From "Refugees" to "Enemy Aliens" ~ Part Six

 

Germans, Austrians and Czechs at Pantgwyn and in the Domestic Services in Aberystwyth and the surrounding areas during the Second World War

 

The final blog in this series will explore the lives of the refugees from National Socialism, who worked in the domestic services in the surrounding areas outside of Aberystwyth and those who were guests at Pantgwyn, a guest house in the area by 1940. This blog will continue to consider the questions set out in the first blog in this series, such as who were these German and Austrian nationals and importantly how and why did they themselves end up in the surrounding areas of the seaside town of Aberystwyth, miles from their homelands, and subject to potential internment? What was their fate? Were they subjected to internment or were they found exempt to such a fate? Furthermore, this blog will also consider, where outside of Aberystwyth did refugees work in the domestic services? Were there any places, locations and businesses in the surrounding areas, which became a safe haven for several refugees in the domestic services? How did refugees help and assist each other in the domestic services? Finally, how far were these refugees' careers and lives affected and changed by being forced to flee and seek refuge elsewhere?

Refugees in the domestic services in the surrounding areas outside of Aberystwyth worked in households, as far south as Cardigan. The largest group of these refugees are connected to Pantgwyn, located in the village of Llangoedmor, Cardigan, with refugees either working in domestic service there or being guests. Herbert and Claire Therese Gutmann, who were born in Vienna, Austria, on the 28 of July 1907 and the 11th of August 1909 respectively, were amongst the refugees who lived and worked at Pantgwyn. Herbert before he left Austria was a manufacturer. 

 

Herbert Gutmann (b.1907), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

By September 1939, according to the 1939 Register, Herbert was the manager and Claire undertook domestic duties at Pantgwyn. Herbert, as the manager of Pantgwyn, clearly used this role to not only hire other refugees to work in the domestic services there, but under his management, the guest house also clearly had become a place for other refugees to seek refuge and security. Whilst working as the manager there, Herbert was arrested as an “alien suspect” on the 3rd of September 1939 and was detained at H.M.P. Swansea on the 4th, before he was released, under the instructions of the Home Secretary, a few days later on the 7th of September. Herbert’s internment on the Isle of Man in May 1940 and his release in September of the same year, it is also important to note does not seem to have affected the refuge and security of Claire, who was not interned, or any of the other refugees there, as none of the refugees, according to the records, left Pantgwyn during this period. By 1981, the Gutmann’s were living on Marlborough Road in Cardiff. It is unclear when Herbert passed away, but Claire passed away on the 21st of April 1997 in Cardiff.

 

Claire Therese Gutmann (1909-1997), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

The refugees in question who were living and working alongside the Gutmann’s included individuals as well as families, such as Josephine Schorr. Josephine was born on the 14th of July 1884 in Vienna, Austria. In the 1939 Register, Josephine had clearly left Austria, as she was working at Pantgwyn as a cook and a nurse, and by this time Josephine had married and become a widow. On the 23rd of October, she was categorised as ‘C’ at a tribunal and before the tribunals held in June 1940, she had left Pantgwyn. Josephine is next recorded as living on Callcot Road in London in 1950, where she travelled from to board on to the Ile De France in Southampton, to travel to New York on the 25th of March 1950. When she arrived in New York on the 27th of March, Josephine is listed as living at 34-44 Broadway in New York. Josephine’s life however, after emigrating to New York and living on Broadway is unclear.

Josephine Schorr (b. 1884), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 Whereas, other refugees did not work at Pantgwyn, but were guests there, such as the Korda family. The Korda family consisted of Eugenie ‘Jenny’, Pavel and their young daughter, Ivette. Jenny was born on the 30th of November 1894 in Znaim in the Moravian Region of Czechoslovakia and Pavel was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on the 13th of July 1899. Both Jenny and Pavel were born into Jewish families in Czechoslovakia. Jenny’s family, the Weinberger’s, were a prominent family in the area when she was born and ran a leather manufacturing business there. Czechoslovakia, including the regions of Bohemia and Moravia, was occupied by the Nazis by 1939 and it was no doubt under these conditions that the Kordas left Czechoslovakia. By September 1939, the Kordas are listed in the 1939 Register, as living at Pantgwyn, Pavel was working as a manufacturer of liquor, candies and chocolates, Ivette began attending school in the local area, and what Jenny was doing whilst they lived there is not clear from this record. Pavel, much like Herbert was also briefly arrested on the 3rd of September 1939 as an “alien suspect” and was also detained at H.M.P Swansea between the 4th and the 8th of September, before also being released under the orders of the Home Secretary. 

 

Eugenie ‘Jenny’ Korda (1894-1973), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

By February 1940, the Kordas had left Pantgwyn and none of the family it appears were interned. The Kordas had moved, albeit potentially briefly, to Guayaquil in Ecuador sometime between February 1940 and June 1941, when they embarked on the S.S. Santa Clara there, to arrive in New York. They arrived in New York, much like Josephine, on the 16th of June 1941 and Jenny is listed as a housewife, Pavel as an industrialist and Ivette as a student. By the time that the Kordas had arrived in New York, Jenny’s father and brother amongst other family members, were reunited, as they had arrived there a few months previously. By 1946, Pavel petitioned to become a naturalised American citizen and by this time he had changed his name to Paul Korda. He was a food dealer by this time, living on Queens Boulevard in New York. Jenny and Paul passed away in New York in April 1973 and March 1962, respectively.

 

 Pavel Korda (1899-1962), photo taken c.1930. Used with the permission, and in the possession, of Robert. J. Low

 

Other refugees, who were also from Czechoslovakia, were also guests at Pantgwyn, such as Hedwig Salter. Hedwig was born on the 12th of May 1880 in Czechoslovakia. By September 1939, she was a guest at Pantgwyn and Hedwig is listed as a widower, who was also incapacitated. She was categorised as ‘C’ at a tribunal held on the 23rd of October 1939. Hedwig passed away in Cardiff in 1945.

 

Hedwig Salter (1880-1945), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

Refugees in the domestic service were also in other villages near Cardigan, such as Katharina Schwarzthal. Katharina was born on 31 October 1899 in Vienna, Austria. By September 1939, she was a domestic servant in Chale on the Isle of Wight. In 1939, Katharina moved to St Dogmaels, Cardigan to work as a domestic servant at Glantivy house. During this year, she was also categorised as ‘C’ at a tribunal held in Brecon on the 7th of November 1939. She also got married in 1939, her married name being Katharina Bowen Jones. Katharina then passed away whilst still living in St Dogmaels in October 1967.

 

Katharina Schwarzthal (1899-1967), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

Outside of villages near Cardigan, refugees also worked in the domestic services, in places such as Llangrannog, like Anna Magdalene ‘Margaret’ Sara Levy. Anna was born on the 21st of September 1920 in Bad Ems in Germany. In September 1939, she was cautioned by local authorities in Cardiganshire for entering the county without any travel permit. By October 1939, she was working as a domestic servant at Riverside in Llangrannog, whilst she was here, she was also categorised as ‘C’ at a tribunal held on the 23rd of October 1939. Anna passed away in 2005 in East Devon and was married by this time, but it is unclear when this happened.

Anna Magdalene ‘Margaret’ Sara Levy (1920-2005), photo within Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

Slowly moving back towards Aberystwyth, Regina Eigenfeld, who was a refugee, was working in the domestic services in Lampeter. Regina was born on the 17th of July 1895 in Austria and whilst she was still in Austria, Regina worked as a secretary. By October 1939, she had moved to Wales and was working as a domestic servant at the Vicarage in Lampeter and whilst living here was categorised as ‘C’ at a tribunal on the 23rd of October 1939. She left Lampeter and the district on the 5th of December 1939. Regina passed away in 1981 in Westminster, London.

