From 'Refugees' and 'Evacuees' to 'Enemy Aliens' ~ Part Two

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

Part Two - Interned U.C.L. Students and Staff on the Isle Of Man

Part two of this blogpost series, will explore the individual stories of the one University College London (U.C.L.) students and four members of staff who faced internment on the Isle of Man after they had been evacuated to Aberystwyth. Exploring their life stories and experiences will continue to consider the main questions which were set out at the beginning of part one in this series of blog posts. 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? 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 the impact of internment on these individuals as well as those around them.

The Isle of Man was again used as it had been during World War One as a place to intern people.  Klaus Albrecht Mayer was the only U.C.L. student to be interned on the Isle of Man who is explored in this blog. Klaus, pictured below, was born in Mainz, Germany on the 17th of November 1918 and was evacuated alongside his fellow U.C.L. students to Aberystwyth in 1939. Klaus lived at 18 Marine Terrace in Aberystwyth until he was interned in June 1940. After Klaus was released in November 1940, he returned to Aberystwyth and lived at 43 Cambrian Street. It is unclear where and what direction his life took him after this. 

Klaus Albrecht Mayer (b.1918), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

Internment however it is important to note was not simply only the fate of evacuated U.C.L. students but also a very small number of staff were also interned on the Isle of Man. Karl-Werner Paul Maurer, who was born on the 24th of June 1905 in Esslingen, Germany had been a lecturer in German at U.C.L. since 1931. Karl-Werner had previously taught at the University of Dijon and Bonn before being appointed there. He was evacuated along with the rest of his department at the beginning of the 1939 academic year. Karl-Werner and his wife Sheila due to this evacuation, moved from Taviston Street in Euston, Camden into Jasper House on Great Darkgate Street in Aberystwyth. However, in June 1940 alongside his colleague Robert Pick, an Austrian lecturer in the department who was later the editor at Alfred A. Knopf publishing house in New York in the 1950s, he was interned on the Isle of Man. This was met by his fellow colleagues in the department with much protest.

 

Karl-Werner Paul Maurer, photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

Sheila Maurer, photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

Much like Karl-Werner, Hermann Hans Anton Von Zeissl, a U.C.L. research assistant, was also interned on the Isle of Man. Hermann was born on the 2nd of December 1888 into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria and later went on to become a civil servant in the Austrian government. On the 15th of March 1938, after the Anschluss, annexation, of Austria by Nazi Germany, all Jewish and half-Jewish civil servants were removed from their posts. Hermann therefore who had rose to the position of Assistant head of the University section in the Austrian Ministry of Education, would have lost his job. In this environment of increasing hostility to Jewish Austrians, Hermann fled to England in 1939. Hermann, it appears went onto work as a research assistant at U.C.L. and was living at 150 Sinclair Road, West Holland Park in Kensington and Chelsea by September 1939. In late 1939, both he and his daughter, Annelise, who had also come to England and was a languages student at U.C.L., were evacuated to Aberystwyth from London and Surrey respectively and lived at Pantyderi on Llanbadarn Road. 

On the 21st of June 1940, Hermann was interned and was moved to the Isle of Man. Annelise remained in Aberystwyth at this time and continued her studies. It is unclear if they were reunited in Aberystwyth, as it is hard to establish if both their university departments were still evacuated there when he was released from internment on the 16th of October 1940. By the summer of 1945, Hermann was able to return to his position in the Austrian government and by 1949 he had become the President of the Austrian UNESCO Delegation. Anneliese, on the other hand it appears did not join her father when he returned to Austria and instead remained in Britain, where she married Brian Dee in Cuckfield, Sussex in 1951. Hermann passed away in 1967 in Austria and Anneliese in November 2013 in Oxford.

 

Anneliese ‘Anna Elizabeth’ Von Zeissl (1916-2013), photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

The final evacuated U.C.L. staff member whose life and subsequent internment on the Isle of Man will be explored is Georg Schwarzenberger, who was born on the 20th of May 1908 in Heilbronn, Germany. Georg grew up in a middle-class Jewish family and attended Heidelberg University in Germany where he met his future wife, Susanne. Georg and Susanne became actively involved in Germany with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the political party itself was banned by the Nazis on the 21st of June 1933 and many of the leading representatives of the party were imprisoned and removed from office, or both. Under these circumstances and the rise of the Nazi party, he fled to London in 1934 and was later joined by Susanne. Georg eventually undertook a PhD at the University of London, completing this in 1936. In 1938, Georg and Susanne consciously became stateless in response to the Munich Settlement and its consequences. By 1939, Georg had a post in the Faculty of Law at U.C.L. and was the Secretary of the New Commonwealth Institute for Justice and Peace, which later became the London Institute of World Affairs. Georg alongside his colleagues in the Law department was evacuated to Aberystwyth in 1939 and took up residence at 5A, Oxford House on Marine Terrace in Aberystwyth. However, two days into the beginning of WW2, Georg faced the first of many sudden changes and imprisonments in one form or another. As on the 3rd of September 1939, he was arrested by the Cardiganshire Constabulary and imprisoned briefly between the 4th and 7th of September at H.M.P Swansea as an Alien Suspect. He was released due to an intervention via telegram by the then newly appointed Home Secretary, John Anderson.

