Holidays for Refugees
The
aftermath of the 2nd world war left thousands of people living in camps
mainly as a result of the Russian occupation of Eastern
Europe. World refugee year was in 1956 and did much to
alert the free world to the problem, but it was many years before all
the camps were cleared. The articles below were written in
the 60s (hence terminology below which would not be considered
acceptable today!). The first three written in 1962 record
stories of
children who came over in 1959. There follows an essay written
by A.E. Jones of a somewhat hair-raising trip to Berlin and the
experiences of the IHC Escorts in that city. It provides a
fascinating insight into what it was like to go through East Germany by
train during the Russian occupation.
IRENA
This
pretty fair-haired girl came to England at the age of ten. She had a black eye
and a broken nose given to her by her mother's boyfriend, and her
luggage consisted of a biscuit tin with an old dress in it.
Although
we did what we could for her, she never learnt to speak comprehensibly.
Possibly she suffered from slight cerebral palsy, as she understood
English quite well. Unfortunately the government ordered her to be
returned to Germany, and as her mother didn't want her, she was put in
a mental home. I am certain that if anyone had
adopted her and brought her up with care, they would have been more than rewarded for their efforts. She
was
always very conscious of and interested in people and things-she needed no
teaching to take photographs with my camera.
Following
publication of this website Irena's sister, Christine Mazurek, who also
came over with her but stayed permanently in England, got in touch with
us. She told us how her family had lived in Horst (Mariental), a
small village where there had been a lot of fighting and drunkeness.
She remembers after the 2nd world war how a boy playing on
bombed ruins fell to his death. She and Irena came to England,
but after this the rest of the children, Danuta, Maria, Helena,
Zygmund, Romusch and Kazimier, were put into a Childrens' home.
The last Christina heard from them was in 1974 following which
the German authorities apparently denied them the right to keep in
touch with her. There must be so many stories like
this as all the children we helped came from families with
problems, and I am very grateful to Christina for providing us with
this extra information. (July 2012).
MARIA
Maria, a tall twelve year old comes from a
Berlin camp. Her parents are conscientious and loving. They have brought her up
to be clean, well-mannered
and
helpful,
and they are saving hard to buy a house. Maria has
stayed several times with a family in Wales and speaks English with a
strong Welsh accent.
We welcome her at Little Pond House (The reception
centre) because she can always help prepare the vegetables or keep the
younger children in order.
REINHARDT
Recently I met Reinhardt, who came over with a party of
children, some of whom stayed with families in Sevenoaks.
But he too bears the mark of an
exile.
When I asked him.
where he lived, he gave me his camp number-'Lager XVII'. He added that he lived in
a house of five rooms with ten
other
people (probably three families), but he emphasized that this was
not a proper home-" Ich habe kein zu Hause mehr. " .
Short extracts published in mid 60s about children
from various refugee camps.
There are nearly 182,000 foreign refugees in Germany. Only 1,000 of
them are now left in camps, but 13,000 of the remainder are living in poor
and inadequate housing conditions. Many of these have children who could
be greatly helped by I.H.C. These figures of course do not include the
many who have emigrated from Germany, nor the large number of German
citizens who have moved over from the Russian zone. In Austria there are
some 25,000 refugees, of whom 100 are in camps, and 1,500 living in
sub-standard houses. These refugees include Displaced Persons, who lost
their homes as the result of the last war, and many who have been forced
to leave their country for fear of arrest, as well as those who "have
voted with their feet". The influx rate is very small, owing to the strict
frontier control, but there are still about 10,000 people entering Trieste
each year from Yugoslavia.
FINKENWERDER CAMP (Berlin) - written in December 1964
After the Second World War, Russia took the eastern half of Poland for
her . own defence, and reconstituted the new communist state of Poland by
annexing a large portion of East Germany. Many Germans were expelled from the
area, but those who remained have now been fully integrated with the Polish
people both in regard to education and opportunities for work. Many of them
save up enough money to leave Poland, and by taking only a minimum of
luggage they can travel to Hamburg where they hope to start a new life in
the western world. Although it is usually possible to find them employment,
their only accomodation is in Finkenwerder camp, where overcrowded and
difficult conditions prevail. During the winter months the snow and cold
climate force the family indoors where they may be living five to a room.
Quarrels, disease, and other evils abound, and the children have nowhere to
play. Herr Nietsche, the camp manager, has asked I. H. C, to give holidays
to these children during the difficult winter months, and a party of thirty,
mostly girls, aged six to eight years, will be coming on 2nd. February.
Edmonton, Northwood, and Finchley, have been asked to consider them
SPORTALEE CAMP (Hamburg) - written by Jack Finch in 1967.