 

Regina Eigenfeld (1895-1981), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

The final refugee who will be explored in this blog, and in this series as a whole, is Margaret Lewy. Margaret was born on the 16th of April 1901 in Breslau, Germany, now Wroclaw in Poland. By September 1939, she was working as a domestic servant in Willesden Green in Middlesex. Not long after this, it appears that Margaret had moved to Aberaeron by November 1939, where she was a domestic servant for a Mrs. T.W. Lloyd living at Weston house. Margaret’s movements and life after this is unclear until she passed away in March 1984 at Heinrich Stahl House on Bishop’s Avenue in London. Heinrich Stahl House was opened in 1962, as an old people’s home for Jewish German-speaking refugees, paid for jointly by the Central British Fund for World Jewish Relief and the AJR (Association of Jewish Refugees). 

 

Margaret Lewy (1901-1984), photo within Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

The experience and lives of refugees who worked in the domestic services in the areas surrounding and outside of Aberystwyth, and those who were guests at Pantgwyn, clearly once again demonstrate that the individual experiences of refugees from National Socialism in Wales were unique and different. The geographical areas covered by those who worked in the domestic services, or who were guests at Pantgwyn, ranged from Aberaeron, Lampeter and Llanarth to Llangodemor, Llangrannog and St Dogmael’s. Pantgwyn played a unique role in the lives of a number of refugees who are explored in this blog, by either providing them with a place of work in the domestic services or as a roof over their heads, as guests there. Herbert Gutmann himself played an important role as the manager of Pantgwyn, by providing work in the domestic services to his fellow refugees. Only Herbert faced internment of those explored in this blog, with many receiving a category ‘C’ at tribunals in 1939 and 1940. From the life stories of those who worked in the domestic services, both in Aberystwyth and in the areas outside and surrounding it, it is clear that those who worked as domestic servants had the lowest number of refugees who were interned out of all the various groups who have been explored in this series. 

Unlike, the refugees who worked in the domestic services in Aberystwyth, a number of those who worked or were guests in the areas outside Aberystwyth, such as the Gutmann’s, Hedwig and Katharina, remained in the local area or Wales more widely, after their time in domestic service ended. The other refugees, however, did not stay locally and moved to places as far away as London, New York or elsewhere. For many, much like those who worked in the domestic services in Aberystwyth, it is hard to ascertain what jobs and lives they left behind when they had to flee and seek refuge in the U.K. However, it is clear that some left jobs as manufacturers and secretaries behind to seek refuge elsewhere. Whether a student, university staff member, art historian, dealer, photographer, agricultural expert, domestic servant or guests, refugees from National Socialism who arrived in Aberystwyth and the surrounding areas faced similar circumstances of tribunals, but many other aspects of their lives were unique and varied. Some sadly were lost to history, but for many they went onto make important contributions to societies in countries across the world and as role models to their children, who were mainly born away from the country of their parents' birth.

Conor Brockbank

With thanks to Aberystwyth University research project Refugees from National Socialism in Wales

Letters and excerpts from letters used with the permission of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York & photos used with the permission of Archifdy Ceredigion Archives, Aberystwyth.

 

 SOURCES

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Pavel Korda Interment, Reception and Internment of Aliens: List of Internees, 1939, The National Archives, PCOM 9/661.   
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Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives, MUS/204.   
Regina Eigenfeld Internment Exemption Certificate, 1939, The National Archives, HO 396/18.
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From “Refugees” To “Enemy Aliens”: Part Five

 

Germans and Austrians in the Domestic Services in Aberystwyth and the Surrounding Areas during the Second World War

Part Five: Domestic Servants in Aberystwyth and Llanbadarn Fawr

Part five in this blog post series will explore the lives and experiences of refugees from National Socialism who worked in the domestic services in houses throughout Aberystwyth and Llanbadarn Fawr. This blog will address some of the questions set out in the first blog in this series, such as what did the term “enemy alien” truly mean? Who were these German and Austrian nationals and importantly how and why did they themselves end up in the seaside town of Aberystwyth, miles from their homelands, and subject to potential internment? What was their fate? Were they subjected to internment or were they found exempt to such a fate? Furthermore, this blog will also consider questions such as how far these refugees' careers and lives were affected and changed by being forced to flee and seek refuge elsewhere and if it is possible to ascertain, what were their experiences of working in the domestic services?

Before exploring the lives of these refugees, it is important to understand the wider context of the schemes and wider movement of refugees who came to Britain to work in the domestic services. This industry in particular in the late 1930s, had the largest shortages and partly in an effort to fill these shortages, a scheme was set up where permits to take up work in the domestic services in the U.K., were given to refugees from Germany and Austria. According to the historian, Raffaella Sarti, many refugees gained these permits to work in domestic service, such as the hundreds of couples and around 14000 women. Sarti also importantly indicates that the refugees who gained permits to work in domestic service were not mainly from domestic service backgrounds, for many these permits were an opportunity to seek refuge in the U.K. What is known about the lives of these refugees in particular, who took up work in the domestic services in Aberystwyth and the surrounding areas varies greatly, as there are few available primary sources which remain, or which even recorded their working lives as domestic servants in the first place. Therefore, a wealth and depth of knowledge about the lives of these refugees is the exception rather than the rule. Despite these restrictions, the following lives of each refugee in the domestic services in this blog, where it has been possible have been explored in as great a depth as the sources and available information allow.

The refugees who were working in domestic service in Aberystwyth ended up working in various households in the area, such as working in the homes of university lecturers from the evacuated University College London (U.C.L.). One such refugee, who was the only female domestic servant to be interned was Erna Neuburger. Erna was born on the 21st of October 1911 in Strassbessenbach, Bessenbach, Aschattenburg in Germany. Erna’s life from her birth until being employed in London, as a housekeeper for Prof. Cyril Burt, who was a Psychology professor at U.C.L, is unknown. Upon the evacuation of the U.CL.’s psychology department in 1939 to Aberystwyth, Erna moved with Prof. Burt and continued her housekeeping duties at 4 Laura Place. She remained here until she was interned on the Isle of Man in June 1940, after being recategorised from C to A. It is however unclear why Erna was recategorised. Her internment on the Isle of Man lasted until 1944. Upon being released and the psychology department’s relocation back to London, she again took up her position as Prof. Burt’s housekeeper. Erna’s life after this is unclear.

 

Erna Neuburger (b.1911), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

Other refugees worked for established local families or those of private means, such as Kate Strauss. Kate was born on the 23rd of February 1901 in Thuringia, Germany. Much of her life is unknown, it is unclear what Kate did before leaving Germany. What is known however, is that by September 1939 she was a cook at Doleu in Llanbadarn Fawr for the Greer family, a local, well-known and established family in the area. Kate then left Aberystwyth, a day after being assigned as ‘C’ at a local tribunal in Aberystwyth on the 23rd of October 1939. Kate’s life after leaving Aberystwyth is unknown and is lost to history.

 

Kate Strauss (b. 1901), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

Another refugee, who was also called Kate, worked for a lady of private means. Kate Sara Freund was born on the 30th of June 1899 in Breslau, Germany, now Wroclaw, Poland. Much like Kate Strauss, not much is known about her life. Kate was a music teacher before she left Germany and took up a domestic service permit in the U.K. By October 1939, she was working as a domestic servant at Glyngorse on North Road in Aberystwyth for an Annie Lewis, who was a single elderly lady of private means. Kate clearly did not stay long in Aberystwyth after her tribunal, where she was categorised as ‘C’, as by November 1939, she had moved to Birkenhead. Whilst there, Kate continued to work as a domestic servant, this time at an address in Balls Road. This is the last known location of Kate and what her life entailed after moving to Balls Road in Birkenhead is unknown.

The remaining refugees who worked in the domestic services in Aberystwyth, who will be explored in this blog, are those who it is unclear who they worked for, such as Stephanie ‘Steffi’ Bösinger. Stephanie was born on the 28th of November 1913 in Eisenerz, Austria. By October 1939, she was working as a domestic at Heddle on Llanbadarn Road in Aberystwyth. Whilst there, Stephanie was categorised as ‘C’ at a tribunal also held in October 1939. Stephanie remained working at Heddle until she left Aberystwyth in February 1940. On the 22nd of November 1941, Stephanie went onto join the Auxiliary Territorial Service (A.T.S.), which had been established in 1938. In March 1942, Stephanie got engaged to Kenneth Buckley, who was serving in the Royal Engineers and got married in the local parish church of Kenneth’s in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. By 1947, Stephanie was living on Lutterworth Road in Nuneaton, and it was from this address that they both departed to Cape Town, on the Winchester Castle from Southampton, bound for South Africa. The records do not indicate that Stephanie returned to the U.K. and where her life led her, or what it entailed, is unclear from the point that they boarded the Winchester Castle for their future life in South Africa. 

