are you?’ He said, ‘I’m your father.’ I said, ‘No, no, no, that’s my father, the photo. You’re not my father,’ [laughs]. So that was ‘til March ’44. The first thing I really remember, after the invasion: my mother had a very fortunate nature. She never sort of said, ‘Oh, my God.’ She always smiled. I looked at her & as long as she was there, the world was fine. Then one morning they came, Nazis, the Hungarian Arrow Cross. Collaborators. Two of her sisters stayed with us: all their husbands were in the labour brigades. One morning they came & collected the 3 women & took them to the brick factory from where they were to be deported. It was a Jewish house so they came & took the 3 women there. I stayed there with my grandfather, a WW1 veteran. He lost a leg, was disabled from WW1, which gave him a certain amount of protection. But I was terribly desperate because they took my mother. As luck would have it my father came to visit us, my grandfather & me, & he was told what happened. He managed to get back to his brigade & got 3 armed men from the brigade. They went down to the brick factory to collect my mother. The guards in the brick factory said 'What the hell are you doing here, bloody Jews?’ They said they had an order requesting my mother to the kitchen of the labour brigade. So they said, ‘All right,’ & went around shouting, Aranka Roman, Aranka Roman,’ but my mother said no, she doesn’t want to leave her sisters. The sisters said, ‘No, you must go because Laszitka is at home.’ That’s me. So she came out & I got reunited with my mother. The sisters got deported & went through a lot but survived. Then I stayed with my mother. We were moved from our original address to a Jewish house. There were a lot of people in the apartment including my cousin. I was not yet 4, she was 6. Our grandfather had only one leg & we slept in the same bed. Judy occupied the legless side of the bed which was more comfortable. We still have a laugh about that. On one occasion—even then Jews were allowed half-an-hour in the morning to go out & buy bread or potatoes, whatever. I was out with my mother with my yellow star & her yellow star. Hungarian apartments are: you go in the main door & there’s a courtyard & apartments are around. As we approached we could see in the courtyard that all the women were there—the men were already in the labour brigade. All the women were there & Arrow Cross soldiers. So my mother said, ‘Hold on, we’re not going in there. Take off the yellow star, keep quiet, don’t talk’. I was not yet four. We took the tramcar which we weren’t allowed in since, I don’t know, earlier & went a few stops to where one of her sisters was in a protected house because there were these protected house. It turned out that all these women were taken down to the Danube tied together & shot & pushed into the Danube. Later on, whenever I crossed the bridges from Pest to Buda I could always see bodies floating in the river because these people were shot there. They shot them not to kill them, just to harm them so that they drowned. 943: The Legless Side Of The Bed Laszlo Roman Credits & tags Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Previous Memory Next Memory ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Previous Memory Next Memory 943: The Legless Side Of The Bed ← Previous Memory All Memories Next Memory → Laszlo Roman Read Full Text Previous Memory Home Memories People Places Experiences About Contact Menu Close Next Memory ← Previous Memory Credits & tags Edited from Marianne Summerfield BEM's interview with Clare Csonka for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, June 2022 • Learn More → Laszlo Roman Arrow Cross Forced Labour Jewish House Near Escape Nerves of Steel Reunited Yellow Star Read AJR biography Next Memory → See Instagram & Facebook posts Hungary See Locations Full Text 19 March, 1944 German troops invade Hungary. Laszlo Roman is 3: It wasn't unusual for little children walking outside with their mum, if they needed a pee, going to the side of the road. I was always told I mustn’t do it because someone might see that I am circumcised. My father was in the forced labour brigade. Jews weren’t allowed in the army, they were in the munkaszolgálat labour brigade. In the east they used them to clear mines. They marched them across & blew them up so the army would be OK. My father was lucky. He stayed in Romania & eastern Hungary so he sort of came home but most of my time he wasn’t there. His photo was up on the mantelpiece. That was your dad. Once he came home & wanted to kiss me: ‘Who are you?’ He said, ‘I’m your father.’ I said, ‘No, no, no, that’s my father, the photo. You’re not my father,’ [laughs]. So that was ‘til March ’44. The first thing I really remember, after the invasion: my mother had a very fortunate nature. She never sort of said, ‘Oh, my God.’ She always smiled. I looked at her & as long as she was there, the world was fine. Then one morning they came, Nazis, the Hungarian Arrow Cross. Collaborators. Two of her sisters stayed with us: all their husbands were in the labour brigades. One morning they came & collected the 3 women & took them to the brick factory from where they were to be deported. It was a Jewish house so they came & took the 3 women there. I stayed there with my grandfather, a WW1 veteran. He lost a leg, was disabled from WW1, which gave him a certain amount of protection. But I was terribly desperate because they took my mother. As luck would have it my father came to visit us, my grandfather & me, & he was told what happened. He managed to get back to his brigade & got 3 armed men from the brigade. They went down to the brick factory to collect my mother. The guards in the brick factory said 'What the hell are you doing here, bloody Jews?’ They said they had an order requesting my mother to the kitchen of the labour brigade. So they said, ‘All right,’ & went around shouting, Aranka Roman, Aranka Roman,’ but my mother said no, she doesn’t want to leave her sisters. The sisters said, ‘No, you must go because Laszitka is at home.’ That’s me. So she came out & I got reunited with my mother. The sisters got deported & went through a lot but survived. Then I stayed with my mother. We were moved from our original address to a Jewish house. There were a lot of people in the apartment including my cousin. I was not yet 4, she was 6. Our grandfather had only one leg & we slept in the same bed. Judy occupied the legless side of the bed which was more comfortable. We still have a laugh about that. On one occasion—even then Jews were allowed half-an-hour in the morning to go out & buy bread or potatoes, whatever. I was out with my mother with my yellow star & her yellow star. Hungarian apartments are: you go in the main door & there’s a courtyard & apartments are around. As we approached we could see in the courtyard that all the women were there—the men were already in the labour brigade. All the women were there & Arrow Cross soldiers. So my mother said, ‘Hold on, we’re not going in there. Take off the yellow star, keep quiet, don’t talk’. I was not yet four. We took the tramcar which we weren’t allowed in since, I don’t know, earlier & went a few stops to where one of her sisters was in a protected house because there were these protected house. It turned out that all these women were taken down to the Danube tied together & shot & pushed into the Danube. Later on, whenever I crossed the bridges from Pest to Buda I could always see bodies floating in the river because these people were shot there. They shot them not to kill them, just to harm them so that they drowned. 943: The Legless Side Of The Bed Laszlo Roman Edited from Marianne Summerfield BEM's interview with Clare Csonka for AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, June 2022 • Learn More → Text adapted and edited by Susanna Kleeman Facebook & Instagram Posts

Hungary Budakalász Memories 959: The Invasion Of Hungary George Donath It was a Sunday. We went to my grandparents for lunch as usual. All of a sudden we see these black Mercedes drawing up in front... Previous Location Next Location