During the 1939-1940 academic year, Georg was incredibly busy, as alongside his own teaching responsibilities, he undertook a leading role in covering the lecture courses for the International Politics department of the U.C.W, Aberystwyth, due to the permanent staff of the department, such as E.H. Carr, being absent and away on government service. The department was in safe hands however, as Georg played an important role in the second consensus in International Relations on realism, alongside E.H. Carr in fact. Furthermore, Georg and his U.C.L. colleague, George Keaton had to move and establish the New Commonwealth Institute in Aberystwyth. All this hard work was to be disrupted when he was interned in June 1940, and this was seen as a ‘serious blow’ to the Institute according to the Directors Report written in October 1940 by Keaton.

 At his tribunal which decided his fate, where his category was changed from ‘C’ to ‘B’, he was asked by the Chairman if he wanted his wife treated the same as him and as Georg believed he’d be reclassified as C, he agreed. Not only was Georg judged an “enemy alien” by the British authorities at this tribunal, but he was also viewed as such by the Nazis too. As, in 1940, Georg unbeknown to himself, also ended up on the secret Gestapo Invasion Arrest List, which would have meant he’d have faced imprisonment if the Nazis successfully invaded Britain. The decision of the tribunal in Aberystwyth however against all the Schwarzenberger family had widespread ramifications, with unlike Karl-Werner and Hermann, not only was Georg interned but his wife and son faced the same fate too.

Whilst Georg was interned in Douglas on the Isle of Man, he continued to be involved in education, as he recalls a Camp University being set up and that he was put in charge of teaching Law. Susanne and Georg were separated and for 7 weeks she was also separated from her son, as she was kept in Holloway Prison whilst a place was being established for women internees on the Isle of Man. When the Rushen Internment Camp was established for women internees and their children, Georg and Susanne were able to keep in contact via post between the two camps and on one occasion were allowed to see each other. 

Georg, along with his family, however missed very little of his academic teaching as he was released by November of the same year, as U.C.L. arranged for his release under the University Release Order. Instead of moving back to Aberystwyth, which he only briefly reported back to, Georg went back to the family home at Edgeware. This however did not last long, as that night his home was bombed. The department and the Institute not long after had both moved to Cambridge and until he could find suitable accommodation there, Susanne and their son remained in Aberystwyth with friends until around 1941 to 1942. Georg remained a member of the U.C.L. Law department until 1975, becoming a professor in 1963. Georg passed away in Hertfordshire in 1991 and Susanne in 1994 respectively. Georg’s legacy continues with the Georg Schwarzenberger Prize in International Law, which is awarded annually by the University of London to a student in the Faculty of Laws, who is considered outstanding in the field of Public International Law.

Internment on the Isle of Man clearly breached across the student and staff divide, with well-known and established academics alongside new students facing the same internment policy, indicating the wide-ranging reality and blunt implementation of the policy of interning all German and Austrian men. The evacuated safe haven of Aberystwyth was destroyed for most of these men and their families. However, for some, like Klaus, Karl-Werner, Robert, Susanne and her son, it continued to offer that safe haven for them after they were released from their short periods of internment on the Isle of Man and returned to live, learn and teach there. Internment on the Isle of Man however was not the only fate which awaited German and Austrian men who were swept up in the British government’s change towards mass internment, as some faced internment much further away in Australia and Canada. The fate and life stories of these evacuated U.C.L. students who faced internment there will be the focus of the next blog 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

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Groom, A.J.R., and Mandaville, P. ‘Hegemony and Autonomy in International Relations: The Continental Experience.’ In Jarvis, D.S.L., and Crawford, M.A., eds., International Relations - - Still an American Social Science? Toward Diversity in International Thought. New York, 2011. Pp. 151-166.
Hall, I. Dilemmas of Decline: British Intellectuals and World Politics, 1945-1975. Berkeley, 2012.
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Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives, MUS/204.   
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Rubenstein, H.L., Jolles, M., and Rubenstein, W.D., eds., The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. London, 2011.
Schwarzenberger, Georg (Oral History), 29 January 1979, IWM Sound Archives, © IWM 4590, https://bit.ly/418jV3G, accessed 18 February 2023.
Schwarzenberger, Georg, Gestapo Invasion Arrest List, 1940, Hoover Library.
Schwarzenberger, Susanne (Oral History), 29 January 1980, IWM Sound Archives, © IWM 4591, https://bit.ly/3IyQy31, accessed 18 February 2023.
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Standardization, American Standards Association Inc., Vol. 20, April 1949. New York, 1949.
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Willoughby, L.A. ‘Karl-Werner Maurer. An English Tribute.’ In Schludermann, B., Doerksen, V.G., Glendinning, R.J., and Firchow, E.S., eds., Deutung Und Bedeutung- Studies in German and Comparative Literature Presented to Karl-Werner Maurer. Paris, 1973. Pp. 11-13.
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From 'Refugees' and 'Evacuees' to 'Enemy Aliens' ~ Part One

 