Stephanie ‘Steffi’ Bösinger (b. 1913), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

Less is known about the life of Stefanie’s fellow refugee, Tamara Lupnitz. Tamara was born on the 21st of January 1920 in Berlin, Germany. She had moved to Aberystwyth and was working as a domestic servant at the Bay Hotel by October 1939, where she was categorised as ‘C’ at a tribunal held in Aberystwyth. Tamara then moved in 1940 within Aberystwyth, to take up work as a domestic servant at Abergeldie House on Victoria Terrace. She then went on to marry Jindrich Kienzel in Ealing in 1956. Where Tamara’s life led her after this is unknown. 

Tamara Lupnitz (b. 1920), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

Other refugees it is important to note, did not arrive in Aberystwyth until 1940 to work in the domestic services, such as Johanna Kern. Johanna was born on the 21st of November 1916 in Laibach, Baden-Wüerttemberg, Germany. Johanna was a domestic servant by October 1939, in Tonbridge in Kent, working for a Mrs Chalkin. She was then categorised as ‘C’ at a tribunal whilst she was still in Kent. By June of 1940 however, she had moved away from Kent and to Aberystwyth, where she was a domestic servant at Edlestone House on Queen’s Road. She married Richard Grosvenor, an R.A.F. man, in April 1941, whilst she was in Aberystwyth. They were nearly married for a year and a half, when Richard was killed in September 1942. Johanna never re-married and passed away in July 2008 in Gloucestershire.

Much like Johanna, other refugees in Aberystwyth also came from the state of Baden-Wüerttemberg, such as Lilly Bella Adler. Lilly was born on the 24th of July 1910 in Pforzheim, Baden-Wüerttemberg, Germany. By October 1939, she was a domestic servant at 4a Northgate Street in Aberystwyth. During October 1939, Lily was also categorised as ‘C’ at a tribunal held that month. She is noted as having left Aberystwyth and the district in the police memorandum book held in the Ceredigion Archives, but it is unclear when this occurred. In 1946, she went onto marry Harry Weisz in Willesden, Middlesex. Lily passed away in August 1998 in Hendon, Middlesex.

 

Lilly Bella Adler (1910-1998), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

Amalie Eva Ruth Laaser, also known as Mala Laaser, is the last refugee who worked in the domestic services whose life will be explored in this blog. Mala is unique in the case of the refugees who are the focus of these final two blogs, as unlike the other refugees, she is the only one to have worked in the domestic services in both Aberystwyth as well as the surrounding areas outside of Aberystwyth. Mala was born on the 19th of July 1911 in Königsberg, Germany, now Kaliningrad in Russia and she was born into a well-known Jewish family in the area. Early in her career, Mala was an actress and from around 1934 until 1938, she was also her brother, Dr. Walter Lasser’s housekeeper. By 1937, Mala was a writer and contributor for Central – Verein – Zeitung, a weekly publication for the German Jewish community. As part of her contributions as a writer to this publication, she wrote a four-part novella about a love story set in contemporary Weimar Germany, called Karl und Manci. This novella was published in 2017, alongside a series of other publications which were originally produced during the period covered by Weimar Germany. Mala was also a prominent writer in the late 1930s, for many other Jewish publications that had a readership in Berlin and across the whole of Germany, such as the Jewish Community Gazette, where she was the editor of the women’s segment of the publication as well as Der Morgen. This was a period in which Mala’s writing flourished, but this active writing and journalistic career was cut short, as according to the Jewish studies scholar, Sarah Fraiman, Jewish publications, such as Der Morgen, were forced to close and wind-up publication in 1938, after the November pogroms. Such a decision left Mala with very few prospects of being able to carry on her writing and journalistic career in Germany.

Mala was engaged for a short period during the 1930s to Jacob Picard, a lawyer and a poet, and it is through letters she began sending to him in 1942 until her death, which indicate and tell most of Mala’s life story before and after she sought refuge in the U.K., alongside Walter in 1939. Mala and Walter could not bring their mother with them when they fled, and Mala lived for the rest of her life not knowing what happened to her. Walter went on to serve in the Royal Engineers and in August 1944, he died whilst he was serving in Italy. Mala on the other hand worked in the domestic services and recalls in a letter to Jacob in April 1943 about this:

I came here on the well-known domestic permit, and have worked myself up from house parlour maid to school mistress which I am now.

As Mala recalls, this permit allowed her to work up to being a school mistress and in her pursuit of this, she seems to have moved around a lot. In September 1939, she is first listed as a parlour maid in Godalming, Surrey, for a Mrs E Kilby. Whilst working in Godalming, Mala was categorised as ‘C’ during her tribunal. By June of 1940, Mala had then moved to Wales, taking up work as a domestic servant at Dolywern on North Road in Aberystwyth and it appears she worked there until around late 1940. Mala recalls in the same letter to Jacob in April 1943, that from the time she sought refuge through the domestic permit in 1939, that she ‘had a rough time, until I came to the Vicarage’. The Vicarage, she refers to in this letter was in Llanarth, where she remained as a secretary and housekeeper, from around late 1940 until January 1943. During this time from late 1941 onwards, she was working 14-hour days, 7 days a week, which continued constantly for at least two and a half years. Whilst she was at the Vicarage, she recollects in a letter to Jacob in August 1943, that Walter visited and stayed with her there when he was on leave. During her time there, she was also added to the Welsh Suspects List, which was a list of people for whom the authorities felt it was important to keep an eye on. The reasons why Mala ended up on this list are unclear. At the start of the 1940-1941 academic year, Mala alongside her work at the Vicarage, also started as an external student at London University, but Mala, it appears did not complete this degree, as in a letter to Jacob in April 1944, she writes that she had ‘no energy to try again’ and that she was ‘quite respectable, even without a degree’. 

In January 1943, Mala left Wales after living and working there for nearly three years, to take up work as a school mistress, the role she refers to in the April 1943 letter to Jacob, at Ryton Hall School in Shifnal, Shropshire and remained here until around August of that year. Mala appears to have continued, whilst she was here, similar working hours to those which she had at the Vicarage. From there she moved to Richmond in Surrey in search of teaching work and was ‘sheltered by a boy from Aussig’ who provided her with accommodation, according to a letter sent to Jacob in August 1943. In this same letter, Mala comments on her moving around a lot during such a comparatively short period of time and how this clearly made it hard for her to feel settled, remarking that:

I have come to be sort of a tramp, with trunks never decently unpacked.

Mala remained in the Richmond area until around November 1946, whilst living and teaching there, she got engaged and married to Henry Moyes in 1946, and they had a daughter together later that year. From around 1946 onwards she also tried to settle claims to her property in Germany, but in a letter, Henry wrote to Jacob on her death in 1953, this was still ongoing and unresolved at the time of her death. The writing skills and ability Mala had honed during her career before fleeing from Germany, was also clearly hard for her to go back to, as she remarks about the struggles to write in a letter to Jacob in May 1946:

There’s only one thing puzzling me: Why as Harry uses to say, by the creation of cats, can I not write? Or anyway not write in that old explosive way? I sometimes think that horror has dumbed me down. But deep there is still that urge, only I cannot... Or is it, I cannot make up my mind what language I should use.

