Our Family History

She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to national state education and Holocaust Education (2013) and received an honorary doctorate from the University Hertfordshire (2018)

Our Family History

Dame Helen Hyde DBE left Watford Grammar School for Girls after 29 years as the Headmistress. She was a recognised national leader and coached and mentored a number of new headteachers and leadership teams.

She gave up her headship as she felt she could no longer be a bystander. She had to take action to help and support others, for social justice no matter what race, colour or religion. She tries to challenge and encourage others to be active, to be an upstander and to work to improve knowledge and the life chances of others.

Helen Hyde

From the Introduction:

Helen Hyde

Every family has a story and all stories are important and need to be remembered. Remembering is a precious gift. It helps bring people alive. It is also a memorial for those who died so cruelly. It is important that we do not do the Nazis’ job for them and depersonalize those that were murdered or victimized. We must never see them as ‘victims in waiting or doomed’. Each one lost had a name and a future.

Our Family History

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OUR FAMILY HISTORY

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Our Family History

Helen Hyde

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Copyright © H Hyde 2020 Produced in association with

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Preface Vassily Grossman, wrote: “It is the writer’s duty to tell the terrible truth, and it is the reader’s civic duty to learn this truth.To turn away, to close one’s eyes and walk past is to insult the memory of those who were murdered.”

Every family has a story and all stories are important and need to be remembered. Remembering is a precious gift. It helps bring people alive. It is also a memorial for those who died so cruelly. It is important that we do not do the Nazis’ job for them and depersonalize those that were murdered or victimized. We must never see them as ‘victims in waiting or doomed’. Each one lost had a name and a future.

Recollection is a precious gift and for some members of the family it is the only memorial. I will tell their story as far as I know it. This is my testimony and it will serve as a memorial, like a candle to those who have no voice. The Holocaust resulted in such a massive loss of life on so grand a scale it is difficult for us to comprehend, it becomes another set of statistics without a human face. I try to go back and visit the camps and other Holocaust-related places every year – to show they are not forgotten. I say a prayer for those who lost their lives, for those who have no one left to say a prayer. v

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I tell the story of the lost family members who cannot tell their own story. It is my story and means a great deal to me – I have been obsessed with it and it has guided me all my life.

These photos have been with me all my life. They were on my father’s bedside table. No one spoke about them. I am named after the lady in the left-hand photo.

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FAMILY SHEET JAKOB SELIGMANN (Henry’s father) OF ICHENHAUSEN AND NORDLINGEN compiled by Rolf Hofmann (HarburgProject@aol.com) JAKOB SELIGMANN • cloth dealer (wholesale + retail) in Nördlingen • born 30 Aug 1878 Ichenhausen, died 1942 in Piaski • (parents = Heinrich Seligmann + wife Fanny née Bissinger) • married 15 Jun 1908 in Nördlingen to GETTA GUTMANN (Wendy named after her) GETTA GUTMANN • born 19 Nov 1883 Heidenheim, died 28 May 1941 Nördlingen • (parents = Julius Gutmann + wife Flora nee Obermeyer), lived in Gunzenhausen around 1908 CHILDREN (1 born in Ichenhausen, 2+3 born in Nördlingen): (01) HELENE 14 Sep 1909 – died in Sobibor during Holocaust 1943 • married 8 or 16 Sep 1937 in Nördlingen • Justin Neuhaus of Frankfurt/Main (born 30 Sep 1900, died in Sobibor) • Helene’s children • Judith (married Joel Ashkenazi) • David-Peter (27 Jun 1938 – 1945) died in Sobibor

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(02) HEINRICH 07 Aug 1914 – 1997 (died in Johannesburg) • (went 1936 to Johannesburg, South Africa) • married Tilly Goldstein (born Antwerpen) • Henry and Tilly’s children (all born in Johannesburg) = • (a) Helen (married John Hyde) • (b) Wendy (married Les Davis) • (c) Ann (married Christopher John Paul, now divorced) (03) JUSTIN 12 Mar 1916 – 2003 (died in Ra’anana, Israel) • (went 1937 to Antwerpen) married Miriam Cohen • children (all born in Jerusalem) = • (a) Yaakov (married Rina Yedid) • (b) Esther (married Yehoschua Arrazi) • (c) Ronit (married Sali Breslauer) • (d) Naomi (married Elieser Gewirtz) Great Grandparents Heinrich Seligmann was the oldest of the Hale Springer children. He married Fanny Bissinger who was born in Ichenhausen and they had twelve children, born between 1874 and 1888. It is likely that Heinrich inherited his father’s business in Ichenhausen, the firm I.R. Seligmann, at 9 Markstrasse.

Emil Seligmann, a cousin, went to South Africa to a small town, Barclay East, in order to work with an uncle, Sigmund Seligmann. This may have been the reason why Henry, my dad, decided to go to South Africa.

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Heinrich and Fanny (Henry’s grandparents) My great grandparents, lived in Ichenhausen. Heinrich passed away as a young man before any of their children got married. Fanny passed away aged 91 years in an old age home in Zurich.

Children: A. Isaak married Klara Engel from Berolsheim.

Lived in Ichenhausen and then Tel Aviv. Had four children.

2. Heinrich married Paula Levitte and lived in Tel Aviv, 122 Dizengoff St. No children.

3. Ludwig married a Hansy Goldman, lived in Israel but under pressure from his wife moved to Munich. They had a son Raphael who lives in Bonn.

4. Thea, who married Yoel Steg, lived near Petach Tikvah and had two children.

5. Kurt married to Ester Rosenfeld, lives near Haifa and have 2 children.

B. Jakob married Getta Gutman from Gunzenhausen/Heidenheim.

They had three children.

1. Helene (Judith’s late mother).

2. Heinrich who lived in JHB with 3 daughters – my dad.

3. Justin, who married Miriam, lived in Israel.

From Rafael Seligmann: The Seligmann family, which has been resident in Ichenhausen for more than two centuries, comes originally from the Swabian town of Thannhausen, not far from Ichenhausen. In the Middle Ages,Thannhausen was the seat 3

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of a flourishing community. The family of one of our greatest mediaeval Jewish scholars, known throughout the world by the name Sabbathai Cohen, lived in Thannhausen. In the heyday of the community there was a Jewish printing house there.

In August 1717, the Jews were driven out of the town by the rulers of Thannhausen. Some families found accommodation in Krumbach. However, the majority, including – and this can be assumed with some certainty – the Seligmann family, received permission to settle in Ichenhausen from Herr von Stein, who was well-disposed towards the Jews.

From the local registers and other sources, it can be seen that the ancestor of the Seligmann family in Ichenhausen was called Hirsch and was born around 1740. His wife Händel was born in 1746 and died at the age of 90 on 9 April 1836.

Hirsch had two sons: I. Isak, born in the year 1772.

II. Jakob, born in the year 1775.

I. Isak devoted himself entirely to intellectual occupations.

He was one of the private teachers in Ichenhausen, of whom there were eight at the time.

Isak specialised in teaching the Five Books of Moses, the Talmud and all Hebrew books. He also taught about 248 prayers and 365 bans. His annual salary was 150 Gulden.

Because of his great erudition he had the title ‘Morenu’.

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In the year 1813, the brothers Isak and Jakob took the family name Seligmann.

Isak married Mindel. Their children were called: 1. Joel Loeb, born on 21 July 1801.

2. Jakob, born on 19 August 1803.

Isak Seligmann died on 15 August 1845 at the age of 70.

II. Jakob, born 1775, married Gietel Née Bergmann. Gietel was born in 1780. Jakob dealt in the trading of goods and money-changing and also ran his own ‘dry goods’ business.

His children were: 1. Sprinz, born 28 October 1802.

2. Gluck, born 17 April 1807.

3. Rebecka, born 16 April 1810.

4. Mindel, born 6 November 1811.

5. Isak Rafael, born 23 August 1813.

Jakob Seligmann died on 30 April 1843. His wife Gietel died in April 1862.

Isak Rafael, son of Jakob Seligmann, married Helene (Hale) née Springer from Bamberg in 1840.

Their children: a. Heinrich born 9 December 1841. b. Julius born 1 December 1842. c. Babette born 8 January 1844. d. Sofie born 14 November 1845.