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

Part One - U.C.L. Students Not Interned

During the Second World War (WW2), nationals from Germany and Austria, many of whom had their citizenship removed and had found refuge in Britain in the years before the war began, were subject to the judgement and suspicion of them being “enemy aliens”. Austrians, it is important to note, had faced the Anschluss, an annexation, of their country by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany in March 1938 and was one reason for the mass flight of Austrians from their homeland. It was also why Germans and Austrians in the following “enemy aliens” policies in Britain were viewed the same, as Hitler’s Nazi Germany was in control and union with Austria. What did the term “enemy alien” truly mean though? How was it decided that German and Austrian nationals in Aberystwyth and Britain more widely were “enemy aliens” and a risk to the security of the country? 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? The following series of blog posts will attempt to explore these questions and add a depth to the names and photos of some “enemy aliens” collated in a notebook by the Cardiganshire Police as well as those people whose names are only present in the tribunal records, which were a result of the Aliens and Regional Advisory Committee tribunals held in Aberystwyth in 1939 and 1940 respectively.

Amongst the 600 students as well as the staff members who were evacuated from University College London (U.C.L.) to Aberystwyth, were 15 students and 4 members of staff and their families, who were subject to these tribunals to judge if they were “enemy aliens”. Their evacuation amongst others from Birmingham and South Wales according to the County of Cardigan Standing Committee minutes for the 3rd of October 1940, was a clear concern and focus of the Chief Constable, J.J. Lloyd Williams, and the Cardiganshire Police Force as he notes:

Owing to the bombardment of the South Wales, London and Birmingham areas, a very considerable influx of evacuees has occurred … These unofficial evacuees include many aliens and considerable additional work has been imposed on the aliens staff at Aberystwyth through these individuals taking up their residence here.

This additional work that Lloyd Williams wrote about in these minutes, involved mainly undertaking tribunals, of which Aberystwyth was one of 120 places that tribunals were held in across Britain, to ascertain if the Germans and Austrians who were presented in front of them needed to be interned or be subject to certain restrictions. These decisions were made in-line with the categories set out by the government, to classify them as either a “refugee from Nazi oppression” or as a “non-refugee” with them assigned ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ to indicate their fate, be that:

‘A': Being interned,
‘B’: Travel was limited to 5 miles from their place of residence, with permission for travel at any greater distance requiring the permission of the police and they couldn’t own a camera or binoculars
And ‘C’: who were exempt from restrictions and internment and had the opportunity to have their status as a ‘Refugee from Nazi Oppression’ indicated and acknowledged on official documents.

These restrictions enforced on German and Austrian nationals in Aberystwyth and more widely within the whole of Britain as well as the policy of internment were possible under the power and laws of the Alien Acts of 1914 and 1919 respectively. All of those who were evacuees from U.C.L., who were subject to the Alien tribunals between the 23rd and 27th of October 1939, were initially categorised as ‘C’, so therefore they were judged as a “refugee” rather than an “enemy alien”. The historian, Dr Rachel Pistol argues that at the time, being assigned as a category ‘C’ was seen as an indication of innocence. No doubt many of those who were evacuated from U.C.L. to Aberystwyth viewed their category ‘C’ as such. This categorisation was also according to the political scientist, Neil Stammers, the initial fate of 64,000 Germans and Austrians in Britain, with only 6,800 being categorised ‘B’ and an even smaller amount of 569, being categorised as ‘A’ and in need of immediate internment. 

However, this decision by the Aliens Tribunals in Aberystwyth as well as the decision to categorise the majority of Germans and Austrians in Britain as category ‘C’ in 1939, for many was quickly overturned by the government’s decisions between the 11th and 17th of May 1940, to begin the process of the mass internment of all male “enemy aliens” who were in Britain. This policy it should be noted was agreed despite the reservations of notable cabinet ministers, such as the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Clement Attlee and Arthur Greenwood as well as the then Home Secretary, Sir John Anderson. Stammers argues this change was due to the fear that many Germans and Austrians were an internal threat to the security of Britain, as it was believed and pushed by the newspapers of the day that they were sympathetic or working for the Nazis. Furthermore, the progression of the war, with the invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) and France in May 1940 and the change of Prime Minister, from Neville Chamberlain to Winston Churchill and his government, brought a new direction and individuals to the discussion table, which combined ultimately changed the overall opinion of the government towards the matter of mass internment. Near the end of June 1940, the fate of any German or Austrian man was decided, as any male categorised as ‘C’ was now subject to internment. The realities of these decisions made in London, came to affect those who had initially been evacuated around 232 miles to the seaside town of Aberystwyth to protect them from the realities of the war, in the form of the bombardment of London by air from Nazi forces. As, between the 4th and 19th of June 1940 many were taken from their allocated educational safe haven of Aberystwyth to be interned as an “enemy alien”. This was a fate 24 Germans and Austrians, resident in Cardiganshire had faced by the 3rd of October 1940, according to the County of Cardigan Standing Committee minutes.

The individual stories and fate of these 16 students and 3 members of staff of U.C.L., are both in some ways similar, but in many ways their stories of how their lives were in a constant period of upheaval from the mid to late 1930s and throughout the course of WW2 are totally unique, in both how Aberystwyth became their temporary home away from home and how they then adapted to such upheaval in their lives too. This first blog will explore the small group of U.C.L. evacuated students who were themselves not interned.