Mala goes onto say in this letter, that she might write fairy tales as she tells her pupils ‘(a)ll Kinds of Tales at any odd time’ and that she hoped with married life that she may have more time to work out what language to write them in. It was not until the early 1950s, that Mala, it appears, was able to tackle this struggle and begin writing for publications again. She produced three articles for AJR Information in 1951 and 1952. AJR Information is a publication which was established in 1946 for Jewish German and Austrian refugees in Britain. In her April 1951 article, Mala interestingly discusses the topic of what is the meaning of the word alien, in the form of a story of the reaction of a village to the arrival of new people and the struggle they all had to define what an alien was to an older member of their community, who had asked them to define what one was. By the time the villagers had given up, the group of new people had rested and moved on. By the time of her articles for AJR Information, Mala and her family had moved via Kensington and Hayes to Glasgow, in around May 1950. Just when her writing career was reigniting and her writers block was lifting, Mala passed away in Glasgow on the 23rd of March 1953.

The experience of refugees who worked in the domestic services is clearly for the most part hard to capture, with Mala being the exception, due to their lack of presence in official and unofficial documents and sources. All the refugees who came to work in the domestic services in Aberystwyth and Llanbadarn Fawr, be that Erna, the two Kates, Stephanie, Tamara, Johanna, Lilly or Mala, all came alone to try and forge out a new life for themselves. Some, it is clear had their careers changed by their need to seek refuge elsewhere, losing jobs as music teachers and journalists, for example. For others, it is hard to establish what they had to leave behind, but what is clear is that none of them, as far as the records indicate, remained in Aberystwyth after their time as domestic servants there. Most of them, other than Erna, did not face internment, as they were categorised as ‘C’ at their various tribunals. Many went on to marry and set up families elsewhere and Mala, long after her time in Aberystwyth even tackled the topic of what an alien is, by providing a very thought-provoking article to AJR Information. Their experiences of domestic service work were also varied with many performing different jobs in the domestic services industry at the time, such as cooks, secretaries and housekeepers. The lives of the refugees explored in this blog however are only half of the story of the refugees who came to work in the domestic services in the area, with many much like Mala, working in the area surrounding Aberystwyth. Their lives will be the focus of the final blog in this series.

Conor Brockbank 

 

With thanks to Aberystwyth University research project Refugees from National Socialism in Wales

Letters and excerpts from letters used courtesy of Leo Baeck Institute, New York, and photos used with the permission of Archifdy Ceredigion Archives, Aberystwyth.

SOURCES

AJR Information, April 1951, August 1952, October 1952 & May 1953.
AJR Journal, History of the Journal, Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), https://bit.ly/3yRK5e5, accessed 18 March 2023.
Amalie Eva Ruth Laaser Internment Exemption Certificate, 1939, The National Archives, HO 396/51.
Amalie Eva Ruth Laaser Internment Exemption Certificate, 1940, The National Archives, HO 396/51.
Amelie Eva Ruth Laaser, Geni, https://bit.ly/3FzxEHy, accessed 18 March 2023.
Aviva Berlin, Mala Laaser – Karl and Manci, https://bit.ly/42pIkCc, accessed 18 March 2023.
Cardiganshire, 1941, England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005, FindmyPast.
Dolau, Llanbadarn Fawr, 1939 Register.  
Ealing, London, 1956, England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005, FindmyPast.
Erna Neuburger Interment Exemption Certificate, 1939, The National Archives, HO 396/269.
Erna Neuburger, 1944, Nominal Roll, Port Erin, Isle of Man, The National Archives, HO 215/478.
Fraiman, S. ‘The Transformation of Jewish Consciousness in Nazi Germany as Reflected in the German Jewish Journal “Der Morgen”, 1925-1938.’ Modern Judaism, 20 (2000): 41-59.
Gloucestershire, 2008, England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019, FindmyPast.
Glyngorse, North Road, 1939 Register.
Godalming, Surrey, 1939 Register.
Green, B. Girls in Khaki. A History of the ATS in the Second World War. Cheltenham, 2011.
Hammel, A. ‘Gender and Kindertransport Memoirs.’ In Brinson, C., and Hammel, A., eds., Exile and Gender I. Literature and the Press. Leiden, 2016. Pp. 19-33.
Hampstead, London, 1946, England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005, FindmyPast.
Hearnshaw, L.S. Cyril Burt. Psychologist. New York, 1979.
Hendon, Middlesex, 1998, England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007, FindmyPast.
Hendon, Middlesex, 1998, England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019, FindmyPast.
Jacob Picard Collection, Center for Jewish History, https://bit.ly/3FArQxw, accessed 18 March 2023.
Johanna Kern Internment Exemption Certificate, 1939, The National Archives, HO 396/227.
Johanna Kern Internment Exemption Certificate, 1940, The National Archives, HO 396/227.
Jones, I.W. Hitler’s Celtic Echo. Llandudno, 2006.
Karl and Manci, haGalil, https://bit.ly/40ehafS, accessed 18 March 2023.
Kate Freund Internment Exemption Certificate, 1940, The National Archives, HO 396/23.
Kate Sara Freund Internment Exemption Certificate, 1939, HO 396/23.
Kate Strauss Internment Exemption Certificate, 1939, The National Archives, HO 396/91.
Letter from Dr. Walter Laaser to Jacob Picard, 6 October 1938; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Letter from Henry Moyes to Jacob Picard, 1 April 1953; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Letter from Jacob Picard to Mala Laaser, 31 October 1943; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Letter from Mala Laaser to Jacob Picard, 1 April 1943; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Letter from Mala Laaser to Jacob Picard, 1 February 1948; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Letter from Mala Laaser to Jacob Picard, 1 October 1942; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Letter from Mala Laaser to Jacob Picard, 11 November 1946; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Letter from Mala Laaser to Jacob Picard, 12 April 1944; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Letter from Mala Laaser to Jacob Picard, 12 August 1943; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Letter from Mala Laaser to Jacob Picard, 22 May 1950; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Letter from Mala Laaser to Jacob Picard, 24 September 1944; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Letter from Mala Laaser to Jacob Picard, 25 May 1946; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Lilly Bella Adler Internment Exemption Certificate, 1939, The National Archives, HO 396/214.
Mala Laaser’s Obituary written by Jacob Picard Translated Version, 1 May 1953; Jacob Picard Collection; AR 6016; Box 5; Folder 15; Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Midland Counties Tribune, 27 March 1942.
Nuneaton Chronicle, 29 May 1942.
Nuneaton, Warwickshire, 1942, England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005, FindmyPast.
Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives, MUS/204.  
Sarti, R. ‘The Globalisation of Domestic Services – An Historical Perspective.’ In Lutz, H., ed., Migration and Domestic Work. A European Perspective on a Global Theme. Abingdon, 2016. Pp. 77-98.
Serg. Richard James Grosvenor, 7 September 1942, Commonwealth War Graves, https://bit.ly/3LCO5Xl, accessed 18 March 2023.
Steffi Bösinger Internment Exemption Certificate, 1939, The National Archives, HO 396/10.
Stephanie Buckley, Cape Town, South Africa, 24 June 1947, Passengers List Leaving UK 1890-1960, FindmyPast.   
Tamara Lupnitz Internment Exemption Certificate, 1939, The National Archives, HO 396/57.
Tamara Lupnitz Internment Exemption Certificate, 1940, The National Archives, HO 396/57.
Tannahill, J.A. European Volunteer Workers in Britain. Manchester, 1958.
Willesden, Middlesex, 1946, England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005, FindmyPast.

From “Refugees” To “Enemy Aliens”: Part Four

 

Germans and Austrians in the Arts and Agriculture in Aberystwyth during the Second World War

 Refugees at The National Library of Wales and in Agriculture

Part four in this blog post series will explore the lives of refugees from National Socialism who came to work and reside in Aberystwyth due to the evacuation of artwork from the British Museum and the National Gallery, or simply just as their safe haven which for some caused a halt to their careers. This blog will continue to address the questions set out in the first blog in this series. Mainly, who were these German and Austrian nationals and importantly how and why did they themselves end up in the seaside town of Aberystwyth, miles from their homelands, and subject to potential internment? What was their fate? If it is possible to ascertain, what were their individual experiences of the tribunals and judgements they faced? Were they subjected to internment or were they found exempt to such a fate? As well as considering the impact of being a refugee on their careers and livelihoods and the important roles they played in preserving artistic heritage.