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e. Jakob born 16 May 1846. f. Klara born 1 July 1847. g. Nathan born 7 June 1849. h. Aron born 27(?) April 1851. i. Jette born 23 July 1852. k. Daniel born 11 August 1854. l. Abraham born 31 July 1855. m.Sigmund born 25 November 1856. n. Moritz born 30 October 1856 [Must be a mistake, perhaps 1858]. o. Peppi born 9 July 1860. p. Eva born 4 September 1861.

Isak Rafael died on 2 June 1870. His wife Hale died on 6 September 1897. g. Nathan Seligmann, businessman, married Frieda née Rosenfels from Erlangen on 18 February 1874. a. On 9 May 1871, Heinrich, the eldest son of Isak Rafael, married Jette, née Einstein, who was born on 18 May 1853 in Nördlingen. She died after the wedding and Heinrich Seligmann married a second wife, Fanni, née Bissinger, who was born on 16 April 1854 in Ichenhausen.

Their children were: 1. Isak, born 5 May 1874. Married Klara, née Engel from Berolsheim 1905.

2. Max born 1875, died 1875.

3. Rosa born 1876, died 1876.

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4. Emil born 3 July 1877, died 28.8.1927 in Rhodes (South Africa).

5. Jakob born 29 Aug 1878.

6. Doris born April 1880, married Siegfried Hanhart from Gailingen, 1906.

7. Berta born 2 June 1881, married Leo Hausner, Scaffenhausen, 1905.

8. Sali born 14 Sept 1883, married Leo Schönwalter 1909.

9. Klothilde born 1884, died [?] 1891.

10. Benno born 15 Aug 1887, married Jeanne Bloch, Neuville, 1917.

11. Gali born 15 May 1888, married Herrmann Bodenheimer, Bretten, 1912.

12. Selma born 23 July 1889, married Josef Gutmann, Nuremberg, 1921.

5. Jakob married Getta née Gutmann, born 19 Nov 1883 from Günzenhausen, on 15 June 1908 in Nördlingen. He and his brother Isak took over their parents’ business and moved in April 1912 to Nördlingen.

Their children were called: 1. Helene, born 14 September 1909 2. Heinrich, born 7 August 1914 3. Justin, born 12 March 1916 The Seligmann family had been resident in Ichenhausen from as early as 1718. They may have originally lived in Thannhausen, the neighbouring town, as there is proof that in 1599 the Jews were expelled from this town. The local rulers invited Jewish 7

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families to settle in the area because they were taxpayers.

However, at the same time other local rulers were threatened

by Jewish economic competition and a noble family, the Stadion family, expelled them. Jewish merchants usually were successful businessmen and so became unwanted competitors to local Christian merchants.

My grandfather JAKOB SELIGMAN was born on 30 August 1878 in Ichenhausen. He was one out of nine children. He married GETTA GUTMANN (born 19 November 1883) from Heidenheim on 15 June 1908 in Ichenhausen (Wendy’s middle name is her name).

(See photos on page 7 of photo book) Nördlingen The family moved to Nördlingen and first lived in the Judengasse 14 (it is believed that several Jewish families lived there). See below for the assumed reason for moving to Nördlingen.

Today there is a memorial (Zachor) directly outside and behind this is a plaque stating the names of the Jews who were deported. My grandfather, Jacob Seligmann’s name, is on this plaque.

Jakob then bought the house Bergerstraße 6/8. It is not known when exactly they moved from Judengasse to this address. He opened a textile shop. (After the war, the house was acquired by the Nördlingen restaurateur Fritz Leitz, and in 1982, by the Eisen-Fischer family. Today it is a hairdresser.)

He and his brothers were respected people in the town and sat on many important council committees and did much voluntary work. Jacob Seligmann had been on the council of the 8

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The memorial and plaque with my grandfather’s name, Jacob Seligmann

On the pavement outside the house with the StolpeStein (memorial ‘stumbling block’) 9

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Jakob Seligman’s shop poster congregation from the 1920s and became its first chairman at the beginning of the 1930s.

They had three children: Helen Seligmann was born on 14 September, 1909 in house No. 302 in the Bavarian town of Ichenhausen, near Gunzenhausen.

Judith told me, Isaak and Jakob (brothers) worked in the business that their father had left to them. Isaak wanted to study but had to return to work and that left him bitter. His wife, Klara, was ‘stupid’ and made his life a misery. Jakob had a clever wife (Getta) and saw that eventually Klara would fight with Getta as Isaak stopped work at lunch time while Jakob worked till late at night. She called Jakob and told him to 10

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move to Nördlingen and start a shop. So, Jakob listened and moved to Nördlingen and there his business developed.

People loved him. He was president of the Nördlingen community. A very honoured man, till the Nazis entered. He had a visa to go to South Africa but Getta had cancer and he did not want to leave her. She passed away in 1941. She is buried in the Nördlingen cemetery.

Cemetery (see photobook) From the Middle Ages, Jewish families lived in Nördlingen. They buried their dead in the Jewish cemetery on Nähermemminger Way, and a synagogue was built in 1885. The inside of the synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis on Kristallnachet, November 1938, and later the building was taken down as it was ‘believed to be unsafe’ (Herr Thumm). This is commemorated by a wall plaque. In 1979, a memorial stone was erected in the Jewish cemetery commemorating Jewish victims of the Holocaust. My grandmother, Getta Seligmann, is buried here, and another member of the family had a sign placed over her grave (the Breslauer family from Israel).

After the expulsion of Jewish families of Nördlingen in 1507, the once flourishing Jewish community came to an end, and no further Jewish community was permitted in Nördlingen until 1870. Their new cemetery was founded in 1878. By 1942 there were no more Jews in Nördlingen, due to emigration and deportation. Only Friedrich Levite and his family returned after World War II. When they died, these were the last burials at this cemetery.

Originally this burial ground had about 260 gravestones for adults, but today only about 200 of them are left. Many of the gravestones were taken away by the citizens of Nördlingen or 11

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the Hitler Jugend (it’s uncertain who). The gravestones may have been removed after World War II, when there seemed to be no further need for these gravestones, as there were no Jewish families. In January 1946 Agnes Weig (who was taking care of the Jewish cemetery) noted the names of the deceased as she recorded their burial sites before the vandalism took place. Her memory was correct in most cases. She mentioned that 77 gravestones of adults and 26 of children were missing.

Besides that, obviously not all of the replaced gravestones were placed onto their original sites, and some gravestones were even replaced at a later time, as they do not appear in Agnes Weig’s list. The cemetery originally was divided into the following three sections.

In section A-4-20 there is a grave of ZIPORA SELIGMANN (1832-1897). She came to visit the town and died unexpectedly. One of her relatives was Levi Seligmann in Nördlingen.

In row B-4-29 is the grave of our grandmother, GETTA SELIGMANN née Gutmann (19 Nov 1883 Heidenheim – 28 May 1941 Nördlingen). Sge wife of Jakob Seligmann (30 Aug 1878 Ichenhausen – 1942 Piaski), a head stone was never erected.

(See photo book) Here, Getta Seligmann, born Gutmann was buried according to the documents available to me. (All Jewish graves are chronologically created, so that in this case it is certain that this is the place where Mrs. Seligmann was buried shortly 12

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after her death. She was buried on 28 May 1941. She was born on 19 November 1883 in Heidenheim / Franconia.”

Herr Thum.

I placed three stones one her grave for Wend, Ann and me: “Three stones for three girls,” is what I said.

A tombstone was probably not erected because there were no stones available for Jews. In addition, her husband probably wanted to wait for the year of mourning to pass as in Judaism the soul stands for one year before God’s judgment.

Her husband was deported in April 1942 and was murdered either in in Piaski or in Belzec.

In November of 2018 a rabbi asked me to name the grave, as his descendants in the USA would like to build their own tombstone. He had already contacted Steinmetz Kling!

Siegfried Thum, 6 Jul 2015 This did not take place no gravestone was erected.

Piaski We went to Piaski and found out a little more about it. It formed a part of Poland that was called the General Government. Piaski was the first town in Poland where the Nazis established a ghetto in the spring of 1940. Initially the ghetto was accessible to outsiders and its borders were delineated in a relatively small area in the eastern part of the town divided by the main thoroughfare – ul. Lubelska.

It was established to imprison not only its Jewish inhabitants, but also several thousand Jews transported from the Lublin Ghetto, as well as from the German Reich. On 20 March 1942 13

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a train left the Rhineland for the Piaski ghetto. There were two transports to the Belzec death camp from Piaski. The first one was at the end of March 1942, probably on 26 March 1942, with 3,400 Jews from Piaski itself (as well as Biskupice, Trawniki and Szczecin). This transport went to Belzec, via Trawniki and the deported Jews were forced to spend in the night in the former sugar factory. In 1942 the ghetto was liquidated, and its inmates perished in Belzec. There is a tiny memorial hidden amongst the bushes and long grass.