Of the evacuated German and Austrian U.C.L. students, only 4 were not interned at all, alongside one Polish student. Many of these students were females and therefore not included in the new policy to intern all male “enemy aliens”. Two of these students whose lives after their time in Aberystwyth are unknown, were Stefanie Mira Fink, pictured below, who was a Polish student studying for a BA General, a multidisciplinary degree that covered a wide range of subjects and Johanna Friedstein. Johanna was born in October 1917 in Vienna, Austria and was living at Holborn House on Queens Road throughout her evacuated studies at Aberystwyth. 

 

Stefanie Marie Fink. Photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

The three remaining evacuated students came from a variety of backgrounds, such as Dina Rosenblüth who was born in May 1919 in Wilmersdorf, a residential district in Berlin and was a psychology student in Aberystwyth, who had been educated in England after her family had emigrated from Germany in c.1938 after the Nazis rose to power. The Rosenblüths, consisting of Dina, her brother and mother were living in Hendon, London in 1939, where Dina began her studies at U.C.L. Her father was a judge in Berlin before they left Germany and later went on to help establish the state of Israel as well as becoming the country’s first Minister of Justice. During her time in Aberystwyth, she lived at Hafodynys on Victoria Terrace. Dina from the 1950s onwards went on to publish many articles and books which focused on child psychology and psychoanalysis. She passed away in July 1983 in Tavistock, England. 

 

Dina Rosenblüth. Photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

Ruth Irmgard Bringfriede Liefmann, was another U.C.L. student who was not interned. Ruth was born in March 1916 in Hamburg and had left Germany before WW2 began. In November 1939, she was a sports teacher in Swanage in England before she moved to Aberystwyth as a student at the Chelsea Physical Training College and lived on Bryn Road there during this time. It was believed, amongst her pupils later in the war at Holyrood preparatory school in Abermad, that Ruth would have competed as a long jumper in the 1936 Olympics that were held in Berlin, if she had not been prevented from doing so because of being Jewish. Ruth was a popular teacher at Holyrood, where she taught German to her pupils. Her commute to work during this time, was a short one, as she lived in a lodge at Troed-y-rhiw, Llanfarian. Teaching remained her occupation until she retired as a college lecturer in Hampshire. Ruth then passed away in Hampshire in September 1991.

Ruth Irmgard Bringfriede Liefmann, 1916-1991. Photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

Hans-Hermann Arnold was the only male U.C.L. evacuated student who was not interned for a very unique reason. Hans Hermann was born in Berlin in December 1915, the son of Eberhard and Emmy Arnold, the founders of the Bruderhof, an Anabaptist Christian community originally formed in Sannerz, Hess in Germany. After Eberhard and the Bruderhof community’s resistance and awareness of the impacts of Nazi ideology, the community then based in the Rhön Mountains was stormed by the Gestapo on the 16th of November 1933. The community moved to Liechtenstein and later set up further communities in the Netherlands and in the Cotswolds in Ashton Keynes, England in 1934 and 1936 respectively. Hans-Hermann joined this community, known as the Cotswold Bruderhof around March 1936 and with his brothers and brother-in-law, after his father’s death in November 1935, took charge of the running of the various communities. 

 

Hans-Hermann Arnold. Photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

Hans-Hermann's university education began in Manchester University in early 1936, however after failing his exams, he changed his degree course to History and enrolled in this subject in 1938 at U.C.L. Alongside his fellow U.C.L. students he was then evacuated to Aberystwyth. His wife, Gertrud whom he had married in June 1938, later described her husband’s new surroundings after being evacuated from London as ‘an old castle directly on the rocky coast and that ‘(a)t the swell of the sea, the spray of the waves came up to the windows.’ The ‘old castle’ that Gertrud describes was the main University building of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, which is now known as the Old College. At this time, Hans-Hermann travelled earlier than the rest of his fellow students to Aberystwyth to find suitable accommodation for his relatively new family to live in, as Gertrud had given birth to their first child, Rose Marie at the Cotswold Bruderhof in June 1939. He initially stayed at 10 Iorwerth Avenue and then at Arfon, Cae’r-Gog, with Hans-Hermann finally settling with his family at Sandon House, 9 Cae’r-Gog Terrace in Aberystwyth. Their experiences whilst in Aberystwyth can be ascertained from a series of letters Hans-Hermann sent to his family based at the Cotswold Bruderhof. His experiences recollected in the letters were mostly of the demands of the student workload and on many occasions, he mentions the friendly reception of the local people, such as in a letter to his mother on the 22nd of October 1939, when he said that due to ‘the extremely friendly attitude of the people here ... there will be no difficulty in my continuing study here.’ Gertrud also remembered this friendly reception, as students at the university collected money together, alongside Hans-Hermann’s scholarship and money coming from the Bruderhof, for their upkeep whilst they were in Aberystwyth.