To understand why the majority of German and Austrian refugees focused on in this blog came to Aberystwyth, it is firstly important to understand the circumstances and agreements which resulted in them moving to and working on possessions from institutions, such as the British Museum and the National Gallery in Aberystwyth. The possessions of these institutions had been moved, along with the possessions of 74 other institutions, museums, government departments, local councils, galleries and libraries from across England and Wales to the National Library of Wales (NLW) based in Aberystwyth from as early as September 1938. This was in-line with a wider plan originally developed in 1933, by the then First Commissioner of Works for the British Government, W.A. Ormsby-Gore M.P., to ensure that no damage occurred in the case of the outbreak of a war to important possessions originally from cultural and historical institutions based in London. By 1934, the NLW had already been contacted by the British Museum, who had previously moved some of their possessions there during the First World War, to plan for possessions to be moved there again in the case of another war breaking out. The National Gallery also made an agreement, nearly four years later, with the NLW in September 1938 for paintings from their collections to be moved there. Importantly, when war broke out, both these institutions had also made plans with the NLW for members of their staff to also be evacuated there, such as 20 members of staff from the National Gallery. It was these agreements between these organisations that resulted in many of the refugees who are the focus of this blog coming to Aberystwyth to work on categorising or photographing prints and drawings which had been moved to the NLW, such as Johannes Wilde and his wife Julia, both of whom were art historians.

Johannes and Julia were both born in Budapest in Hungary on the 2nd of June 1891 and the 10th of December 1895, respectively. Johannes worked at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria from 1923 until 1938, rising to the position of Keeper there, in charge of conservation. He became an Austrian citizen in 1928 and married Julia Gyárfás in 1930. Julia also became an Austrian citizen during her time there. However, after the Anschluss, annexation, of Austria in 1938, the life the Wilde’s had made for themselves in Vienna came under question, as Johannes became increasingly more concerned for Julia, as she was Jewish. They therefore decided to flee Austria in April 1939, whilst attending an art exhibition in Amsterdam and came to England. When they had arrived there, they stayed briefly with the Director of the National Gallery, Kenneth Clark. By September 1939, they were living at Toksowa Hotel in Camberwell. Johannes was working as a scientific research worker whilst living there and was categorised as C at a tribunal held in London, on the 24th of October 1939. 

 

Johannes Wilde (1891-1970), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

In 1940, exempt from internment, Johannes undertook the task of cataloguing materials of the print room at the British Museum which had been moved to the NLW. This led to the Wilde’s moving to Aberystwyth, so that he could undertake such a task, where they stayed on the seafront at the Belle Vue Hotel on Marine Terrace. Julia at this time is recorded as being a housewife whilst they were living there and with her background as an art historian was no doubt of great assistance to the cataloguing Johannes was undertaking. The Wilde’s were however not in Aberystwyth long before they were both interned, and it is widely recalled that Johannes was wrongfully charged with signalling enemy submarines in Aberystwyth. After their internment, they were separated, as Johannes was boarded on to the S.S. Ettrick on the 3rd of July 1940, to be interned in Canada and Julia was moved to Rushen Camp on the Isle of Man. Johannes remained in Canada until being returned to the U.K. on the S.S. Georgia on the 5th of March 1941, where arrangements had been made for him to appear in front of a committee on the Isle of Man to authorise his release. He remained on the Isle of Man however until May of that year, when he was released from internment along with Julia on the 6th of May 1941. Johannes and Julia clearly returned after internment, to Aberystwyth, as Johannes continued to completion in 1945, the task of cataloguing evacuated materials from the print room of the British Museum, which were not returned to London until around May 1946. In 1947, Johannes became a Reader at the University of London in the History of Art. By 1950, he was the Deputy Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Johannes by 1953 had completed writing a book about the Italian drawings from the materials which had been evacuated, called Italian Drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum: Michelangelo and His Studio. Johannes and Julia both passed away in 1970 in Camberwell. 

 

Julia Wilde (1919-1983), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

Much like Johannes, Walter Gernsheim was also working on material that had been moved to the NLW when he was interned. Walter was born on the 30th of November 1909 in Munich and was an art dealer, photographer and translator. However, with the growing prevalence of antisemitism in Nazi Germany, Walter found finding work a growing problem. This environment and the growing lack of work available to Walter, led him to seek refuge in London in 1934. He had begun photographing art at institutions, such as the British Museum and during the war he had a War Office permit to undertake this work. As artwork from major institutions, such as the National Gallery had been moved to Aberystwyth, Walter visited there to make photographs of the artwork that was set out in his government contract. Whilst he was there with his wife Gertrud, they stayed at Lenton on Victoria Terrace. This was also where they were both interned from to the Isle of Man in June 1940. Unlike, the Wilde’s they were both interned in the same place and even the same camp in Port Erin on the Isle of Man, which had been established as a camp for those who were married. Walter was not released from internment until November 1944. After the war, he continued alongside his brother, Helmut Gernsheim to take photographs of artworks held in various institutions as well as continuing collecting and dealing art in to the early 2000s. Walter passed away in Florence, Italy in 2006.

Whereas art historians, Otto Kurz and Hilde Kurz nee Schüller, unlike Johannes and Walter, did not arrive in Aberystwyth to work on material which had been moved to the NLW until after Otto was interned. Otto and Hilde were both born in Vienna, Austria in 1908 and February 1910 respectively. They were both also art history students at the University of Vienna in the 1920s. Otto whilst a student there was attacked by Nazis in the library and much like Walter, he found it hard after his university studies to find work in Austria due to the growing antisemitism there. Through contacts he had made at the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the University of Vienna, he was able to find work at the Warburg Library in Hamburg and then relocated to London with the library in 1933. Hilde later fled to England and took up work in 1937 at the then Warburg Institute, which had changed its name after relocating. Hilde and Otto went on to marry each other later that year. By 1940, the Kurz’s were living on Clarendon Road in Notting Hill and whilst living here Otto was not only interned in June 1940, but he was also listed at this address on the Gestapo’s Invasion List, which was created in the case of a German invasion. Otto spent a few months in internment until he was released on the 24th of September 1940. After his internment, Otto and Hilde worked on material, potentially from the Warburg Institute, which had also been moved to the NLW. Otto then went on to become the Assistant Librarian of the Warburg in 1944 and later the Librarian in 1949, a role he remained in until 1965. He also held professorships in Classical Traditions and Fine Art at London University and at Oxford. During most of Otto’s career, Hilde worked privately on his many research endeavours. Otto and Hilde passed away in London in September 1975 and March 1981, respectively.

Other refugees however arrived in Aberystwyth simply as their place of safe haven, with no work or form of education there for them to take up upon their arrival, such as the agricultural expert, Franz Joseph Stanek. Franz was born on the 11th of November 1895 in Vienna, Austria to Anton and Maria Stanek. Before leaving Austria, Franz was an expert in agriculture but by September 1939, he had arrived in Aberystwyth and was unemployed. During his time in Aberystwyth, he lived at 6 Vulcan Street and was briefly detained as an “alien suspect” from this address and was imprisoned in H.M.P Swansea. This imprisonment however only lasted a few days before he was released under the instructions of the Home Secretary on the 9th of September 1939. There is no record in and around the mid to late 1930s, to indicate for how long Franz had been living in Vulcan Street in Aberystwyth before 1939, but all records do indicate that he struggled to find employment in his field whilst living there. His remaining time in Aberystwyth, after his release from H.M.P. Swansea however was very brief, as after his internment tribunal on the 23rd of October 1939 and being categorised as a ‘B’, he left Aberystwyth nearly immediately, the next day. By April 1940, Franz had decided to go to Brazil, potentially in the pursuit of work there as he clearly continued to find it hard to gain employment in the U.K. He was granted permission to move there by the Home Office on the 9th of April 1940. Franz then boarded alone on the 6th of May 1940 on to the Highland Brigade ship in London, which was travelling to Rio de Janeiro. According to the passenger list, at this time, Franz was noted as being stateless. Clearly, moving to Brazil was an attempt at a fresh start and a new life there. However, what his life entailed after boarding this ship is unknown.