From history by H. Keßler: A police commando came to Nördlingen on April 2, 1942 and took 25 of the Jewish inhabitants who remained in the city to a rail transport that led first to Munich and then to an unknown destination in the east. In this first transport were those named on the plaque on the wall in the Judengasse.

Justin Seligmann (Henry’s brother), son of Jakob Seligmann, wrote, He (Jakob Seligmann) was sent with the first transport to Piaski. My father wrote to me on a map from Piaski: ‘Luggage did not arrive. I envy our Maxi. Our sharpener (a dog they had), which we all would like to have and had a good life with us.’

On the card I sent him (from Holland) with a parcel, the receipt of which he confirmed. The second package came back with the remark: ‘address unknown’. The people sent to Piaski were killed after a short time.

From letters by Justin Seligmann & Ernst Eisenman 14

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My visit to Belzec

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On 9 Nov 1938 Jacob, Henry’s father, was arrested and then set free but had to leave his house. He lived with others in a small house. We first thought he had fled to Munich – he may have thought it safer to go there, but I now know that he went on the first transport from Nördlingen via Munich to Piaski. He was 65 and would have been considered ’useless’ and not able to work, and so there are a number of possibilities – it is likely that he either died of starvation or hard labour in the ghetto or was shot there – in November 1942 about 1,000 Jews were shot at the local Jewish cemetery – or he was transported to Belzec. In 1942 the ghetto was liquidated, and its inmates perished in the Belzec. There is a tiny memorial hidden amongst the bushes and long grass in the woods of Piaski.

Justin (Henry’s brother) Justin wanted to be a doctor and had started medical school.

One day he was told not to return to the medical school as he was Jewish. In 1935 he finished school and spent one year in a yeshiva in Frankfurt. In the winter of 1936/37, he went to Holland for a few months, training in preparation for his emigration to Palestine and after his return in the spring of 1937, he began an apprenticeship with a master cabinetmaker in Frankfurt. Although he was already preparing to emigrate to Palestine, the Frankfurt Gestapo summoned him to the Bürgerstrasse House a few weeks before his sister’s wedding. On Shabbat he was invited to attend a medical examination by the German Army, so he attended but refused to write on Shabbat. The officer thought he could not write.

He later wrote: “There they informed me that as I had been abroad, I no longer had the right to stay in Germany.” He was told to leave by 31 October. He had received a detention 16

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order to report for Dachau (the first concentration camp).

The police knew about this order, and possibly because his father had been in the police in WWI (or was well known), he was looked after by the local police and able to make arrangements to escape. The Police commander set him free.

At that time, Gestapo were organising weekly transports to deport returning Jewish emigrants to Dachau as ‘training prisoners’. In 1942 Justin needed an exemption. He was given a choice – to go and work for Germans or go underground. He fled to Belgium for two months and then he went underground. He then fled with his wife, Miriam, to Holland.

From there he tried to escape to Palestine. The boat was stopped, and they were interned in a concentration camp in Cyprus (?) before being allowed to go to Israel where he lived, had a wonderful family and where he later died.

Helene Neuhaus née Seligmann Helene Seligmann was born on 14 September 1909. She had two younger brothers, both of whom were born in Nördlingen: Heinrich on 7 August 1914, and Justin on 12 March 1916. Frau Seligmann, her mother, ran a kosher household. Helene went to the Maria Stern Catholic Kindergarten (very near their home), then to the Nördlingen school. She did an apprenticeship at the Maria Stern Kindergarten (sponsored by of the Franciscan Order) and became a kindergarten teacher. Even as a young girl, Helene had become enthusiastic about Zionism and was probably also a member of the local Zionist Association in Nördlingen founded in the 1920s. She wanted to emigrate to Palestine but did not do so because of the resistance of her parents.

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Immediately after the Nazi seizure of power, restrictions were enforced in Nördlingen for the exclusion of the Jewish population. For example, in the summer of 1933, the Seligmanns and other Jewish citizens were no longer allowed to visit the two municipal swimming pools (one of the 2,000 Nuremberg Laws).

In 1936, her brother Heinrich left the country, first to go to Belgium and from there to South Africa (see the section on Henry), and her brother Justin prepared to emigrate to Palestine.

Neuhaus Family The family Neuhaus had been in the Upper Palatinate from approximately 1650 and originally had been in the district of Erlangen-Hochstadt. The merchant, David Neuhaus, came from Sulzbach in the Upper Palatinate where he was born on 17 May 1863. Klara (née Friedlein) was born on 29 November 1868.

They had two sons – the eldest was Justin Jacob, born on 30 September 1900, and his younger brother, Siegbert Samuel, born in 1907, both in in Frankfurt am Main. In 1894 David Neuhaus started his leather goods agency business in Frankfurt after his family had moved into Gaussstrasse 14.

They lived on the first and third floor. He worked from his office in the apartment. They lived here from 1931. The family was a member of the Borneplatz Synagogue, within the Orthodox part of the Frankfurt Jewish community. Justin, like his brother, attended the Realschule of the Insraelitische Religion Gesellschaft am Tiergarten (later Samson-RaphaelHirsch Realschule). Justin did a commercial apprenticeship at the private bank of S. Merzbach in Frankfurt and worked for several Hamburg banks, most recently as authorized 18

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representative of Strauss, Hamlet & Co. After his father’s death on 19April 1927, he and his brother took over his father’s business and they soon founded their own company, Gebrüder Neuhaus OHG, the brothers Neuhaus factory producing fine leather goods, with offices on the Zeil 46.

They specialized in purses and handbags, which were produced by homeworkers in the district of Offenbach. Justin, who was a quiet introvert, worked more inside, whereas Siegfried worked with clients.

Siegbert attended the Realschule of the Israelitische Religion Gesellschaft am Tiergarten and did his studies there in

Siegbert 19

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1923, followed by a commercial education at the Jewish leather goods factory Beissinger & Rosengart in the Neue Mainzer Straße. In parallel, he attended evening classes in English and French commerce, correspondence and accounting in the Gans’schen Handelsschule. After graduating, he worked until the death of his father in 1927 at Bessinger & Rosengart as a traveller. He then worked with his brother.

From 1933 this flourishing business suffered from the Nazi boycott and Justin planned his escape.

On 31 July and 1 August 1937 there was a large family celebration at Justin Neuhaus’ rooms. Now aged 37, he had become engaged to his girlfriend Helene Seligmann (known as Hell?), whom he had met at a relative’s house. Twenty-eightyear-old Helene was now a trained kindergarten teacher.

Justin Neuhaus The wedding date was set for just a few weeks after the engagement. The civil ceremony took place on 8 September 1937 in Nördlingen Town Hall and the family celebrated the religious wedding a few days later on 16 September at a hotel in Würzburg. Not all of the bride’s family could be at the wedding celebrations. Helene’s brother Heinrich had emigrated to South Africa in 1936. The family had relatives in Barclay East. At the time of the celebration Helene’s younger brother Justin, who was a witness at her wedding, already knew that he would shortly have to leave the country.

After her marriage to Justin Neuhaus they moved to Frankfurt am Main. The young couple travelled to Switzerland for a few weeks and then returned to Frankfurt. On 27 June 1938 Helene and Justin Neuhaus’ son Peter David was born in the Jewish Hospital in Gaussstraße.

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Justin Neuhaus From 1937 the Neuhaus Family had been trying to emigrate overseas. They wanted to go to the USA – the immigration regulations required affidavits as well as guarantees from American citizens for new arrivals. Because the situation was becoming increasingly threatening, Siegbert Neuhaus (Justin’s brother) travelled to the USA at the end of May 1938, specifically to obtain affidavits or immigration papers. He had no success and returned to Frankfurt in June 1938.

Shortly afterwards things began to happen very quickly for him. While driving home after picking up finished products from homeworkers in the Offenbach area, his car was ambushed, and he was beaten up. He recognised one of the culprits as a homeworker from the Neuhaus business, one to whom it was no longer possible to give work – the business was struggling and was in a bad way. When Siegbert received a 21

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summons from the Gestapo the next day, he made a spur of the moment decision to escape over the Dutch border to Amsterdam. His fiancée, Toni Lea Schuss from Hanau, had already left Germany and was living in Brussels with her sister.