 

Gertrud Arnold. Photo in Police Memorandum Book inscribed ‘Aliens’ Photographs’, H.W.?Owen, MUS/204, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

In this letter of the 22nd of October 1939, Hans-Hermann also gives an account of attending his tribunal, where he recalled that both Mr Read, a local man and Prof. John. E. Neale, the Astor Professor of English History at U.C.L., came to speak up on his behalf. Neale, he recalls even waited with him for over two hours and missed a lecture he was meant to give as well as inviting him afterwards for coffee at Prof. Reginald Francis Treharne’s house, the Chair of History at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where Neale was staying whilst the department was evacuated there. Whilst Hans Hermann was there, he talked to Neale about the Bruderhof, which the Professor had previously heard of. Hans-Hermann also provided a short summary of his tribunal in this letter, as he recalled that:

I was first asked if I was a Jew, and for what religious reasons I had left Germany. Then, to what religious group I belong. I showed them my [Bruderhof] membership card in answer, and then things went very quickly, and I received the stamp “Refugee from Nazi oppression,” with the withdrawal of all limitations. So there is nothing in the way of my studies and we shall have nothing to fear while staying here.

 

Hans-Hermann Arnold, 1915-1972. Photo by permission of the Bruderhof Historical Archive, New York

 

However, this friendly reception and lack of fear was not to last for Hans-Hermann and his family, as by January 1940 in another letter to his mother he revealed that their ‘life here is not so easy’ as he indicated that they do not meet anyone who is not pro-war and that he felt he could not say much against it as he would not be heard. This would have been hard for Hans-Hermann, as it would have completely contradicted the beliefs of the Bruderhof, in this case especially, their pacifist stance. By mid 1940, their lives in Aberystwyth came to a complete end around the time that the British government changed their stance on mass internment. As Gertrud recalled receiving a telegram telling them with no reason given to return immediately to the Cotswold Bruderhof. In her memories held at the Bruderhof Historical Archive in New York, she recalled this quick move away from Aberystwyth and the return to the Bruderhof:

We hardly packed anything, but left as we were. We then learned that England wanted to intern all Germans. If we would have stayed in Wales, we could have been sent to Canada or another place because we were not on the Bruderhof. Our members were already interned on our property... The government was friendly, but our neighbours were hostile to us. Because of that the Home Office advised us to emigrate.

The Arnolds therefore on this advice from the Home Office emigrated to Paraguay on the 24th of November 1940. Hans-Hermann according to Gertrud found this move very hard because he felt there was still a big mission ahead of them in England as well as this meaning that they would be further away from Germany, where he believed that Hitler’s regime would collapse soon. In Paraguay however, they went onto establish a huge mission, forming three communities alongside the members of the Cotswold Bruderhof who also emigrated there between November 1940 and May 1941. In 1953, Hans-Hermann and Gertrud travelled to the U.S.A. to raise money for a hospital they had built in Paraguay. This eventually led to an interest in a community being established in the U.S.A., with the eventual creation of the Woodcrest Bruderhof in New York in June 1954. Hans-Hermann and Gertrud were members of this community until they passed away, with Hans-Hermann dying of cancer there in December 1972. 

Gertrud & Hans-Hermann Arnold. Photo by permission of the Bruderhof Historical Archive, New York

 

The life stories of Dina, Gertrud, Hans-Hermann, Johanna, Ruth and Stefanie, demonstrate that although every refugee had fled National Socialism, their stories and lives were unique and different. Their stories all guided them to Aberystwyth as evacuees from U.C.L., each were from different departments be that History, Psychology or a more general designed degree course. Many of them it is clear were also welcomed into the local community, with Ruth teaching German at a local school as well as Hans-Hermann and Gertrud being shown the charity of the local student population through the collections they ran for their upkeep and the support given to Hans-Hermann at his tribunal. These overall experiences mostly indicate a welcoming and friendly reception, but Hans-Hermann's later letters indicate that their lives walking around the streets and being educated in the seaside town of Aberystwyth also brought some slight tension mainly with his pacifist beliefs. None faced the fate of being interned, mainly due to the interment being imposed on males or in Hans-Hermann's case, the Home Office correspondence which advised him to leave England. This was however not the fate that some of their fellow male U.C.L. evacuee students and lecturers faced, of which their fate and life stories will be the focus of the next blog posts.

Blog by Conor Brockbank

SOURCES

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Photos and letters used with the permission of the Bruderhof Historical Archive, Walden, New York & photos used with the permission of Archifdy Ceredigion Archives, Aberystwyth.

Copyright Conor Brockbank 2023

Atgofion Katie Jones o fywyd Aberystwyth adeg yr Ail Ryfel Byd ~ Katie Jones' recollections of life in wartime Aberystwyth

Cyfweliad Katie Jones o Salem, Aberystwyth, wedi’i recordio ar 20fed o Orffennaf 2022 gan Bethan Siân Jones, yng nghartref Katie, yn y Gymraeg

(An English translation is at the end of the Welsh text)

 

Ganwyd Katie ym 1924 a magwyd ar dyddyn yn Salem, Penrhyncoch. Gweithiodd ei thad fel xxxxx. Nododd ei fod yn fywyd hapus iawn. Symudodd ei hen fodryb i’r tyddyn i leddfu mam Katie o’r gwaith ty. Ganwyd saith o blant i fam Katie ac felly, fel nododd Katie, roedd ganddi ddigon i’w wneud!

