大象传媒

My father had wanted to send my mother and me to Canada ( we have relations in Ottawa) to escape the bombing but my mother refused to go saying it would be too worrying for her to leave the rest of her family at home in wartime Britain. That was a fortunate decision because the ship which we had intended to sail in was torpedoed and sunk. Instead we went to stay with my mother鈥檚 aunt who lived in a little country village in Gloucestershire.

There were three teenage German girls staying with English families. The youngest was the daughter of two scientists who worked at Harwell I believe, and had lived in England most her life. Her parents were regarded as enemy aliens and were interned on the Isle of Man for the duration of the war.

Gisela who spoke English and German acted as an interpreter for the others, who because they were Jewish had been sent to our country for safety. My mother told me that they brought silver cutlery and linen sheets in their suitcases, the most valuable things their parents had left and which they hoped to sell for money. I think they must have been very unhappy far from home, amongst people who didn鈥檛 speak their language. All their relatives perished in the extermination camps.

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