As far as I could gather Sportallee is the
worst of the Hamburg camps, About eleven hundred people live there, either in
Nissen huts, where they have to :make use of communal washing or W.C.
facilities, or in a large barrack block. Accompanied by two of the
foster parents) -we visited the huts of some of the
children whom we had escorted back to Hamburg. That of Brigitte and Wolfgang was
on the approach road so I passed it frequently. The children have deaf and dumb
parents although they speak and hear quite normally themselves. The family of
six have a tidy but unbelievably cramped hut. There was no floor space in the
only bedroom as it was entirely taken up by the bed. The only daylight cane
from a tiny window high up in the roof. Four children and the mother slept
there, with the father on a bed-settee in the living room.. Uwe and Barbel's hut
on the contrary was slightly better. The family had been there for 15 years;
it was tidy; and the mother told me that she looked after her children
carefully, and that they unlike Herbert next door had regular meals, We visited
many other huts as well and our visit proved well. worthwhile.
LITHUANIAN REFUGEES
The Russian occupation of Lithuania resulted in many of the inhabitants
fleeing from their country into Germany. A large number have managed to
establish themselves in various countries including the United States and
Canada, but there remain many who, through reasons of bad health, poverty or
other problems, have been unable to solve their difficulties. For about
three years I. H. C, has been in touch with Herr Kurgonas, himself a
Lithuanian, who feels very strongly about the pathetic plight of his
countrymen. Delighted by I. H. C's offer to have some Lithuanians over, he
is at present selecting a party of twenty-five to come on February 2nd. Ages
will be between six and nine years, and it is intended to have fifteen girls
and ten boys. They will spend one month at Little Pond House, and we hope
that families in Exeter and the Isle of Wight will take them for a furthur
two months.
RICHARD VALAITIS written in 1967
Seven year old Richard Valaitis first came to England with a party of
Lithuanian refugee children in 1965. He had been living with his mother
and
five younger brothers and sisters in two shabby rooms, part of an
old barracks which had been turned into a refugee camp. The concrete
staircase and
the long cold corridors were dirty and untidy and the whole atmosphere
was one of drabness. His father had suffered many hardships following
his
escape from Lithuania and his attempts to settle into the German life
in Munster. Earlier that year he committed suicide by taking poison and
his wife
and family found him dead the next morning. Richard had been very fond of him,
and the loss affected him profoundly. No longer a smiling happy child
he became
morose and difficult, and his mother found him impossible to cope with. In
England he lost his tragic mask and became brighter, but a year
later back in Munster he was again bitter and silent. As a result it
was decided that he should return here as soon as possible on a long
term
sponsorship. Now he is staying on the Isle of Wight (where
he was before), and when visited by Miss McEwen this month, who saw him
at school
and talked to his teachers, he appeared much happier with every chance
of making progress and settling down in this country. It is hoped that
his
mother will allow him to receive a British education which will enable
him to make his own way in the world.
JOURNEY TO BERLIN
The
children left Send on their return Journey to Berlin .Promptly at
5.p.m. on 29th July 1963, for the first few miles two of them cried
bitterly but they had all settled down by the time we reached
London . At Liverpool Street we were joined by 14 Children from
Ruislip accompanied by Mrs Wakeling, 11 children from Exeter
accompanied by Miss Stoffen and Miss Heath Also there were 3
German Escorts . The first snag of the journey came when Miss
McEwan arrived and said that there had been a mixup in the
reservations made by the Berlin authorities. No berths were available
on the night boat and emergency arrangements had been made for to us to
travel on the day boat the following day. We were however allowed
to sleep on the day boat, overnight. We left Liverpool
Street at 6.10.p.m and arrived at Harwich at 9.40a.m.. The train did
not go as far as the quay for the day boat so we had a good
half mile or so to walk before we were on board, I was surprised
to find that there was a little boy in the exeter group only 6 years
old and he must have been very tired by the time he was in
bed .
We
were given breakfast on board at 7.30 a.m.and then all settled down on
chairs on the sun deck for the long wait until sailing time
The children were extremely quiet and well behaved all morning. During
the morning all passports were signed and stamped by one of the Ship’s
officers and landing tickets issued as authority to land in Holland
.There were no customs formalities of any kind on the whole of the
journey into Berlin. The boat was due to sail at 12.20, but it was
1.20.p.m. before we were finally under way
20
hours or so after leaving Send and 15 hours behind schedule.
The boat Journey was uneventful It was very warm on the sun
deck ; the sea was calm and no one in the party was ill .Good
time was made and we arrived at the Hook of Holland at 7•20.p.m.
