Reminiscences of an OldNovo

I believe I was the first German boy who joined the RGS after World War II in 1946, having arrived from Germany in March of that year. By Peter Binder (46-49)

My father was half Jewish and had left Germany in 1938. He was invited by the UK Governmentto set up a manufacture of steel radiators based on his patents in Washington, Co. Durham. Although mother and I prepared to join him, we were stranded in Germany for the duration of the war.

It was not until the last year of the war that the Nazi Youth hierarchy discovered that I was quarter Jewish and disowned me as non-aryan, although I had been confirmed in the Lutheran Church and mother was a protestant vicar’s daughter.

In order to avoid unpleasantness mother took rapid action by moving us to a farm in the Black Forest and not returning to Wiesbaden until sometime before Generals Patton and Omar Bradley had surrounded the area.

My school days were spent at the Humanistische Gymnasium in Wiesbaden. My subjects included Greek, Latin and English, which helped me to pass the strict interview with Dr ER Thomas. After Matriculation and Higher School Certificate I left RGS in 1949. With my father’s naturalization I became subject to the National Service Act in December 1949.

Returning to Germany in 1950 as a subaltern in the Royal Artillery may be of interest to other Old Novos of the Cold War generation (see photograph below).

If you would like to read a fuller account of my experiences, please visit the ONA website at http://ona.rgs.newcastle.sch.uk/

Right: School Prefects, 1949 Below: On East/West German border patrol, 1961