Helene and Justin Neuhaus and the other Jewish occupants of the building had already been alarmed by the publication of 27 April 1938 – a decree ordering all Jews to register their property. The families in the house were apparently spared the destruction of their flats, as had happened to many Jews, especially in the nearby East End, but also in the Friedberg, Eschenheim districts, in the North End and other parts of the city. One reason for this may have been that the building was owned by a foreigner and also that there were non-Jewish tenants on the fourth floor.

The names of Justin and Siegbert Neuhaus appeared in the NSDAP, ‘boycott book’ in 1934 and 1935, with the business address. In 1936, due to the gang pressure caused by the boycott and with regard to the planned emigration, the brothers gave up their parents’ apartment. Justin moved as a subtenant to the Mannheimer family on the first floor and Siegbert to a furnished room in the Wittelsbacher Allee 7.

The offices and warehouse of the Neuhaus brothers at der Zeil 46 were destroyed during the November 1938 pogroms (Kristallnacht). The goods and the equipment were thrown onto the streets. At the end of December 1938, Helene Neuhaus made all the preparations for herself and her baby to go to the United States around the middle of January. It is not clear where her husband, Justin Neuhaus was staying. He may have fled over the Dutch border to join his brother in order to escape arrest or he may have hidden with non-Jewish friends.

His name is missing from the 13-page closely-described list of 22

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NSDAP ‘boycott book’

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the so-called ‘removal goods’, which Helene Neuhaus wrote in late December and submitted to the foreign exchange office using their business address. She had been given permission to take her personal property (the ‘umzugsgut’ – the used personal belongings they would take with them when moving) – she drew up this list at the end of December and sent it to the Exchange Control Office.

Every handkerchief, book and nappy had to be included on the list, which was accompanied by numerous debt-free certificates. It became clear that the ‘release certificate’ from the tax office was insufficient to release the ‘relocation goods’ from the foreign exchange office and customs investigation office. The city authorities and the Jewish community had to confirm that everything had been paid for and there were no outstanding debts. Helene was allowed to take her ‘removal goods’ on the condition that she had previously paid the ‘DegoAuction’, the export duty for items acquired after 1933, at the value of the new acquisition value, and even double for individual items such as her electric iron. In addition, the Customs Investigations Office crossed off 129 items of her silverware from the list, as well as eight bottles of wine and two bottles of liqueur.

The daughter of a Frankfurter doctor formulated the thoughts and fears of those affected in her diary: In recent days a wild activity broke out at home, on the 27th of April an injunction published, which takes stock of the Jewish property in which the non-Jewish spouse is not exempt. It is a list of assets, excluding all non-movable objects and those that are exclusively for personal use, such as household effects and the like, as far as they are luxury 24

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items ...Why do the Nazis want to make a Jewish property tax? Just to satisfy their curiosity? Certainly not! They had already invented something infernal. Little by little, we were going to find out – though in this case there is no grand fantasy.

(81, diary of Lily Hahn) After the annexation of Austria in March 1938, there was the increased pressure for emigration and more and more countries closed their borders to the growing number of now middle-class Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. In 1938, the USA convened an international conference in Evian to try to find help the Jewish refugees, although with the exception of the Dominican Republic, no country opened their borders. Even the US made it clear from the start that they would not honour their annual intake quota of around 27,000 German and Austrian Jews.

The debacle of the conference was used as propaganda in the German Reich. The German Hetzblatt, the People’s Observer, published the malicious headline, ‘Nobody wants them’.

At the end of 1938 the young family fled. Helene’s brother Justin and his wife Miriam went with them to Amsterdam. They were preparing to go to Palestine. In Amsterdam, the Neuhaus brothers opened their leather goods business and lived together, first in the Watteaustraat 4. Justin and Helene Neuhaus later moved to the Raphaelstraat 31.

In March 1940, a few months before German troops marched into the Netherlands and Belgium, the Neuhaus family celebrated the wedding of Siegbert Neuhaus and Toni Schuss in Brussels. After the wedding they all returned to Amsterdam together. On 10 May 1940 the Germans invaded Holland, and a few days later, Holland capitulated because of the bombing of 25

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the Nordseehafen of Amsterdam. The Neuhaus brothers were panic-stricken, as were thousands of Amsterdam Jews. With their relatives in the car, they drove to Ijmuiden on the North Sea coast, hoping to reach the safety of the English coast on a fishing boat. But like most people, they had to return to Amsterdam, because they had not managed to find a boat.

After a year of German occupation Jewish persecution began in Holland. Helene Neuhaus and her brother Justin were still in letter contact with their parents in Nördlingen. At the end of May 1941, they heard from their father, Jakob, that their mother, who had been suffering from stomach(?) cancer, had died on 28 May 1941. Shortly afterwards, on 7 August 1941, Judith, Helene and Justin’s second child, was born in Amsterdam. She was born on the same date as her uncle (my father), 7 August. At the end of 1941, the Germans deprived Justin Neuhaus and his family of German citizenship. They continued to live in the Netherlands as ‘tolerated’ stateless persons.

A year later the German occupying forces in the Netherlands began the Jewish persecution. From May 1941, there were repeated raids on the Jewish population, and men in particular were deported to the concentration camp of Mathausen, where they were later murdered.

In the summer of 1942, the Germans started to take the Jewish men to work in labour camps. There were rumours that this would be a preliminary stage to deportation. In October 1942, the Jewish men from the Dutch transit camp, Westerbork, were deported to Bergen-Belsen, and Auschwitz.

For families with young children like Helene and Justin or Siegbert and Toni, it was almost impossible to go underground.

In January or February 1943, Helene and Justin Neuhaus therefore decided to give their one-and-a-half-year-old 26

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daughter Judith to the Dutch underground. She was sent to a Frisian family for security. They took this decision because it was difficult to keep a baby quiet when in hiding.

At that time, Miriam Merzbacher helped the family to take care of the two children as a nurse girl (kindermeisje). She said: I had been ill, in fact, supposedly seriously ill with a heart condition. This happened after my brother was picked up during a street razzia and was sent to Mathausen. He was killed there. Because of my heart condition I was sent to a hospital.There I met Toni (Siegbert Neuhaus’ wife).We were roommates. It was she who put me in touch with Judith’s family. Actually, I also took Micha (Toni’s son) for walks.

But it was Judith I adored. And I also was very fond of Helene. She was such a gentle, loving person. Helene, Judith’s mother (I refer to her as Helene because that is what Justin asked me to do), was a friendly person. It was easy to feel comfortable with her. I liked her a lot, and I looked forward to going there. I appreciated it very much that she visited me on my birthday, with both children.This was just days before Judith went into hiding.

She said, Helene and Justin, lived in a nice, ground floor apartment. Who their neighbours were I don’t know? To the best of my knowledge they were not friendly with any of them. In fact, on the day Judith went into hiding they were concerned that neighbours may watch behind their curtains. That was the reason for me being there on that afternoon, so that Judith did not leave the apartment with a stranger.

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At the time, in 1943, Miriam was 16 years old and lived close to Raphaelstraat, which is where Judith lived with her parents, and with ‘Peterle’ (Miriam’s nickname for Peter). She took Judith for walks. As time passed, Helene began to trust her, and this must have been the reason she asked Miriam on that day to take Judith.

Miriam was a familiar face in the area and neighbours would not be suspicious seeing her with Judith. Miriam was not in the resistance and later on she was somewhat surprised that her parents allowed her to accompany Judith. The danger was enormous.

Miriam was given Judith and then at the corner of the street Miriam handed Judith over to Mrs. Wijsmuller of the Dutch Resistance. It is believed that she saved many Jewish children.

Miriam continued, Why did we, my mother, my grandmother and I emigrate to this country (USA)? My mother felt that there was no future for me in the Netherlands. The beginnings here were difficult. But eventually we made a go of it. I studied. I did my Bachelor of Arts, and then my Masters, and worked initially as a cleaning woman, a so- called ‘girl Friday’, then as a teacher for mentally ‘challenged’ children. And now I try writing some of my ‘stories’. Judith is among them.

Once Judith was safe, Helene, Justin and Peter had a chance to hide. Justin had rented a room in a suburb of Amsterdam (to hide valuables from the Gestapo). He had packed a suitcase with clothes which he sent to the underground organization with clothes for Judith. A tricycle driver was commissioned to first take the suitcase to the family home in Raphaelstraat 31.