 

Franz Joseph Stanek (b. 1895), photo n Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

What united the majority of those explored in this blog was the necessity of the NLW and being close to evacuated books, prints and paintings, so that they could undertake their work of cataloguing and photographing. However, the lives of Johannes, Julia, Walter, Gertrude, Otto, Hilde and Franz, all further indicate the variety of the lived experiences of refugees from National Socialism. Many had fled from persecution and the barriers which had been created within their careers and fields, due to the rise of antisemitism, and many found work and made lives for themselves in Britain. Others struggled with the transition and the pursuit of finding work was hard and not as easily established, with their careers being halted and further immigration being pursued with a desire to change this. None of these refugees, unlike the U.C.L. students and staff, even share the exact same fundamental reasons for ending up in Aberystwyth. As, each came for different reasons, some on work visits that were quickly shortened by internment, for others it became their new home whilst they worked there and for Franz, with no work on offer providing the motivation behind such a decision, Aberystwyth was simply his safe haven. Furthermore, some were not interned, and others were. Even these experiences differed, some were distanced from their married partners and others were interned together in the same camp. Exploring the lives of individual refugees highlights their originalities, differences and uniqueness from each other, much like the individual lives of those who entered domestic service in Aberystwyth and the surrounding areas. Their lives will be explored in the final blogs in this series.

Conor Brockbank

With thanks to Aberystwyth University research project Refugees from National Socialism in Wales

Photos used with the permission of Archifdy Ceredigion Archives, Aberystwyth.

SOURCES

AJR Journal. The Association of Jewish Refugees, October 1975 & December 2013.
Berkowitz, M. ‘Lost in the Transnational: Photographic Initiatives of Walter and Helmut Gernsheim in Britain.’ In Geller, J.H., and Morris, J., eds. Three-Way Street. Jews, Germans, and the Transnational. Michigan, 2016. Pp. 144-168. Accessed via https://bit.ly/3JrOxFh, 17 March 2023.
Camberwell, London, 1970, England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007, FindmyPast.
Camberwell, London, 1970, England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019, FindmyPast.
Ciulisová, I. ‘Dvorcik’s Pupil Johannes Wilde (1891-1970).’ Umeni Art, 60 (2012): 101-108.
Davies, W. Ll. ‘War-Time Evacuation to the National Library of Wales.’ Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmdorion, Session 1945 (1946): 171-178.
Franz Joseph Stanek Internment Exemption Record, 1939, The National Archives, HO 396/240.
Franz Stanek Immigration Card, 9 April 1940, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1940, Immigration Cards, 1900-1965, MyHeritage.
Franz Stanek Interment, Reception and Internment of Aliens: List of Internees, 1939, The National Archives, PCOM 9/661.   
Franz Stanek, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 6 May 1940, Passengers List Leaving UK 1890-1960, FindmyPast.
Gertrude Gernsheim Internment Record, 1940, The National Archives, HO 396/254.
Gertrude Gernsheim Internment Release Record, 1944, The National Archives, HO 396/21.
Hammel, A., and Grenville, A., eds. Refugee Archives. Theory and Practice. Amsterdam, 2007.
Hilde Kurz Internment Exemption Record, 1939, The National Archives, HO 396/50.
Illustrated London News, 18 March 1950.
Johannes Wilde Internment Release Record, 1941, The National Archives, HO 396/133.
Johannes Wilde Internment Release to U.K. Record, 1941, The National Archives, HO 396/127.
Julia Wilde Internment Record, 1940, The National Archives, HO 396/282.
Julia Wilde Internment Release Record, 1941, The National Archives, HO 396/201.
Kocham, M. Britain’s Internees in the Second World War. London, 1983.
Kurz, Hilde, Dictionary of Art Historians, https://bit.ly/3ZGE2os, accessed 11 March 2023.
Kurz, Otto, Dictionary of Art Historians, https://bit.ly/3JxnARL, accessed 11 March 2023.
Kurz, Otto, Gestapo Invasion Arrest List, 1940, Hoover Library.   
Malet, M., and Behr, S., eds. Arts in Exile in Britain 1933-1945. Politics and Cultural Identity. Leiden, 2015.
Otto Kurz Internment Record, 1940, The National Archives, HO 396/264.
Otto Kurz Internment Release Record, 1940, The National Archives, HO 396/183.
Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives, MUS/204.  
Ralph Court, Queensway, London, 1975, England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019, FindmyPast.
Rose, L. Psychology, Art, and Antifascism. Ernst Kris, E.H. Gombrich, and the Politics of Caricature. New Haven, 2016.
Shenton, C. National Treasures. Saving the Nation’s Art in World War II. London, 2021.
Snowman, D. The Hitler Emigrés. The Cultural Impact on Britain of Refugees from Nazism. New York, 2010.
St Pancras, London, 1975, England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007, FindmyPast.
Toksowa Hotel, Dulwich Common Street, Camberwell, Southwark, 1939 Register.
Vulcan Street, Aberystwyth, 1939 Register.
Walter and Gertrude Gernsheim, 1943, Nominal Roll, Married Camp, Isle of Man, The National Archives, HO 215/502.
Walter Gernsheim Internment Record, 1940, The National Archives, HO 396/254.
Walter Gernsheim Internment Release Record, 1944, The National Archives, HO 396/203.
Walter Gernsheim, Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek Kultur und Wissen Online, https://bit.ly/3JzEsaG, accessed 11 March 2023.
Westminster, London, 1981, England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007, FindmyPast.
Wilde, J. Italian Drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum: Michaelangelo and His Studio. London, 1953.
Wilde, Johannes, Dictionary of Art Historians, https://bit.ly/3LhTMdg, accessed 11 March 2023.

From “Refugees” And Evacuees To “Enemy Aliens ~ Part Three

The Evacuated German and Austrian Students and Staff of University College London in Aberystwyth during the Second World War

Part Three: Interned U.C.L. Students In Australia and Canada

 

The final blog focusing on the evacuated University College London (U.C.L.) students will explore the life stories and experiences of 9 students who ended up being interned in either Australia or Canada, far away from both their safe haven of Aberystwyth and their homelands of Germany and Austria. This blog will consider addressing the questions set out in the first blog in this series. Namely, who were these German and Austrian nationals and importantly how and why did they themselves end up in the seaside town of Aberystwyth, miles from their homelands, and subject to potential internment? What was their fate? Were they subjected to internment or were they found exempt to such a fate? If it is possible to ascertain, what were their individual experiences of the tribunals and judgements they faced? Alongside considering why were internees sent to Australia and Canada as well as the impact of internment on these individuals and those around them and how far these internments impacted or influenced the future decisions and paths taken by these internees.

According to the historian Rachel Pistol, the decision was made by the British Government in 1940 to move some internees away from Britain and to the dominions of the British Empire, namely Australia and Canada, to prevent internees helping the Nazis in the case of the potential invasion of Britain. This decision to move some of those deemed “enemy aliens” to Canada or Australia, was not initially known publicly. This decision to move internees became public however with the sinking of the ship, the Arandora Star on the 2nd of July 1940, according to the political scientist Neil Stammers. This ship was carrying internees to Canada when it was torpedoed leaving only 600 survivors from the 1,900 people onboard. In the British Government’s admission on the radio on the 3rd of July, according to Stammers, they argued that those on board were Nazi sympathisers and Italian fascists. As, the following life stories will demonstrate however it is clear despite the government’s admission, that they also sent internees who had been deemed “enemy aliens” on similar ships to the Arandora Star, who were clearly neither sympathisers nor fascists to be interned in Australia and Canada.

