大象传媒

It was at the time of the Czechoslovakian crisis; the Nazis had marched in and were persecuting the Jews. My father was a school master and he鈥檇 been asked by the University of Liverpool, along with other schoolmasters and professionals to help refugees. They used to come by train from London to Lime Street, my father couldn鈥檛 leave class, but had an arrangement with the headmaster of my own school for me to be released. I used to get my penny platform ticket and I鈥檇 go through the barrier, and they would have been told to look for a young boy with a satchel on his back, a blue school cap with a yellow band on the back. I鈥檇 ask if they were the right person. I鈥檇 carry their bags as they鈥檇 be exhausted and were feeling insecure. We鈥檇 come out of Lime Street and get on the tram car to the Pier head and then on the Seacombe Ferry and then the number four bus. My mother would have a hot meal for them and if they were tired, she鈥檇 suggest they had a hot bath and go to bed. My mum would say 鈥淚n the name of goodness, what are we going to feed them on?鈥� as rationing was so tight. Though they were so hungry they鈥檇 eat anything.
When the war was over a lot of them went back, some of them finding that their relatives had been sent to concentration camps and their property confiscated. I remember Madame Husova, a pianist; the only belongings she had when she left Czechoslovakia were the clothes she stood in and a marquisette broach which was passed on to my grand daughter. I remember the story of Madam Lilly Marley and her husband, who hid in the reeds from the Gestapo as they walked up and down, they鈥檇 sink down into the water using the hollow reeds to breathe through. They鈥檇 come up for air when the guards had passed. Madam Marley was related to Sigmund Freud.
Dad was asked in 1938/9 to form a society in Liverpool called The Friends Of Czechoslovakia and they used to meet in the British Counsel House in Liverpool in the City Centre. Liverpool had been heavily blitzed at the time so meeting places were at a premium.
We do have a photograph at home of the President of Czechoslovakia; Bannish and Jan Mazerick. Bannish was murdered by the Nazis, they found his body on the floor.

'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by 大象传媒 Radio Merseyside鈥檚 People鈥檚 War team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by 大象传媒 Radio Merseyside鈥檚 People鈥檚 War team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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