On the way, the driver was stopped by German police. The police found the Neuhaus address on the suitcase. Justin, 28

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Helene and four-year-old Peter David were then arrested and initially detained in Amsterdam at the Schouwburg Theater (25 March 1943). Their names now appear on the memorial in the theater. Helen and Peter were sent to the Westerbork transit camp and kept in the ‘straf’ (punishment) barrack. From Westerbork they were deported on 4 May 1943 to the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland, where they were murdered shortly after their arrival on 7 May 1943. Justin Neuhaus, who was probably subjected to lengthy interrogations during his detention in Amsterdam for his contacts with the Dutch underground, did not leave for Westerbork until 11, or 18 May 1943. By this time, his family had already been murdered. He too was murdered shortly after his arrival on 21 May. (From the Westerbork Lists Archives and information from Miriam Mijatovich-Keesing, Amsterdam.)

A Ukrainian guard, Demjanjuk, was working at Sobibor at this time. Thomas Walter helped bring him to trial in Munich. I went to Munich for six days of this trial. He was found guilty but went to appeal and died before this took place.

Judith Judith was 18 months old when she came to the De Vries family in Leeuwarden (60,000 inhabitants, in Friesland province) on 13 March 1943. Jan De Vries and his two elder brothers owned a business selling sails for freight ships (zeilmakerij). Dirkje was his wife and Romana their daughter. When I met Romana in Holland in 2010, she explained how this took place. One day a captain from the Stanfries shipping company, a company taking care of the boat connections between Amsterdam and Friesland, came into the shop and said to Jan, “Is it not about time you did something too?” Jan replied, “I suppose we could 29

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My visit to Sobibor 30

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My visit to Sobibor

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take a girl, we have a daughter.” His daughter, Romana, who was born in 1939, became Judith’s ‘elder’ sister.

She now lives at Brantwijk 39, 1181 MS Amstelveen.

They remain very close.

Judith stayed with this family until she was five years old, until the summer of 1946.

Somebody (I am not clear about the details – I believe it was one of the De Fries family) read an appeal in one of the Judith at the De Vries family papers asking about the whereabouts of Judith Neuhaus. This must have been in the summer of 1945. By that time the De Vries family had almost forgotten Judith’s real name because during her stay with them her name was Joke de Vries.

Judith (known as ‘Joke’) and Romana always played with other children in the street – no one betrayed her. Luckily Romana’s mother was dark-haired, like Judith. On one occasion, Judith told the German soldier who came to the house to capture hidden people that ‘Papa’ was out walking and he luckily accepted that explanation, not realising that that little girl was Jewish and that the lovely young woman in the house at the time (a young friend of the family visiting), and in the 32

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same room with him, was a member of the Frisian Underground. Romana’s mother told her later that the soldier had eyes only for that beautiful young woman. Her beauty saved them all.

Justin Seligman (Helen’s brother) was still in Holland; he came to see Judith. He went to Israel in July/August 1946.

(Romana has a letter from him to her parents dated 20 October 1946 in which he writes that by then they had been in Israel for a few months.) He came to meet Judith when he and Miriam were still in Holland waiting for the official papers to go to Israel. He wanted to take Judith with them but the brothers, Siegbert and Justin Neuhaus (Judith’s father), had promised that if anything happened to one of them the other would take care of the family. Miriam Merzbacher believes that it was Justin and Miriam Seligman who put the announcement in the paper at the end of the war asking for information about Judith. Some think the announcement was put in the paper by Siegbert.

Siegbert, Toni (his wife) Neuhaus and their son Micha Ralph (born in June 1942 in Amsterdam) had been arrested in Amsterdam on 20 June 1943 and sent to the Westerbork concentration camp, when their son was just 12 months old.

The family only avoided deportation to one of the death camps because Siegbert had obtained a Republic of Honduras passport from his brother-in-law in Switzerland. On 24 March 1944 they were deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where he worked in the laundry and they stayed there for ten months until January 1945. Shortly after his arrival in February 19, Siegbert Neuhaus wrote a report on the conditions in Bergen-Belsen and the transport, but I believe it was destroyed by the Germans. They were allowed to leave the concentration camp in January 1945 on a transport as part of an exchange of 33

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prisoners between Germany and the United States. They intended going to Switzerland but on arriving at the border, the Swiss officials did not allow them in and sent them on to North Africa.

They had bought Paraguayan papers just in case. There was an exchange of German prisoners of war against Jews in camps with the right papers (such as papers for South America). They were part of this exchange. They finally reached Philippeville in Algeria on 10 February 1945 and the Jeanne d’Arc camp organised by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). On 10 Sept 1945 they were repatriated from the Displaced Persons Camp to Holland.

They spent some time in Switzerland, because their now three-year-old son Micha was still very weak – he spent six months in a children’s home in the Swiss Alps. Early in 1946 Siegbert and Toni Neuhaus returned to Amsterdam, where they received the Dutch citizenship. In the meantime, Siegbert had learned that his brother Justin, and Helene and Peter, had been murdered in Sobibor death camp. Only their daughter Judith had survived hidden with the De Vries family.

Judith told me: When my biological parents did not come back from Sobibor my father’s brother (Siegbert) and his wife and little son took me in as their daughter and for me (since I was so young when I was separated – 1½ years old) I did not remember them (my birth parents), and they became my parents.They loved me very much and my ‘brother’ (Micha) is my ‘brother’. He lives in Amsterdam. They have three daughters, all married. My brother is actually my cousin.

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After their return to Holland, Siegbert and Toni Neuhaus were able to track down Judith. The Neuhaus brothers had promised each other to take on the role of parenting each other’s children if anything happened to either of them. Thus, Siegbert and Toni adopted their niece, Judith, and she grew up with their son, Micha, as his sister in Amsterdam. Soon Siegbert opened a leather goods factory in Amsterdam. In the early 1980s, he went on a visit to Frankfurt, his native city and thereafter regularly visited the grave of his parents in the Jewish cemetery on the Rat Beil-Strasse. There is also a memorial inscription for Justin, Helen and Peter David.

Siegbert died in Amsterdam in 1993. His son Micha took over the company. He now lives with his wife in Israel. Judith studied in Switzerland and met her future husband, Joel Ashkenazy, a doctor. (The registrar was the same woman from

Henry at Judith's wedding 35

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the underground, Mrs Wisjmuller, who took Judith from Miriam and placed her with the De Vries family). Judith Ashkenazy lived with her husband in Zurich. She has since moved to Israel with her three children. Judith is my dear cousin and we are close. She knows that I am haunted by her ‘birth’ mother.

I later discovered a photo (previous page) which shows that my father did go to Judith’s wedding. He is sitting between Miriam and Justin. Judith told me he went to her wedding. My father never mentioned this nor did he talk about Helen nor his parents.

Stolpersteine HELENE 14 Sep 1909 – died in Sobibor, married 8 or 16 Sep 1937 in Nördlingen to Justin Neuhaus of Frankfurt/Mainz (born 30 Sep 1900, died in Sobibor) Helene’s children – Judith (married Joel Ashkenazi), (David-Peter, 27 Jun 1938 – 1945) died in Sobibor.

250,000 Jews died at Sobibor between April and July 1943.

Fifteen transports left from Westerbork (29,579 people from Netherlands and also other transports including German Jews).

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The Trial Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian, was the guard at Sobibor when Helene and Peter and Justin arrived. They were murdered in 1943. In 2010 he was brought to trial in Germany in the Munich Court.

Thomas Walter, a solicitor, helped to provide the evidence.

Judith did not want to go so I went and was present in Munich for the first three and the last three days of the trial. He was found guilty. In court he behaved as if he was an old, ill man (he was 90 years old), but out of court he was able to talk fluently and walk around – this was captured on TV. He was sent to a secure home for the elderly and whilst he appealed, but he died before his case was heard.

