大象传媒

I was born during January 1940 into a dangerous world that unbeknown to me threatened our very survival. We lived in London during the Blitz and, if a Nazi invasion had succeeded, then I would have been murdered with my family for having been born a Jew.

Most of my war years were spent as an evacuee in Minehead. One of my early memories was its wonderful sandy beach from where my very young mind questioned why the sea disappeared every day? I could see water in the distance and became increasingly curious to find out if this was the sea? I recall setting off one day to find out. In great excitement, I left my treasured dinky cars parked inside makeshift garages made in the moist sand and ran through little pools of warm water where I splashed just for fun. The smell of the sea was intoxicating and I was absorbed in this fascinating new world where I discovered slithers of seaweed, small crabs running sideways and interesting decorative shells! What were those large round spiky balls of metal and some chains lying near to me on the wet sand? I was lost in wonderment until I suddenly noticed water lapping around my ankles. I turned around to find that the sea now stretched back toward the beach. All reference points in the sand were gone. I could not understand what had happened but realised that something was very wrong! I charged back though deep pools of water that made my legs feel heavy and weak. After falling over more than once I reached the dry beach just before high tide. But where were my treasured dinky cars? Why were grown-ups so agitated and angry? Anyway, what was wrong with being near those large round prickly things that the adults called mines? Didn't we live in a town called Minehead? Besides what did they mean about a field lying under the sea! I was immediately taken back to our lodgings and, for no good reason that I could then understand, this great adventure had now been ruined.

Strange as it now seems, the extraordinary events that I recall from World War II were just part of everyday normality and left me untouched by any fear. Life in both Minehead, and again back in London, was a big adventure full of dramatic and exciting episodes that often overwhelmed my senses! How exciting it was to hear that high-pitched whirling screech, mingled with a rat-a-tat, burst out from nowhere and then rapidly fade into the distance. Grown-ups stopped what they were doing and sighed as one of our planes flashed across the rooftops. More than once my innocent eyes looked up to marvel at the fluffy tangled white ribbons in the sky that were, in reality, perilous aerial clinches where men were killing each other. Then there was that relaxed working party of blond men in the back of a lorry who waved and smiled at me. What fun it was to wave back and get a happy cheer in response. There were other men, who wore funny round metal hats and who stood around their prisoners but they had a very serious look on their faces. They held long tube-like things that my Dad sometimes came home with. My Dad told me with great severity never to touch what he called his rifle - it might make a loud noise and frighten my mother.

How detached I really was from the momentous events occurring right in front of my eyes. Just imagine how my parents both laughed in the summer of 1945 when someone said "Hitler is dead!"; and in my ignorance I asked, "Who was Hitler?". I often reflect on how very lucky I was to have been physically and emotionally protected from the horrendous sufferings and deprivations of World War II. How lucky I now am to have a new treasured collection of dinky cars but they will never leave my study for a day out on the beach.

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