We Built Up Our Lives: Education and Community among Jewish Refugees Interned by Britain in World War II

264 Pages·2001·21.28 MB·English

by  Maxine S. Seller

WE
BUILT UP
OUR LIVES
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WE
BUILT UP
OUR LIVES
Education and Community among
Jewish Refugees Interned by Britain
in World War II
Maxine Schwartz Seller
Contributionsto the Study of WorldHistory,Number92
GREENWOOD PRESS
Westport, Connecticut • London
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Seller,Maxine,1935–
Webuiltupourlives : educationandcommunityamongJewishrefugeesinternedbyBritain
inWorldWarII / MaxineSchwartzSeller.
p.cm.—(Contributionstothestudyofworldhistory,ISSN0885–9159 ; no.92)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.(p. )
ISBN0-313-31815-8(alk.paper)
1. Refugees, Jewish—Great Britain. 2. World War, 1939–1945—Jews—Great Britain.
3. World War, 1939–1945—Concentration camps—Great Britain. 4. Jews, German—Great
Britain—History—20thcentury. 5. GreatBritain—Ethnicrelations. I. Title. II. Series.
DS135.E5S45 2001
941'.004924043—dc21 2001023340
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
Copyright(cid:2)2001byMaxineSchwartzSeller
Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,without
theexpresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:2001023340
ISBN:0–313–31815–8
ISSN:0885–9159
Firstpublishedin2001
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CopyrightAcknowledgment
The drawings from the Orchan Pioneer are from the journals collections of the Imperial War
MuseumDepartmentofPrintedBooks.
For Andrew, Levi, and Marnina—with love.
Whatever I do is wrong.
The story of blame is long,
Just listen to my song:
Like me there are quite a few;
In Germany they call me a Jew.
In Britain a “fifth columnist”;
In Russia a great capitalist,
In Spain a hot anarchist
In America a red communist.
The Truth is: I want to write,
Paint, love and fight,
For what I think is right.
JackBilbo
OnchanPioneer,December29,1940.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 “We Had to Go”—Life in the Third Reich 17
2 From Refugees to Internees 47
3 Making the Best of It 77
4 Creating Community 113
5 Education in the Men’s Camps 151
6 Education in the Women’s Camp 183
7 Getting Out and Looking Back 213
Bibliographic Essay and Sources 247
Index 255
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people helped make this book possible. The N. Littauer Foundation pro-
vided generous support for this project. I would also like to thank the staff at
the Imperial War Museum and the Wiener Library in London, the Public Rec-
ords Office in Kew, and the Manx National Heritage on the Isle of Man for
their generous and expert assistance. The Imperial War Museum and theManx
NationalHeritagegraciouslyallowedmetousephotographsandothermaterials
fromtheircollections.IwouldalsoliketothankMrs.TheaO’Rourke,Mrs.Feo
Kahn, and Peter Daniel for permission to use materials in their possession. I
wouldespeciallyliketothankYvonneCresswellattheManxNationalHeritage
for the many hours she spent helping me locate documents, artifacts, and pho-
tographs from the museum’s collections and for putting me in touch with in-
formants on the Isle of Man. Friends and colleagues in London, MiriamDavid,
Gaby Weinar, Ann Kershen, Louise London, and William Fishman provided
important background information and helped locate a number of my respon-
dents. I thank them all.
At the University at Buffalo Mary Beth Bogertranslatednewspaperpassages
from the German, and Gloria Gibson and Susan Ott did a skillfuljobofediting
and proofreading. Their help was greatly appreciated. I also want to thank my
colleagues Adeline Levine and Marion Kaplan for reading parts of the manu-
script and making many constructive suggestions. Mistakes in factsorinterpre-
tations are, of course, mine, not theirs.FinallyIwanttothankmyhusbandBob
for his assistance with photography on the Isle of Man and for his encourage-
ment and support.
Most of all, I want to thank my respondents, the remarkable people who so
x • Acknowledgments
generously shared their memories with me. I appreciate your kindnessandhos-
pitality to me as a person as well as your patience and openness with me as a
historian. Everyone who spoke with me or wrote to me made important contri-
butions to this book. I have tried to tell your stories as you told them to me,
and I apologize in advance for inaccuracies of fact and interpretation, which,
despite my best efforts, are certain to appear. I hope this book will capture at
least some sense of that special combination of qualities—courage,persistence,
resourcefulness, and resilience—with which you built up your lives. I will not
forget you.
INTRODUCTION
Fearing an imminent German invasion, the British government arrested and in-
terned28,000“enemyaliens”ofGermanandAustriannationalitylivinginBrit-
ain in the spring and summer of 1940.1 Eight-year-old Renate Steinert (later
RenateOlins)andherparentswereamongthem.TheSteinertswereJews.They
hadfledfromNaziGermanytoHollandin1937andarrivedinLondonin1938.
Mr. Steinert set up a small factory there, and Renate started school. In May of
1940 two police detectives knocked at the door of the Steinert’s modest apart-
ment and announced that they had come to take Mr. Steinert away. Fifty-five
years later, Renate’s memories of that night were vivid:
My mother said he was not at home. They said they would wait, and sat down in our
little sitting-room until my father came home, and when he found the two detectives
therehewentashen....Ilockedmyselfinthebathroomandcried,satonthefloorwith
myheadonthelavatorybasin.Afteratimemyfather’ssuitcasewasprepared.Mymother
had got supper ready,but they wouldn’t wait for him to have supper.
I was asked to come out, and I kissed him goodbye, which was quite dreadful,quite
dreadful. Iwascrying,andmymotherwascrying.Myfatherwasstrugglingnottocry,
and then he was marched off, we didn’t know where....My mother and I were left
alone, and there followed weeks of misery, absolute misery, while my mother worried
desperately about where my father was. We could get no news. And then one day, a
coupleofmonthsafterhe’dgone...therewasaknockatthedoor,andtherestoodtwo
more detectives, a man and a woman. And they explained that they’d come to collect
mymotherandthatshewasbeinginterned,buttheyhadnoinstructionsaboutthechild.
I said, “Well. I’m coming, too.” We were marched off, each with a little suitcase, to
HarrowRoad Police Station.2