The list of departures to Sobibor was presented during the trial of Demjanjuk were: Left

Arrived

No on transport

No killed

30 March 6 April 13 April 20 April 4 May 11 May 18 May 25 May 1 June 8 June 29 June 6 July 13 July 20 July

2 April 9 April 16 April 23 April 7 May 14 May 20 May 28 May 4/5 June 11 June 2 July 9 July 16 July 23 July

1263 1992 1210 1336 1189 1373 2461 2865 2967 3030 2378 2403 1965 2154 29,5790

1200 1900 1200 1100 1100 1200 2300 2800 2800 2800 2300 2300 1900 1900 27,900 rounded down

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In the official files in Westerbork it reads: Evacuated in May 1943 Helene Neuhaus, born Seligman Date of birth: 14.9.1909 Deportation: Westerbork (camp) and Sobibór Todesdatum:7.5.1943 Justin Jakob Neuhaus Date of birth: 30.9.1900 Deportation: Westerbork (camp) and Sobibór Todesdatum:21.5.1943 Peter David Neuhaus Date of birth: 27.6.1938 Deportation: Westerbork (camp) and Sobibór Todesdatum 7.5.1943 Nördlingen Jewish Cemetery Getta Gutmann Seligmann Birth 19 Nov 1883 Death 28 May 1941 (aged 57) Burial Jewish Cemetery of Nördlingen, Nördlingen, Landkreis Donau-Ries, Bavaria (Bayern), Germany Plot Grave #B-4-29.

Below is an official article written by Justin Seligmann: In der Fremde leben meine Kinder (Lebens-schicksale Kindlicher Jüdischer Auswanderer aus Schwaben unter der Naziherrschaft.Was Justin 38

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Seligmann (Nördlingen) berichtet: Die Geschichte von Judiths Rettung (the story of Judith’s rescue) Judith’s story is sad and encouraging at the same time.

Sad, because it is about the persecution and murder of people. But it also encouraging as it describes the miraculous salvation of the girl, Judith. It recalls men and women who opposed the inhumanity of the Third Reich with goodness, helpfulness and courage….

In May 1940, Hitler attacked and occupied Holland without a declaration of war. In this country too, the Nazis mercilessly persecuted the Jews, who had fled this country believing that they would be safe there. A number of Dutchmen courageously resisted the Germans as underground combatants and did help the persecuted Jews.

However, pro rata the number was small and the again pro rata the largest number of Jews who lost their lives came from the Netherlands.

Judith knows her story and lives with it. … The brothers survived the Third Reich. Heinrich emigrated and built a new life in South Africa. At the beginning of the war Justin was preparing to leave Holland for Palestine; he owes his life to Judith’s helpful Dutchmen (?), who hid him during the deportations. It is likely that he gave his sister Helene and brother-in-law clues as to how they could save themselves. Justin Seligmann remembers such a conversation… “I do not know how much I influenced my sister and brother-in-law,” he refuses to 39

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acknowledge any part of Judith’s rescue. Rather, he is tormented by the question of whether he is perhaps partly responsible for their arrest through his conversation with Helene and her husband, “The end of this action was also to blame oneself because it happens in this way.”

Justin lived in Israel and he and Judith his niece became very close. Romana, the de Vries daughter, visited him year after year. “She is a family member for us,” she says to Justin. “We are very close….”

Emmanuel Gutman Henry’s mother, Getta’s parents – Julius Gutmann and wife Flora, née Obermeyer, lived in Gunzenhausen around 1908. Her sister’s name was Flora, also from Heidenheim, and she had a brother, Moses Gutman, a doctor in Jerusalem. He married Aunty Peta who made the best chocolate pudding. They lived in King George Street.They had two sons, one of whom was Emmanuel who lives in Jerusalem and married Nechama. One of their sons died in the war of Independence. Nechama passed away a while ago.

In 1935 Emmanuel told me he came from Munich to visit for the holidays. On Tisha B’Av he and Henry went for a drink.

They stopped at a bar – Emmanuel was very hot and needed a drink! Emmanuel ate and had two drinks. “It’s so hot, not to drink is also a sin, but don’t speak about it!”

Henry Henry was born in Nördlingen on 7 August. His father, Jakob, was a fabric and Kleinwaren merchant and worked in the town of Gunzhausen and then in Nördlingen. He lived with his family in the Bergerstrasse house. This is what he told Nicole (my daughter): 40

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Henry and Tilly’s wedding

A siddur given to my father from his grandmother 41

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Our family had a very strong Jewish tradition but also had an extremely strong German tradition. We lived amongst many German people and were fully accepted. … Our neighbourhood was one of extremely old tradition. Being an old independent town, which was not subject to any of the small nobility which existed in pre 1914 times, the town was completely free as a merchant town, although it was small.

The food we ate at home was kosher, but it always had of course the continental influence.

As a child we played soccer mostly. We also did swimming in the local river, as in those days there was no swimming pool. We really did not have all that many hobbies at the time – I did lot of reading, but otherwise we were together with all the children in our school…. There were many other Jewish children at the school.

In 1936 Henry was at work (not sure if he was working for his father) when a Nazi came in to take control of the business.

Things became uncomfortable for Henry. He could see where things were heading in Germany and so and he decided to leave.

He said goodbye to close family and all his many cousins and aunts and uncles and went to live in South Africa.

He was interviewed by Nicole and this is what he told her: During 1935 I had personal contact with the SS who did not treat me very kindly. They threw me out of an office. I then decided that I was not going to live under these circumstances and went to an uncle of ours who lived in Switzerland.

When war broke out I tried to volunteer but they had very peculiar reasons for rejecting me. My one eye is weak 42

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and they decided that if my other eye was damaged, they would have to care for an almost blind person. I then joined the civil defence.

My family had always had a business in South Africa, which was actually started by my grandfather’s father, and if I’m not mistaken, he came out to South Africa round 1860 or 1870. During my visit to Switzerland I asked my uncle…

He went to his father’s cousin’s business, a general dealer in Barclay East, in South Africa. No one met him on arrival, so he took the train there. He realised that this was a one-horse town and soon he left to go to Johannesburg where he lived in one room in Natal Street near the water tower. He found a job in textiles for £5 a month, and he paid £3 for board and lodging.

He then went into the motor industry and was paid £25 a month. From there he went to Durban where he worked with sanitary towels and home-made laxatives. I have a memory of Tilly telling me she saw him once dropping ink onto to a sanitary towel to see how absorbent it was. This was when they lived in Hillbrow in Velma Court.

In 1942 he took a job selling Astrakan coats and costumes (my mother also worked there). It was first based in a town, then a suburb called Vrededorp. He also sold dresses. He met his future business partner and friend, Felix Kirsten, and shared his flat.

Felix was sales manager of the Hoorah and Co. (at Easter he always bought us huge chocolate Easter Eggs). They started their own business manufacturing Progress floor polishing machines.

Gordon Fillery came to SA as opposition, selling floor polishers, but had problems and returned to England. He wrote to dad because he had sole rights and wanted rights for England. Henry helped him and gave him money.

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This is what Dad told Nicole: Towards the end of the war I met another German immigrant, Felix Kirsten, who was then a sales director of a vacuum cleaner company in Johannesburg. I moved in with him and we shared a flat and after a while he kept on telling me that these people were running a very good business without really knowing what they were doing.We decided that we should try it on our own and we got an agency for an American vacuum cleaner, called Kirby, which we sold for a number of years from house-to-house.

From this we developed a manufacturing unit manufacturing vacuum cleaners and floor polishers on a small scale.This subsequently grew into a fairly prominent factory and distribution company. I then ran a large radio company called Shaub Lorenz.

In 1963 we all went overseas and met the Fillerys. We also met the Worwags – Eberhard and Margot, and their children, Peter and Barbel. We spent a Christmas in their country home in Munsheim, the first Christmas I had taken part in. Everything was decorated in silver tinsel and each person had a Geschenks Tisch – their own present table.

Their son Peter came to stay with us in Johannesburg. I was once told that Eberhard hid Jews during the Holocaust, but I have no proof.

Dad went to the Hanover Fair every year. One year he saw a radiogram which matched our light wooden bar walls in 34 5th Str. He bought it, but initially couldn’t become the agent. Then he managed to get ten but he needed a hundred to begin a business and gain import control. The problem was they had no 44

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radio cabinets. He overcame this challenge. Dad bought colour TV to South Africa even before colour existed in Germany (AEG Telefunken).

I looked into the history of AEG: They donated 60,000 Reichsmarks to the Nazi party after the Secret Meeting of 20 February 1933, at which the twin goals of complete power and national rearmament were explained by Hitler. Twenty to twenty-five other major industrialists were in attendance, including IFG Farben, Krupp, Thyssen etc.