One such internee was Heinrich Eugen Nowottny, the only U.C.L. student who was interned in Australia out of the nine whose life stories will be explored. Heinrich was born on the 11th of June 1912 in Germany. It is unclear how Heinrich fled Germany and ended up becoming a U.C.L. student, but he was evacuated alongside his fellow students to Aberystwyth at the beginning of the 1939 academic year and lived at 5 North Road. It was whilst Heinrich was living there that he was interned on the 25th of June 1940 and later sent to Australia on the S.S. Dunera on the 10th of July. This journey on the S.S. Dunera, according to J.M. Ritchie, a German studies academic, was unbearable and the guards on board reportedly robbed the internees. Heinrich himself appears in a photograph on a webpage of the National Museum Australia, which focuses on these internees who arrived in Australia on the S.S. Dunera. From this photograph, it appears that Heinrich was interned in the Tatura Camp in Victoria. Heinrich remained there for nearly two years before his release was authorised on the 5th of January 1942.  He returned to Britain on the S.S. Themistocles and was released on arrival on the 6th of October 1942. Heinrich then lived in Oxfordshire for the rest of his life. There, he married Winifred Dodds in 1948 and then became a naturalised British citizen and changed his name to Henry Eugen Nowottny in September 1959. By the late 1950s, Henry was a technical translator and lecturer. He passed away in 2001 in Oxfordshire.

 

Heinrich Eugen Nowottny (1912-2001), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

The remaining eight U.C.L. students were all interned in Canada, such as Paul Mandl. Paul was born on the 9th of February 1917 in Vienna, Austria and became a refugee from Nazism in England, where he began studying at U.C.L. From there, he was evacuated to Aberystwyth in 1939 and lived at 32 Portland Street. Paul remarked in a student magazine, according to the social historian Georgina Brewis, that Aberystwyth and Wales more generally reminded him of Austria due to their social and geographical similarities. Whilst in Aberystwyth he also took an active role in student activities there. This time for Paul was one he looked back fondly on, as he recalled in a letter written in March 1943 to the University College of Wales (U.C.W.), Aberystwyth’s student magazine, Y Ddraig, The Dragon that:

I’ll never forget the session 1939-40 in Aber, where staff and students showed such profound sympathy with the victim of Nazi barbarism. I would like to thank you all for everything you did to make me feel at home at the College by the Sea.

However, this safe haven and the fun he was clearly having alongside his studies in Aberystwyth was not to last, as he was interned in June 1940, a week after his university exams had finished. He was then boarded on the S.S. Ettrick for internment in Canada on the 3rd of July 1940 and was interned in ‘A’ Internment Camp in Farnham, Quebec. His release was not authorised until May 1942 and by the Christmas of that year, he was able to continue his university studies albeit a full term behind, on this occasion in Canada itself at the University of Toronto. This came as a great relief to Paul, who recalled in the same letter to The Dragon, that upon his internment he ‘felt that I never again would be able to study at a University’. The University of Toronto soon began to feel like home, much like Aberystwyth had before his internment. However, on this occasion it is clear that this was partly due to the stark contrast of interment and the freedom he now experienced, rather than the similarities of home and the safe haven which Aberystwyth offered, as he remarked, again in the same letter, that:

Obviously this (Toronto) is home cheerfully, as nothing is so dear as one’s personal freedom.

Paul clearly became settled in Canada, as he remained there for the rest of his life, other than sabbaticals in his hometown, at the University of Vienna and at the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria. Canada however was where he spent most of his academic career, as he gained his BA and MA from the University of Toronto. He then went on to undertake research at the National Research Council in Ottawa between 1945 to 1967, and during this time he gained his PhD from Toronto in 1951. Paul was then the professor of Mathematics at Carelton University in Ottawa from 1967 to 1982. In 1997, the Dr. Paul Mandl bursary was established there by Paul and his colleagues to be awarded annually to students in the Honours Mathematics program at Carelton. Paul passed away in August 2010 in Ottawa, Canada. 

Paul Mandl (1911-2010), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

Another U.C.L student who was also interned in Canada via the S.S. Ettrick was Carel Paul Erwin Eichwald. Carel’s life has been greatly recorded by his son in a series of articles in 2005 for the BBC’s WW2 People’s War archive as well as in a 1985 essay that Carel himself wrote recollecting his experiences for a history course at the University of New England in Australia. (The WW2 People’s War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed to by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar). The information which follows about his life has used these articles from the WW2 People’s war archive and the 1985 essay, alongside other sources from university and government records, to highlight Carel’s experiences and life story. Carel was born on the 11th of March 1920 in Amsterdam, when his mother was travelling through the Netherlands on her way back to Germany from seeing her family in England, where she had been born. Carel spent his childhood in Schonberg, near Frankfurt in Germany. After the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1933, the Eichwalds, a Jewish family, began to make plans for their future as well as their children's futures in England, such as getting paying guests who stayed with them in Germany to pay into an English bank account they set up for this purpose. Carel’s parents sent him to England after finishing school in 1936 to the safety of his mother’s brother and sister-in-law who lived there. Carel attempted to return to Germany that Christmas but was turned back by the Gestapo and was according to an account written by his son in 2005, told that if he returned, he would be sent to a concentration camp. He began his studies at U.C.L in 1937 and by 1939 was reunited with his parents after they fled Frankfurt during the November pogroms, where Jewish businesses and properties were attacked in November 1938. Along with many of his fellow U.C.L. students, Carel was also evacuated to Aberystwyth at the beginning of the 1939 academic year and he initially lived at Glynderwen on Trinity Road. According to Carel’s 1985 essay, his first tribunal he attended at Aberystwyth resulted in him ‘within minutes’ being classified as category ‘C’ due to his connections to England on his mother’s side. 

However, much like Paul Mandl this educational safe haven was not to last, as he was interned in June 1940. Carel recalls again in his 1985 essay, the night of the 25th of June when he was taken from his accommodation of Courtlands on Queens Road in Aberystwyth and put into a cell at the local police station, as follows:

(M)y landlady knocked on my bedroom door. “Couple of gentlemen downstairs to see you, Mr. E!” They apologised: “We’ve been instructed to intern you, Fifth Column scare – sorry about it, but it’ll be temporary only; then you’ll be out again. They gave me time to dress and pack, write a note to my parents, then locked me in a police cell at Aberystwyth.

He was then taken via Brecon and Cardiff to Liverpool, where he remained in an internment camp, until along with Paul Mandl and many others he was boarded onto the S.S. Ettrick for interment in Canada on the 3rd of July 1940. It is important to note however that Carel and his fellow passengers on the Ettrick were not informed of their destination, according to Carel, so boarded the ship completely unaware of where they would end up. After arriving in Canada, he was initially interned, until his refugee status was acknowledged, with Luftwaffe and those who had been determined category A at the tribunals. It is important to note that these internees were Nazis and Nazi sympathisers and were the exact kind of people that Carel and his family had fled from in Germany. He was eventually transferred to the same internment camp as Paul Mandl in Farnham, Quebec. Contrary to the claims of the sympathetic police officers who picked up Carel in Aberystwyth however, his interment was in fact not temporary, as his release was not authorised from this internment camp until February 1941 and upon his release, he was 3049 miles away from where he was picked up in Aberystwyth.  

Carel was returned on the S.S. Thysville to England and according to an article written by the editor of the U.C.L. student magazine, the New Phineas in the Spring 1941 edition, she shares information from Carel that he is now in the Pioneer Corps and is at their training centre in Ilfracombe, Devon. In this article entitled ‘News of Internees’, Carel also shared the status, locations and camps of fellow U.C.L. students who had been evacuated to Aberystwyth and then were interned in Canada, such as Peter Ulrich Weichmann, Hugo Erhard Rolf Landsberg, George Brandt, Immanuel Goldschmidt and Werner Max Wolf. Through this article, U.C.L. students were encouraged to begin a letter writing campaign to those students who had been interned and to make sure this was done frequently and that the letters should be lengthy. Carel then went onto marry in Kent in 1942, Thalia Allen, a fellow U.C.L. student who had also been evacuated to Aberystwyth in 1939. Around this time, Carel also changed his name to Paul Elwell, which according to Carel was so he could join the fighting units of the war. Paul was then demobbed in July 1946, after serving in reconnaissance and the intelligence corps as well as on the Italian front. He emigrated to Australia in 1948 to work in a department store and removals company in Sydney and worked here until retiring in 1981. His second attempt at a university degree at New England was unsuccessful as he suffered a brain haemorrhage and until he passed away in 2004, he was incapacitated. 

