大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from 大象传媒 Radio Merseyside on behalf of Peggy Camp and has been added to the site with her permission. Peggy fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

My Jewish "Sister"

In spring 1939, we were living in Queens Drive Liverpool but my father had a business in London so used to commute between the two cities. He received a visit one day from an Austrian Jewess who needed help in getting her younger sister out of Vienna and away from the Nazis. The remaining members of the family had already got out but the younger sister did not have the correct visa, because she was under 21. The lady explained that her sister would need a sponsor to guarantee that they would find accommodation and finance her sister until she could earn her own living. Her own family had lost everything to the Nazis and didn鈥檛 have the means to get her into the country themselves.

The lady was very desperate and my father being a very kind man agreed to this and it was arranged that the girl would come to England and live with us until she learnt English and could fend for herself.

I met Rose Konigsburg for the first time when my father brought her up to Liverpool to stay with us. She looked frightened and a bit bewildered by all the fuss and people talking in a language she couldn鈥檛 understand. It was agreed that she would share my double bed and she soon settled in with us as part of the family. Rose learnt English very quickly and we became great friends. She told me that she thought she was coming to England to be a servant to us and was pleasantly surprised to be treated as one of the family. Perhaps my father had to tell the authorities that she would be a servant or something to get her allowed into the country but I am only guessing?

Over the years we became like sisters and she looked upon our family as her family despite the fact that her blood family now lived in London. In time she got a job with my father as an interpreter and used to commute between London and Liverpool. At one time, she was not allowed to do this because she was considered an enemy alien and had travel restrictions imposed on her but this didn鈥檛 last too long. Her natural father was also interned on the Isle of Man for a while but was released once he had proven he was not a spy or working for the Nazis.

I got married in October 1939 and Rose was one of my bridesmaids. After the war, her family decided to go to the United States because they would be granted American citizenship quite quickly so Rose decided to go with them. As she left she said 鈥淚 will never forget what you did for me鈥� and she hasn鈥檛. She still lives in the states to this day and we are still in touch and remain good friends or sisters if you like.

I suppose my father saved her from the Nazis and probably a concentration camp but I don鈥檛 think he even considered the fact that she was Jewish when asked to help; she was just another human being in need.

'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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