AEG worked extensively with the Nazi party in Poland. AEG was forced to relinquish Kabelwerk Krakow, a cable manufacturing plant, to the Nazis. Kabelwerk Krakow was located in Plaszow, a forced labour camp in Krakow. The forced Jewish labour were manufacturing cables from 1942-1944. In 1943, AEG began to relocate goods and evacuate workers.

Goods were relocated to various places, including Berlin and the Sudentland. When installing electric and lighting systems for the Waffen SS training grounds in Debica, AEG used Jewish forced labour, located in South-eastern Poland.

During the war, an AEG factory near Riga used female slave labour. AEG were also contracted for the production of electrical equipment at Auschwitz, at Camp No. 36 at the new sub-camp of Auschwitz 3, also known as Monowitz and the ‘Arbeitslager’, called Blechhammer. This was another of the 42 Auschwitz sub-camps. Most of these people would die in 1945 during the death marches and finally in Buchenwald AEG was a major supplier of grips found on World War Two P38 pistols manufactured by Walther Arms, Mauser, as well as on the early wartime Spreewerk P38.

In an effort to express regret for their use of Jewish slave labour, AEG teamed up with Rheinmetal, Siemens, Krupp and 45

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IG Farben to pay DM5 million in reparations to the Jewish Claims Conference.

Tilly Tilly was born Mathilde Goldstein in Antwerp, Belgium on 4 July 1923.

She as the youngest of four – her bothers were Marcel, the eldest, and Albert. Claire was her older sister.

Her mother was Lina. She was born in Breslau, Germany, now Wroclaw in Poland. Her marriage was an arranged one and she married Jacques Goldstein, who was born in Krakow, Poland. In Antwerp they had a busy social life. Lina was a kind and gentle woman who only spoke German. She was an excellent cook. She always said there was no recipe, it was simply ‘her pots’. Jacques was a strict man and his children and grandchildren were a little afraid of him.

Tilly went to school in Antwerp. The children were often looked after by a governess who could be strict at times. The house was a large three-level house with a large reception room and lovely garden. Til’s best friend Yvonne lived nearby (my second name is Yvonne, after her). Til was very sad saying goodbye to her when they left Belgium. She says they left because of the Nazis. She never saw most of her cousins again – some left for the USA and others were murdered. Some remained in Belgium. She left Antwerp when she was elevenyears-old. Her father and her two brothers were trained diamond cutters, and so her father and elder brother, Marcel, went to find a suitable diamond factory in Johannesburg.

Albert, her younger brother, had to complete his army service and this was worrying as it was a real war (World War Two). He came to South Africa six months later. Til missed her 46

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grandparents as they stayed in Antwerp. They were religious. I don’t know much about them.

They landed in Cape Town and then went to Johannesburg and lived in Yeoville. They were not religious and only kept the High Holy Days. They did not speak any English. At the first school the girls were sent to they were put into Grade 1. Til was 11 and her sister was 14. The children laughed at then – Til showed me how she sang, “Here we go around the Mulberry Bush”, which sounded like, “Here we go round the Fulfferry fush!” They were very unhappy there. They were sent to many different schools. Her father thought languages were important and so sent the girls to a German school, but on the first day there they had to do the Nazi salute and say, “Heil Hitler”, and when their parents heard of this, they sent them to another school. They then went to an Afrikaans school for a year and then to Jeppe Girls High. Til was naughty!

Til worked for Henry and they got married on 3 December.

First, they lived in small flat in Hillbrow, then a house in Norwood, 4 Park Street. They then moved to 34 5th Street Lower Houghton. They lived in Cecil Road Rosebank and then in Norwood. They first spent holidays with us in Durban, Margate and then Plettenberg Bay. They had a beautiful house on Beachy Road in Plett and when Henry died, Til moved to a fantastic flat in De Meermin overlooking the sea and the lagoon.

We spent the most wonderful times there.

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My speech to Mom on her 90th birthday: The 4th July is a famous date for many reasons.

Famous people with birthdays on 4 July: Gina Lollobrigida. Ladies with real big personalities!

Important events took place on the 4th July: In 1776 USA declared its independence from Britain – now known as Independence Day, 4 July. Obviously, a lady with big personality born on 4 July will be fiercely independent.

I could go on and on, but we all know that nothing as famous or momentous as the fact that Til was born on 4th July.

Thank you all for coming to join us to celebrate this momentous event.

It is a great sadness that Dad is not here to deliver his tribute. It would have been a glowing one, because he knew Til’s qualities better than anyone. He would have said some wonderful things about Til. They were a great couple who really enjoyed life to its fullest. Dancing, golf, bowls and entertaining. I hope my words reflect some of the things he would have said.

Turning 90 and remaining such a lovely, vibrant, exciting, energetic and independent person, such a focus of our lives and such an influence is quite an achievement.

Til, you are an example to us all.

You came to SA from Belgium, the youngest of four children and couldn’t speak a word of English – once she learnt to speak it we know she has never stopped! She has never stopped with anything – her boundless energy, her enormous passion for cards and her sense of humour.

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You provided a wonderful home for the three of us.There was always something going on from going to the zoo on a Sunday morning, to braais, to having a giant paper mâché giraffe in the garden and then having our own swimming pool. We had wonderful holidays at the Wigwam in Rustenberg and Margate.You provided each of us with the opportunities to gain an outstanding education and you supported us through it all.

Then we started their own families. Now you have grandchildren and great grandchildren. You head the family dynasty.

You have the most amazing friends all over the world.

In Johannesburg, in London, but I know your closest and best friends are here in Plett. This is certainly where your heart is – your love of Plett is a major part of your life.

Bridge, kalooki, bowls.You play one of these every day and sometimes twice a day.You are one of the most active people we know.You are always on the go.

You certainly live your life to the full and have always done so.

I only hope we can follow your wonderful example.

I bet each of you have a special story you can tell about my mom….

Back to the three of us.You are our shining star.

Mom, without you, there would be no me.Your love, your attention, your guidance, have made me who I am. You showed me the way to serve, to accomplish, to persevere.

Without you, there would be an empty space I could never fill, no matter how I tried.

Thank you, Mom. I have always loved you and I always will.

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Helen Hyde’s Mother’s Recipe for Belgium Fish 1 kg of white fish Salt and a teaspoon of peppercorns Sliced onion Boil till fish cooked.

Sauce Sliced browned mushrooms 1 cup grated cheddar cheese 1/8 lb of butter Brown butter in a pot Add half a pint of milk and slowly stir in flour to thicken Add half a cube of vegetable stock Add most of the grated cheese (keep some to scatter over the top of the dish) Stir till smooth and had salt pepper to taste Add in mushrooms Place fish is a Pyrex oven dish pour sauce over fish. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top and bake until brown (approx. 20 min)

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Helen Hyde I have had a truly wonderful life – full of challenges and opportunities. I have always tried to be positive and to help where I can. My family is the most important thing in my life and I love each of them very much.

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I was born in Johannesburg on 11th May 1947. We lived in a small flat in Hillbrow – Velma Court and then moved to a house at 4 Park Street in Oaklands.

Wendy, who is 22 months younger than me, was born when we were in this house. I only have a few memories from this time. I played with Leslie, the boy next door and they had an Me feeding my doll Alsatian. He was used to me, but I once stroked him from his tail to his head (not from his head to tail) and he stood on my shoulders and bit my cheek. I still have the scars.

I remember I had a small tortoise – one of our dogs ate some back part of him and I covered him in gentian violet. Another memory was getting so cross with my mother (I can’t remember the reason) when I was four or five years old. I believe I often threatened to run away and my mother on this occasion gave me a tiny suitcase and I ran… to the corner and then came back. Going to the seaside was not something I enjoyed – I hated the sand! It got in everywhere! We went to Durban and then to Margate for our family holidays. I loved Margate – lots of young people.

We moved from Park Street to 34 5th Str Lower Houghton – I shared a bedroom with Wendy. We had a set of Arthur Mee 52

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encyclopedias and a large white desk – Wendy and I each had one side and the lid of each side lifted up so we could store our ‘things’ inside. I loved it, but we argued and fought a lot, and one of the arguments resulted in me dividing the desk and the room in half with a line of blue chalk!!!

Ann (eight years younger than me) was born here and had her own room from the start.

Eventually I was given my own room – what luxury – one of the cupboards opened and there was my own basin! The door on the side led to a small balcony! Once one of my boyfriends, Frank Garin, climbed up on to it from the garden – my parents were not happy about this! The balcony overlooked our yard. It was here where the ‘servants’ had their tiny rooms: Emily, Johannes, Petrus and Edison. I grew up in a wonderful warm atmosphere and I am now ashamed to say I was not really conscious of the apartheid system and its awful effect on anyone who was not deemed to be white. (I have been teaching about the effects of the apartheid system for many years.)