Brodyr a chwiorydd Katie

Yn ystod y cyfnod hwn, roedd chwaer Katie yn dysgu gwnïo. Roedd gan Katie ddau frawd hynach a aeth ymlaen i fod yn yrwyr trenau. Dechreuodd ei chwaer hynaf brentisiaeth trin gwallt ond rhoddodd y gorau iddi er mwyn helpu gartref. Ar ôl blynyddoedd o fyw ar y tyddyn, roedd mam Katie yn ei chael hi’n anodd oherwydd diffyg dwr a thrydan, heb sôn am y ffaith bod rhaid iddi ofalu am y plant a’r anifeiliaid. Felly dyma’r teulu yn symud i dref Aberystwyth i redeg gwesty yn Stryd Portland.

Dechrau’r Ail Ryfel Byd

Nododd Katie nad oedd llawer o newid wedi bod ym mywyd trefol Aberystwyth gyda’r Ail Ryfel Byd, heblaw am bresenoldeb milwyr. Roedd y rhain yn cynnwys aelodau o’r llu awyr, ond neb o’r llynges. Cymerwyd pob gwesty ar y prom gan filwyr. Nododd hefyd y gwahaniaethau a ddaeth yn sgil dognau bwyd. Yn ôl Katie, cymerodd y bechgyn ddiddordeb mewn peiriannau a hanes militariaeth. Nododd nad oedd ganddynt deledu fel teulu ond prynodd y teulu radio oedd dim ond yn cael ei droi ymlaen i wrando ar y newyddion. Gan fod Katie yn gweithio yn ystod yr adeg hon, byddai fel arfer yn colli’r newyddion. Fel cantores frwd, nododd hefyd nad oedd yn medru mynd i ymarfer côr adeg y rhyfel. Serch hynny, bu’n canu yn y capel.

Y 'blackout’

Atgofiodd Katie gyfnod y blackouts, a phan symudodd i mewn i’w chartref presennol ym 1956, roedd y deunydd blackouts dal i fyny yn y ffenestri!

Lloches cyrch awyr

Er nad oedd gan y teulu unrhyw loches cyrch awyr yn Stryd Portland, credai Katie fod yna loches ym Mhlascrug ac yn hwyrach ymlaen efallai rhai wrth y castell. Fodd bynnag, nid oedd unrhyw gyrchoedd awyr yn Aberystwyth ac felly nid oedd ganddi atgof o orfod gadael ei thy mewn achos o argyfwng.

Swydd adeg rhyfel

Gweithiodd Katie mewn siop fferyllydd fel dosbarthwr lle bu hi a merch arall yn brentisiaid. Daeth sawl merch fel cynorthwywyr siop a buasai bachgen ‘errand’ yn eu plith hefyd. Atgofiodd iddi weld y rheolwr nawr ac yn y man. Roedd ganddynt optegydd yn y gweithle a alwyd i fyny i wasanaethu yn y rhyfel ac felly cymerodd y rheolwr yr adran opteg drosodd. Fel y gweithiwr hynaf, cymerodd hi gyfrifoldebau ymlaen.  

Gwirfoddoli yn yr ysbyty

Yn ogystal â’i gwaith fel dosbarthwr, gwirfoddolodd Katie yn yr ysbyty ar Ffordd y Gogledd hefyd. Roedd gan bob ward deg gwely yr un – pump bob ochr. Yn ei chyfweliad, atgofiodd edrych ar ôl menyw ifanc oedd eisoes wedi derbyn triniaeth. Helpodd Katie hi i’w pharatoi ar gyfer ymweliad ei chariad. Cofiodd Katie iddi helpu rhoi curlers yng ngwallt y fenyw ifanc.  

Rôl chwaer Katie yn yr ymdrech ryfel

Nododd Katie i’w chwaer gael ei galw fyny i wasanaethu yn y rhyfel. Bu’n symud o un gwersyll hyfforddi milwyr i’r llall. Nid oedd yn hollol sicr beth oedd rôl ei chwaer yn union, ond oherwydd i’w thueddiadau perffeithio, bu chwaer Katie yn gyfrifol am addasu gwisgoedd y milwyr i sicrhau eu bod yn ffitio’n iawn. Ni aeth chwaer Katie ym mhellach nag ardal Wolverhampton. Daeth chwaer Katie yn ôl gartref nawr ac yn y man a bu’r chwiorydd yn ysgrifennu llythyron at ei gilydd nes i chwaer Katie briodi. Nododd Katie efallai fod gwaith ei chwaer wedi gwneud peth lles iddi o ganlyniad iddi orfod mentro oherwydd na fyddai erioed wedi cael profiad o’r fath trwy weithio mewn siop. Nododd Katie, felly, fod rhai pethau da yn dod allan o ryfel.  

Faciwîs yn cyrraedd Aberystwyth

Oherwydd bod ei brawd mawr yn gweithio ar y trenau, bu’n gyfrifol am gludo’r faciwîs i Aberystwyth. Cofiodd Katie iddi orfod gofalu am y faciwîs un noson, yn enwedig gyda rhoi gofal arbennig i fachgen sâl. O Firmingham y daeth y faciwîs. Daethant i Aberystwyth er mwyn cael eu rhannu rhwng teuluoedd. Cymharodd Katie profiadau’r rheiny a anfonwyd i gefn gwlad i fyw â chael eu taflu i’r dwfn. Fel un a magwyd yng nghefn gwlad, dim ond y Gymraeg oedd yn cael ei glywed yn yr ysgol, ac felly dim ond y Gymraeg a fyddai’r faciwîs yn ei glywed. Nododd mai dyna sut mae plant yn dysgu. Roedd hi’n medru dychmygu’r gwahaniaethau mawr rhwng bywydau’r plant cyn iddynt symud i fyw i Gymru â byw yng nghefn gwlad Cymru.

