A.O.S.A. 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

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Uncle Erwin was at the station to meet me. He had escaped via Italy a few days after Hitler’s army marched in. He was now married. His wife, Pia, had been a dentist in Vienna where they met. Pia was born in Poland and was Jewish. They realised there would be no future for them in Nazi Germany, so they pretended to be tourists and took the first train to Italy. It was the only border it was still possible to cross without a visa. They stopped off in Venice where my father’s sister, Auntie Grete, who was manageress of the Hotel de la Gare, put them up. Pia had relatives in Switzerland who obtained the necessary permits for them to cross that border. They also got them an apartment but would not hear of them moving in together until they were married. In a ‘proper’ Jewish wedding. No ‘shacking up’ in Switzerland! After a day’s wandering around the city with Uncle Erwin I moved on to Auntie Martha, a cousin of my mother’s, who was living with her husband Hans and their son in Mümliswil, a village in the hills close to the French border. My mother had made sure there would always be someone to welcome me on the different stopovers on my way to England! Another week of sight seeing, this time in Uncle Hans’ car, to Aarau, Solothurn and Basel. I now had my 35mm camera, a Baldina, with a Xenar f3.5 lens and a Kompur shutter, and I put it to good use. Perhaps with too much enthusiasm. I managed to just miss my train to my next scheduled stop to Colmar in Alsace, France. Captain Frey of the Salvation Army expected to meet me, but got tired of waiting and went home. Of course there was another train, there always is, but this time I had to find my own way to my new hosts

Captain Frey was transferred to Colmar from Vienna where he had been in charge of the hostel in the Matthaeusgasse, the one where the G2 streetcar had its terminus after turning the corner in front of our house. My father had been his doctor, so that was the connection. More sight seeing, with Captain Frey’s family and friends, the vineyards of Lorraine, a glimpse into Germany, on the other side of the Rhine, and later Strasbourg and its magnificent cathedral. But Captain Frey did more than make sure I had a good time. He took me to some Jewish businessmen and introduced me as a Jewish refugee needing help. They invited me to dinner at a Kosher restaurant and gave me money, a lot of money, 1,700 frcs. I was embarrassed and felt humiliated. I was not used to begging. Not that the money did not come in useful!

For the last few legs of my journey to England I was happy to be a tourist again, with stops in Brussels, Ghent and Bruges and, finally, Ostend, where I got on the ferry. I was worn out by then and fell asleep, so I never saw the sea. Then it was another short train ride to London where I had to spend most of my time at different offices connected with my new life as a refugee and future student at an English boarding school. Then it was time to get on the train again on my way to Friends’ School Great Ayton. There were no other students in my compartment to distract me from observing the English countryside. Fields of pasture with cows and sheep, towns with small houses and red tiled roofs, the odd mansion in the distance. I found it charming, but uninteresting - there were no mountains! I was supposed to change trains at Darlington for Middlesbrough but went right past it and did not get off until Durham, the next stop. I must have fallen asleep again. As before, there were other trains to get me to Middlesbrough. From there it was still a bus ride to Great Ayton. As I was walking across the green towards the school, a large grey building, I got talking to a young man who had also just got off the bus. I thought he was another pupil, but he turned out to be a teacher, Mr. Irvine! It was another day before the other pupils were due to arrive so Mr. Irvine took me to where I was going to sleep and helped me settle in. It was a large dormitory with some 30-40 beds and windows on two sides. Some sort of night table separated the beds, and there were cupboards for our belongings. After I dumped everything on a bed Mr. Irvine took me across to the main building where Mrs. Dennis, the wife of the headmaster, was receiving the new teachers for afternoon tea. Cucumber sandwiches, biscuits, shortbread and fruitcake. Before Mr. Irvine had time to formally introduce me Mrs. Dennis shook my hand and greeted me with: “How do you do, Mr. Reader?”, a new teacher whom she had not met before. Years later Mr. Reader became headmaster, so that was a good start for my English education to be mistaken for him!” Hans' sister, Eva, joined Hans at Ayton later in the year, she was a day scholar.

Continued.......

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