Sometime
during the morning 2 small parties of teenagers up to 15 years had come
aboard, with 2 German male escorts and I female escort from Liverpool
and Scotland,so by then there were a large member of suitcases to
unload and reload on the train. Compartments had been reserved
on the Warsaw train . And at at 8-45.p.m we set off
on the long journey, glad to be settled with all children (including
some white mice belonging to one of the Exeter children) and
baggage intact.
I
was allocated a sleeper in a compartment with 5 of the teenage boys
from Scotland, but the German escorts had to make do with an ordinary
compartment . Just after midnight I was awakened for a passport
check on entering Germany and again at about 5.a.m. when we
reached Helmstedt on the East German border. Here 3 or 4
East German guards, including One young woman complete with revolver
handed out application forms for the issue of Visas which were
collected a few minutes later and passports stamped Forms for entering
details of currency carried were also issued. Our third check at
7.40.a.m came at Creibnitesce which was the border control between East
Germany and West Berlin This station is used only for for train
checks and no passengers are allowed to alight .As a result the
station is very shabby, the platform being overgrown with grass
and weeds. There were a number of East German guards on who
searched the train for refugees and inspected passports.While the
trains are stopped a guard attends on the line at the back of the
train. There is barbed wire everywhere leaving only the railway line
free .At 8.10.(wednesday) we arrived at the main line
station of Berlin, where parents were waiting to welcome the
children , Only then did I learn that some of the children had
alighted at Hanover to continue the journey by air. These children,
which included Margritt, who had stayed with Mr and Mrs Truphet had
previous family history recorded on their passports which made it
dangerous for them to travel through the East German zone. They may
have been detained or turned back, so they were flown ever instead. At
the station we were met by Herr Tauber who said he was there to act as
our guide for the rest of the day. Herr Tauber is a schoolmaster
in West Germany and has 13 children, 8 boys and 5 girls between
the ages of 5 and 18 .
OUR STAY IN BERLIN
Herr
Tauber had a taxi waiting and he took is to our hotel where we had
breakfast of rolls and coffee, My room was very nice and apart
from the usual bedroom furniture had a writing table with letter
headings and air mail letters and telephone. The Charge was 13
marks - about 21/6d per night and was most reasonable. In the Hotel
lounge there is a large board on the wall covered with signatures
including Yehudii Menuhin, Brendan Behan, Paulette Goddard,
Satchmo and many German princesses, actors and actresses which Herr
Tauber recognised. My name is now on the board.
Shortly
after our arrival at the hotel we were joined by Frau Van Meusel
who had just arrived with a party from Belgium and at 10.a.m Herr
Tauber returned with a Minibus in which we covered over 80 miles during
the rest of the day. The programme was to take us all over Berlin
(West) during the morning and early afternoon followed by an hour
or so shopping a visit to the office of Der Senator fur Jugund
und Sport - the organisation which chooses the children for the
holidays- and finally at visit to some of the children's houses.
We
set off towards Potzdamerstrasee and on the way passed the Russian
Memorial in the British sector. There was a Russian soldier on guard
and around the whole of the memorial there were large rolls of barbed
wire with a. British soldier doing sentry duty. The Russian was
guarding the Memorial while the British soldier was guarding the
Russian. It is very difficult to describe in print just
what the wall looks like, We seemed to meet it unexpectedly . We would
be driving along a wide main road and suddenly would come up
against the wall so that the road led nowhere . On the other side of
the wall, East German guards were loitering with tommy guns and
binoculars. All the houses on their side of the wall were derelict and
their side of the wall and the houses near were whitewashed so that
when the searchlights were switched on at night, shadows would show
immediately and there would be no natural shadows In which refugees
could hide.
At
Potsdamerstrasse we stood on the wooden platform to see
over the wall. There were the usual East German guards standing and
sitting by the Brandenberg gate, watching everything that was going
on*The Potsdamerstrasse as it was and as it is now is seen on the
postcards below. At one stage we went along a road and the
tenements one side formed the border with a wall being built across the
side streets. Every window in the tenements were bricked up as in the
past people had jumped from the windows trying to escape. In this road
an old lady of 81 had been killed when jumping from a window and
we
saw dozens of crosses with wreaths and pots of flowers on the
pavements where refugees had been shot. Houses on the western
side of the streets were pitted where machine gun bullets had hit
them.
We
visited an information centre with leaflets and books available and at
this centre there is an observation platform for looking into
East Berlin. While there we saw a lady who goes there every
day at 12 noon to wave to her sister on other side of the wall.
She had binoculars and a
handkerchief but her sister puts her hand to her forehead,she dare not wave otherwise she may be shot .