Dognau bwyd

Nid oedd Katie yn cofio mynd yn brin ofnadwy. Nododd bod ei mam yn dda iawn wrth baratoi bwydydd pob dydd, dim byd ffansi. Roedd ganddi ddawn gyda throi pethau allan yn ôl Katie. Ychwanegodd hefyd oherwydd bod ei theulu wedi dod o’r cefn gwlad, pan ddaeth ei chyn-gymdogion i Aberystwyth i siopa am y diwrnod, byddent yn defnyddio’r gwesty fel “stasiwn Crewe” gan storio eu pryniannau gyda’r teulu. Arhosodd dau gigydd o’r fyddin gyda’r teulu yn Stryd Portland am ychydig o wythnosau. Buont yn gweithio yn y ganolfan bwydo milwyr ar Queen’s Road.

Mwgwd nwy

Atgofiodd Katie iddi orfod cario mwgwd nwy i’r gwaith. Nid oedd unrhyw ddigwyddiad brys lle bu’n rhaid iddi ei wisgo, dim ond ar gyfer hyfforddi. Pan ofynnodd y cyfwelydd iddi sut deimlad oedd ei wisgo, atebodd Katie mai dyna oedd cymeriad yr oes; doedd dim cwestiynnu pam roedd rhaid gwneud hynny, yn syml iawn roedd pobl yn ei wneud.

‘Cloddio am Fuddugoliaeth / Dig for Victory’

Gadawodd brawd Katie, Cledwyn, ei brentisiaeth adeiladu er mwyn gweithio ar y tir.

Dunkirk a D-Day

Roedd Katie yn cofio’r digwyddiadau hyn, ond ni chawsant effaith bersonol arni. Atgofiodd mynd i Lundain tuag at ddiwedd y rhyfel. Roedd modryb ganddi a ddaeth i ymweld â’r teulu yn y Borth. Roedd eisiau cwmni ar y fodryb yn ystod ei thaith yn ôl i Lundain ac felly dyma hi’n perswadio Katie i fynd yn ôl gyda hi. Nododd Katie y gwahaniaethau enfawr rhwng y fath o ryddid a oedd gan rywun yn byw yng Ngheredigion yn ystod y rhyfel o’i gymharu â bywyd yn Llundain. Dywedodd fod ofn gan ei modryb i gamu dros garreg y drws. Bu perthnasau Katie yn byw y tu allan i Lundain, ond mi atgofiodd clywed y cyrchoedd awyr. Roedd gan Katie hefyd berthnasau yn byw y tu allan i Firmingham ac aeth i aros gyda nhw am ychydig o ddiwrnodau yn ystod y rhyfel.  

Diwedd yr Ail Ryfel Byd

I nodi ddiwedd y rhyfel, cofiodd Katie mynd i’r prom yn Aberystwyth. Bu digwyddiad ger y bandstand. Nododd sut roedd pawb yn edrych fel morgrug. Atgofiodd awyrgylch o ryw ryddhad. Dywedodd Katie ei bod hi’n anodd disgrifio rhyddhad yn ei gyfanrwydd: “Chi’n gwybod fod pethau yn mynd i fod yn wahanol. Wel, doedden nhw ddim yn wahanol o ran byw achos aeth y rasiwns ymlaen am flynyddoedd.” Gwnaeth Katie cymhariaeth i’r cyfaint a'r amrywiaeth y mae pobl yn ei fwyta heddiw. Os oedd rhaid iddi fyw ar ddognau bwyd adeg rhyfel heddiw, byddai hi’n sicr yn gweld gwahaniaeth.

Bywyd wedi’r Ail Ryfel Byd

Mi barhaodd Katie yn yr un swydd, ond newidodd lleoliad ei gwaith. Yna fe briododd.

Neges i’r genhedlaeth nesaf?

Er fod Katie yn cydnabod bod iechyd wedi gwella’n aruthrol dros y blynyddoedd, nododd y gwahaniaethau rhwng cenedlaethau ddoe a heddiw yn sgil hunangynhaliaeth wrth dyfu bwyd yn ogystal â rhyddid plant i chwarae y tu allan a chymdeithasu. 

Hoffwn ni ddiolch yn fawr iawn i Katie am rannu efo'r prosiect ei atgofion o fywyd yn Aberystwyth yn ystod yr Ail Ryfel Byd.  

 

Translation

Interview with Katie Jones from Salem, Aberystwyth, recorded on 20th July 2022 by Bethan Siân Jones at Katie's home, conducted through the medium of Welsh.

Katie was born in 1924 and grew up on a small farm in Salem, Penrhyncoch. Her father worked as a xxxxx. He noted that it was a very happy life. Her great aunt moved into the house to relieve Katie's mother of the housework. Seven children were born to Katie's mother and so, as Katie pointed out, she had plenty to do!