Peter Ulrich Weichmann, the first of the four interned students who Paul Elwell shared their locations to the New Phineas, was born on the 9th of November 1921 in Charlottenburg, Berlin. By 1939, Peter and his mother and father, Alfred and Dorothea were living in Stanley Gardens in Notting Hill. Alfred had found a job as a BBC announcer and Peter had begun his studies at U.C.L. It is unclear when the Weichmann's left Germany and had arrived in London. After Peter was evacuated to Aberystwyth later in 1939, he found accommodation at 55 Bridge Street. He was interned from there in June 1940 and unlike Paul and Carel, Peter was boarded on to the S.S. Sobiecki for internment in Canada on the 4th of July 1940. Like Paul and later Carel, he also was interned in Internment Camp A in Farnham, Quebec. His release was not authorised until the 14th of August 1941, and he was not officially released for another six days. Peter returned to Britain and became a naturalised British citizen at the same time as his parents in July 1947, changing his name to Peter Tom Ulrich Wykeman. He went on to marry Daphne Trice in Hampstead in 1961 and moved to Surrey in 1966. Peter worked in the iron and steel industry first in London and then later in Brussels. He passed away in 1987 in Surrey.

Peter Ulrich Weichmann (1921-1987), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

Another interned U.C.L. student whose location was revealed by Paul Elwell, Hugo Erhard Rolf Landsberg, was hard to track beyond his release from interment. Hugo was born on the 28th of February 1920 in Berlin. How and when he came to England is unclear, but he was evacuated as a U.C.L. student in 1939 to Aberystwyth and lived at Fedw in Custom House Street. He was interned from Custom House Street on the 21st of June 1940. Hugo was then moved to Canada but unlike Paul, Carel and Peter, he was interned in Internment Camp I, which was located elsewhere in Quebec. His release and return to Britain were authorised on the 12th of November 1941. Where Hugo’s future led him is unclear from there. 

 

Hugo Erhard Rolf Landsberg (b. 1920), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archive

In comparison, much more is known about George Brandt, another of those listed by Paul Elwell in the New Phineas. George was born on the 20th of October 1920 in Berlin and his family left Germany in 1933 not long after the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. He began studying as a Modern Languages student at U.C.L. in 1938 and was evacuated to Aberystwyth at the beginning of his second year. George lived at 38 Portland Street during his time in Aberystwyth and became actively involved in student activities, whether that be assisting in the editing of the New Phineas or writing poetry and reporting on societies who had been evacuated to Aberystwyth for the magazine. He was also actively involved in the University College, London, Jewish Students’ Society, who had found a new home in King Street in Aberystwyth. George is reported in the Jewish Chronicle as having been involved in discussions that the society hosted on topics like the Creation Chapter in Genesis and Evolution in October 1939. However, all this hive of activity came to an end when he was interned in June 1940. George however was allowed to take his final exams before his internment. He was then interned in Internment Camp N in Sherbrooke, in the Southern district of Quebec, Canada. George was released as a student from internment on the 4th of October 1941. He carried on his university education in Canada, gaining an MA from the University of Winnipeg in 1945. After completing his MA, he worked at the National Film Board of Canada until he left to return to England in 1949 with his new wife, Toni. In 1951 he joined the drama department of the University of Bristol, George would remain at the university for the rest of his academic career, being appointed to the newly created position of Director of Film Studies in 1971. According to George’s obituary in the Guardian, he was in this position and throughout his academic career, an essential player in introducing practical film and television studies to universities in Britain. He retired from the University of Bristol in 1986 and passed away in September 2007.

George Brandt (1920-2007), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

Immanuel Goldschmidt, who was also interned in Canada, was a fellow member of the U.C.L. Jewish Students’ Society, alongside George. He was born on the 15th of July 1921 in Berlin. By 1939, he had left Berlin and was a law student at U.C.L. and was living in Lingfield, Surrey at the same address as his future wife, Elsie Tanner, who he went onto marry in 1944. When Immanuel was evacuated to Aberystwyth, he initially lived at 67 North Parade and later moved to Aventine on Cliff Terrace. Here one of his roommates was the future sixth president of Israel, Chaim Herzog. He was an active member of the Jewish Students’ Society along with Chaim and George, taking part in discussion topics such as “The Poetry of the Psalms” in October 1939, according to a report in the Jewish Chronicle. Immanuel was later interned in Canada, as recalled in Chaim’s biography in 1996, being boarded on to the S.S. Sobiecki on the same day as Peter Ulrich Weichmann. However, unlike Paul, Carel, Peter, Hugo and George who were all interned in and around Quebec, Immanuel was interned further to the east in Fredericton, New Brunswick in Internment Camp B. He was later released from internment after arriving back in Britain on the S.S. Indrapoera on the 30th of June 1941. Immanuel then graduated from university the following year. He then, much like Carel, went on to serve in the war for the British forces. Immanuel became a naturalised British citizen in 1947, changing his surname to Goldsmith. By 1950, he was admitted to practice law in England. However, in 1959, he along with his wife, Elsie, moved back to Canada, where he was required to take a bar admissions course at Osgoode Hall Law School in Ontario, before he could practice law there. Immanuel then established himself as a lawyer in Canada, becoming a partner in the law firm Caswell & Goldsmith and then in 1970, he was appointed to the Queens Counsel. He also published books on building contracts and personal injuries and death in Canada, which were well received and republished. Immanuel passed away in Toronto, Canada in July 2003.

Werner Max Wolf is the final evacuated U.C.L. student whose life and subsequent internment in Canada will be explored. Werner was born on the 28th of February 1919 in Berlin. By the time of U.C.L. being evacuated to Aberystwyth, Werner was undertaking a BSc there and moved into 8 Eastgate Street. He later moved to 67 North Parade, which may have crossed over with the time Immanuel was living at this address. Before he was interned, Werner was fined £5 for being in possession of information useful to the enemy, it is not clear what this information entailed but it was clearly judged to be serious enough at the time to be fined over. Werner was then interned from 67 North Parade and was moved to Canada in mid-1940 and was not released until September 1941, after being returned to Britain on the S.S. Thysville in January of that year. Werner did not return to Aberystwyth and settled in London, where by 1947 he was working as a research chemist. By 1966, he had moved to Co. Durham in England and was working for Chemical Compounds Ltd.

Werner Max Wolf (b. 1919), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

Overall, internment in Australia and Canada for many of the U.C.L. students, such as Paul, George and Immanuel, meant the sudden and complete ending of their contributions to the wider evacuated U.C.L student life in Aberystwyth, as many had active roles in student journalism for the New Phineas or in various student societies. Also, the fate and reality of internment in Australia or Canada meant being moved thousands of miles, not long after leaving Germany or Austria and their subsequent evacuation to Aberystwyth from London. Many of them also then faced longer periods of interment than their fellow students who had been interned on the Isle of Man, with internment periods for U.C.L. students in Australia and Canada being between 12 to 23 months longer. Internment in Canada in particular also influenced the future paths some of these students took after their release, as a number of them remained or ended up returning to Canada to make and build a life for themselves there. Others returned to Britain and their lives took a variety of different paths, some became naturalised British citizens, many married, a few gained jobs in teaching, chemistry or the iron and steel industry and others emigrated in the pursuit of work and a life elsewhere. None of these students from what can be ascertained about their lives after leaving Aberystwyth and being released from internment, apart from Paul Mandl, returned to Germany or Austria on a semi-permanent or permanent basis. U.C.L. students, staff and their families who were evacuated to Aberystwyth it is important to note, were the largest group of refugees from National Socialism who were either internment tribunal attendees, or who were later interned from Aberystwyth and the surrounding areas. However, they did not make up the whole of this group of refugees, with others who were from the art and agricultural industries as well as the domestic services finding refugee in Aberystwyth and the surrounding areas. Their life stories, internment tribunals decisions and for some their subsequent internments will be addressed in the following blogposts in this series.

Conor Brockbank

 

With thanks to Aberystwyth University research project Refugees from National Socialism in Wales 

Photos used with the permission of Archifdy Ceredigion Archives, Aberystwyth.

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