The
tenements which formed the border wall in this particular road had
barbed wire right up the walls and over the roofs -6 storeys high .We
also saw in this street the Church which stood a little way back
from the road and the wall had been built across the entrance thus
cutting it off completely from people living on the
other side at the street. The Church cannot be used now. Other
houses and tenements not forming part of the wall itself and which are
now derelict had East German guards at the windows all with binoculars
and guns .Near Grunewald Forest there was a quiet country lane ,again
blocked by a wall.A farmhouse nearby was derelict,being used by guards
whom we saw lurking behind the bushes . During our tour we saw the
Reichstag the modern Congress Hall, the Presidents Palace,
Charlottenberg Castle, Grunewald Forest and Wansee Lake . This is a
very large lake with pleasure boats and is very beautiful .We had lunch
at a large log Cabin restaurant at Nikolskoe and as it was so warm all
the diners - hundreds of them - were eating at tables among
the trees by the side of the lake . Later we saw a most unusual church
in the centre of Berlin It is octagonal and each wall almost 100
feet high is composed of small squares of glass which give a diffused
purple glow . It has a large beautiful organ on a gallery over the
entrance . At night, the purple glow can be seen outside and the whole
effect is awe inspiring.
Tine
went far too quickly and after a brief visit to Der Senator fur Jugend
und sport and a cup of iced coffee which I was persuaded to try,
much to my regret , We were left with only an hour or so
for shopping before the Shops shut it 6-30.p.m.By 7.00p.m. we
were on our way around to visit the children's homes . With 4 groups
to visit it was impossible to call at more than 1 or 2 from
each party , particularly as their homes were so scattered
By 8.45 we had arrived in the street where Doris , my foster
child, lived. It walls a drab street with 6 storey tenements either
side and no gardens of any kind. At Doris's address„ there was a large
heavy double door which led into a wide stone corridor which in turn
led into a tiny stone courtyard completely surrounded by tenements. The
walls of the corridor. were black with grime, and paint we peeling away
and in parts even plaster's falling away. Herr Tauber and I stumbled up
dark stone stairways without any light, to the 2nd Floor . We come to
Doris's flat and the door had 5 names on it; Herr Tauber said
that 5 families were therefore living in the one dwelling. I was most
disappointed when we had no answer to our ringing, Doris's family were
either out visiting or in bed. We then called at the home of Barbara
who had stayed with Mr. & Mrs Peacock conditions here were similar
although a little better than at Doris’s address .Barbara's flat was on
the 4th floor and after a long climb up the stairs Herr Tauber and I
were again disappointed to get no answer to our ringing. By then
it was 9.30 p.m. end. we decided that it was too late to visit any
other families. Herr Tauber said that after a very busy and exhausting
day we should have good meal and he took us all including
the minibus driver to a gypsy restaurant It was a wonderful place
where we had a wonderful meal to an accompaniment of cello, violin and
zither by players in full gypsy costume . Names and addresses of
all were exchanged during supper in order that Committee
representatives and Herr Tauber could keep in contact. We were
each given two souvenir postcards by the waiter which are below
and we were finally driven back to our hotel just after midnight,
exhausted but full of praise for the wonderful way in which we had been
looked after by Herr Tauber who had done everything he could to give us
a full and interesting day to be remembered for years to come.
THE JOURNEY HOME
.
There is very little to report of interest regarding the journey
home. we left Berlin by air at 11.45.A.M. and arrived at Hamburg at
12-40 and after a quick look around the shops and a light meal were on
the train at 3-56.p.m. on our way to Holland. The train journey was
comfortable and we had an English soldier and his wife as companions
all the way. Unfortunately there was no berth available for me on the
night boat (I was still 27th or the waiting list, so I was told ) and I
dozed in an arm chair until we docked at 6-30.a.m.(friday)and at
11a.m.I was back in Send once more.
SUMMARY
The
West Berliners are virtually prisoners and unless they can afford a
trip to West Germany itself are unable to have a holiday out of the
city. While there are fine shopping areas, there are many parts which
still have derelict buildings still standing from the last war, so that
the area contrasts between new modern buildings and shabby, overgrown
districts. I am convinced that the children benefitted from the holiday
in England and feel sure we should start now in order to have things
well organised for another venture next year. The Ruislip Groups have
an active Committee which meets monthly. It holds Gymkanas, Jumble
Sales, Concerts, Raffles (5800 books at a time) and has 500pounds in
the Bank . Exeter is also an active and flourishing group. I hope all
parents will have found this report of interest and will wish to help
our local Committee again in some way or another in the future.
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