Katie's siblings

During this time, Katie's sister was learning to sew. Katie had two older brothers who went on to become train drivers. Her older sister started a hairdressing apprenticeship but gave it up to help out at home. After years of living on the small-holding, Katie's mother was finding it difficult due to lack of water and electricity, not to mention the fact that she had to look after the children and the animals. So, the family moved to the town of Aberystwyth to run a hotel in Portland Street.

The start of the Second World War

Katie said that there had not been much change in the urban life of Aberystwyth with the coming of the Second World War, apart from the presence of soldiers. These included members of the Air Force, but no one from the Navy. Every hotel on the prom was taken by soldiers. She also noted the differences brought about by food rationing. According to Katie, the boys took an interest in machines and the history of militarism. She said they didn't have a television as a family, but bought a radio which was only turned on to listen to the news. As Katie was working during this time, she would usually miss the news. As a keen singer, she also said that she was unable to go to choir practice during the war. Nevertheless, she sang in the chapel.

The blackout

Katie recalled the time of the blackouts, and when she moved into her current house in 1956, the blackouts material was still up in the windows!

Air raid shelters

Although the family had no air raid shelter in the house in Portland Street, Katie believed there was a shelter in Plascrug and later perhaps at the castle. However, there were no air raids in Aberystwyth and therefore she had no recollection of having to leave her house in the event of an emergency.

Wartime jobs

Katie worked in a chemist shop as a distributor where she and another girl were apprentices. Several girls came as shop assistants and there would have been an 'errand' boy among them as well. She saw the manager now and then. They had an optician in the workplace who was called up to serve in the war and so the manager took over the optics department. As the senior employee, she took on responsibilities.

Volunteering at the Hospital

In addition to her work as a delivery girl, Katie also volunteered at the hospital on North Road. Each ward had ten beds each - five on each side. She recalled looking after a young woman who had already received treatment. Katie helped her prepare for her boyfriend's visit and helped put curlers in the young woman's hair.

Katie's sister's role in the war effort

Katie said that her sister was called up to serve in the war. She moved from one soldier training camp to another. She wasn't entirely sure what her sister's role was exactly, but because of her perfectionist tendencies, Katie's sister was responsible for adjusting the soldiers' uniforms to ensure they fit properly. Katie's sister went no further than the Wolverhampton area. Katie's sister came back home now and then, and the sisters wrote letters to each other until Katie's sister got married. Katie noted that her sister's work may have done her some good as a result of her having to take risks because she would never have had such an experience by working in a shop. Katie commented, therefore, that some good things come out of war.

Evacuees arrive in Aberystwyth

Because her older brother worked on the trains, he was responsible for transporting the evacuees to Aberystwyth. Katie remembered that he had to look after the evacuees one night, especially with giving special care to a sick boy. The evacuees came from Birmingham. They came to Aberystwyth to be divided between families. Katie compared the experiences of those sent to the countryside to live to being thrown into the deep end. As someone who grew up in the countryside, only Welsh was heard at school, and therefore only Welsh would be heard by the evacuees. She said that that is how children learn. She could imagine the great differences between the children's lives before they moved to live in Wales and living in the Welsh countryside.

Food rationing

Katie didn't remember going terribly short of food. She said that her mother was very good at preparing everyday foods, nothing fancy. She had a knack for turning things out according to Katie. She also added that because her family came from the countryside, when her former neighbours came to Aberystwyth to shop for the day, they would use the hotel like ‘Crewe railway station’ and store their purchases with the family. Two army butchers stayed with the family in Portland Street for a few weeks. They worked at the troop feeding centre on Queen's Road.

Gas masks

Katie had to carry a gas mask to work. There was no emergency where she had to wear it, but just for training. When asked her how it felt to wear it, Katie replied that it was the character of the times; there was no questioning why it had to be done, people simply did it.

'Dig for Victory'

Katie's brother, Cledwyn, left his construction apprenticeship to work on the land.

Dunkirk and D-Day

Katie remembered these events, but they did not have a personal effect on her. She remembered going to London towards the end of the war. She had an aunt who came to visit the family in Borth, who wanted company during her trip back to London and so she persuaded Katie to go back with her. Katie noted the huge differences between the kind of freedom someone had living in Ceredigion during the war compared to life in London. She said her aunt was afraid to step over the threshold. Katie's relatives lived outside London but she remembers hearing the air raids. Katie also had relatives living outside Birmingham and she went to stay with them for a few days during the war.

The end of the Second World War

To mark the end of the war, Katie remembered going to the prom in Aberystwyth. There was an event near the bandstand. She noted how everyone looked like ants. It evoked an atmosphere of some relief. Katie said it was hard to describe relief as a whole: “You know things are going to be different. Well, they were no different in terms of living because the rations went on for years." Katie made a comparison to the volume and variety that people eat today. If she had to live on wartime food rations today, she would certainly see a difference.

Life after the Second World War

Katie continued in the same job, but her work location changed. Then she got married.

A message to the next generation?

Although Katie recognized that health had improved enormously over the years, she pointed out the differences between past and present generations as a result of self-sufficiency in growing food as well as children's freedom to play outside and socialise.

 

We would like to thank Katie Jones for sharing her memories of life in Aberystwyth during WWII with the project.