I always worked really hard at school and for one of my birthdays I got a purply red Bakelite radio – I loved it! But my mom then said a little while later, “If you carry on working so hard and not have a break, I will take the radio away!” She never did and I carried on working hard and I loved working hard and still do! I read a lot and still do.

Every Sunday my dad took us to the zoo – we rode on the elephants and fed the monkeys – we loved those with the red bums.

My primary school was Saxonwold and I was in the house called Alfred – we had four houses and Alfred was red. (There were four houses – Bede, Cadmon and Dunston).

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Wendy and I in Saxonwold uniform

I had a wonderful dog called Bobsie, we also had a Spotty and a Whiskey

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I was very frightened of my first teacher, Mrs Mosman – she terrified me, and I didn’t want to go to school – I had a tummy ache every morning. Mr. Hand, the head, once smacked me on the back of my legs with a wooden ruler, because I forgot my ‘takkies’ (plimsoles). In Standard 4 and 5 I had a wonderful teacher, Mr. Sanders! He taught me to draw my ‘fairy’ trees.

I was a real worrier and I still am! When I was at school, I used to worry that the next day I would lose my school suitcase (I had a small brown case for school) or that my darling dog would be run over when I was at school.

Much later I learnt various ways to keep my worries in check: 1. I have a wire bound pad and pen next to my bed and when I am worrying and can’t sleep, I grab the pen and without switching on the light scribble the worry on the pad. I then deal with it the morning.

2. I have a little box which I keep in a cupboard. I write the worry on a small piece of paper, fold it up and leave it in the box, and I don’t look at it for week. I only open the box once a week. It is as if the box is worrying for me.

Mostly the worry is no longer a worry when I open the box.

We had a lovely tuck shop at school in the playground, and I used to buy a marshmallow fish as often as I could. Every day we had to drink a small bottle of milk provided by the school. I didn’t mind it but most of the other children hated it!

I went to Parktown Girls High School and I had to work very hard to pass the school leaving examination, Matric. I hated Maths and scraped through the exam with an ‘E’.

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Parktown Girls High School, my class in my final year. I am to the immediate right of the teacher in the middle of the front row.

My school badge

Me in my first year of high school

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My best friend was Heather Gordon – we were both very involved in Habonim. We spent all our free time there, eventually becoming madrichim (leaders). I loved every moment of this. At the end of school, I spent three months with Habonim in Israel. Being a youth leader had a lasting and powerful influence on me. I felt confident to organize and run groups of children and help at camps, where I ran discussion groups. I enjoyed being with young people. Most of my youth was spent in Habonim and it made me what I am – I love being active, being Jewish, supporting young people. I spent most of every weekend with Habonim – progressive suppers, meetings, dancing, singing, campfires and camps and running my shtilim group (the youngest age group).

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Habonim.

Me top row far right; Helen front row far right.

Habonim Hachsharah (a working camp).We worked in the fields for a month. I am second from left on the middle row.

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Habonim Camp Leaders.

I am fifth from left on the front row.

I loved school and working hard, even though I never really received top marks. I was very shy and didn’t like putting up my hand. I did well in French and then in my final year in English I finally spoke up in a class debate and got really good marks. My Maths was awful – the teacher, Mrs Berry, had a deaf and dumb child, and so when she taught, she opened her mouth very wide and moved her lips around and that was all I could see – I couldn’t understand her at all.

I didn’t like Physics and it was made worse after this particular incident – I was swotting Physics in the garden and really trying to learn it when Bobsie jumped up and made a tiny brown paw mark on the page. When my teacher saw this, she put the following sarcastic comment in on the page in red: “Do you play in the garden with this book?” I was very upset!

I spent a lot of time with Ann – our parents were out socializing a great deal and I looked after her.

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We had a life-size papier mache giraffe in the garden (which came from the annual Rand Easter Show).

We belonged to Oxford Shul, an Orthodox shul, but really only went on the big festivals. When I was at ‘varsity’ (uni) I started to go to shul on Friday nights.

Our home was warm and loving and had a Jewish feel to it. We always lit the Shabbat candles and Henry Ann and I said Kiddush. We celebrated all the main festivals and I loved it! There were usually lots of people around the table.

My parents exerted a huge influence on me all through their lives. They were always my shining stars, particularly my mom.

She was always a very domineering, controlling and forceful woman. She was difficult and when I achieved success she used to say to me, “and you are not even so clever!” She went to a number of schools and then went to work. She had great organizational skills. She made us speak French and German at home. My dad was very serious and very hard working and was often away for his work, mainly in Germany and Italy (Milan).

He read a lot and listened to classical music.

I was the first in our family to go to university – neither of my parents or grandparents had this wonderful opportunity. I had a charmed youth in Apartheid SA! 60

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There was no discussion about going to university, it was just accepted, although my father didn’t feel we needed to study anything of great importance being girls. (I wanted to be a pilot but my Maths was poor and my dad said, “girls don’t do that!”.)

I went to Wits Uni for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and studied Biblical Studies with Professors Geyser and Cooke, which I loved, and French with a number of professors. I also did Ancient Greek and Hebrew. Professor Geyser had a great influence on me with his love of the Bible, study and clear explanation. He was such a caring teacher.

I became very friendly with Si – she also loved Biblical Studies. Si and I have been friends since university when we studied Biblical Studies together. At that time, I began reading one French novel followed by one English novel to keep up my French. Then for a while all my leisure reading was in French. I loved studying and being in such a wonderful learning environment. Heather, my school best friend, went to live in Israel, and we sadly drifted apart.

I went to the Johannesburg Teacher Training College after my three-year BA degree. I did my teacher training at Parktown Girls’ High School and Waverley, and found the year just fun and relaxing. I never thought I would actually ever teach. I thought I would remain studying at university and perhaps lecture. I then went back to university to do a BA Hons in Biblical Studies with Prof Geyser.

My parents were friendly with Vicki and Maurice Hyde. They played golf together and we went to their house to swim (we hadn’t yet got our pool). I met John but he just gave me comics to read – I was four years younger than him and he had a girlfriend. Vicki made wonderful pink party cakes. When I was 61

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at uni my mom dared John to take me out – she said something like, “Are you man enough to take her out?” We got married on 4 July 1968 at Oxford Shul, and the rabbi was Rabbi Bernard.

Si was part of the retinue. I told John he would have to understand how devoted I was to study!

John and I lived in a small flat in Gresswold Centre, Balfour Park. We left SA initially just for three months but never returned.

We spent three glorious months in Paris where we went to the Alliance Française. I loved every minute of it and John tried but didn’t learn much. He had a Japanese friend, Kengi Kameo, also learning French. We stayed in a tiny hotel in Rue des Bains.

Every spare moment was spent in art galleries, eating chocolate mousse and drinking cheap red wine that stained our teeth – we loved it. I had an electric element to make coffee in a cup and we kept the milk on the tiny balcony. We ate and drank very cheaply! I did the washing in the bidet!

We went to every art gallery and exhibition we could – sheer bliss. We travelled to the South of France and visited places like Eze and the Maeght Foundation. We stayed with the Fillery’s – friends of my parents. It was very posh there, and we looked like hippies.

We travelled a little and then decided to stay in England. We moved first to a room over the railway in Baron’s Court, then to a flat in Highgate, in Adamson Road. From there to a little house, 27 Lauradale Road, Muswell Hill, and then to 267 Creighton Ave, East Finchley, before moving to our lovely house in Radlett (4 Letchmore Road).

When we first came to London, I needed a job to earn some money, so first I got a temporary job at the Michelin Tyre company. All I did was write addresses on envelopes and I was 62

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Our hippy days

We are engaged 63

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the quickest! The other temporary workers were all very posh students. I tried to speak more ‘poshly’ but stopped when it gave me aches in my cheeks. The only thing I was qualified to do was teach, so that’s what I did.

My first teaching job was at Acland Burghley in Tufnell Park – first as a French and PE teacher. Later I became Head of Modern Languages and then added to it, becoming the senior teacher in charge of working with primary schools. I really loved teaching, even though I did find it hard in the beginning, and had to do a two-year probation because I was ‘foreign’. I loved this school and had a lot of fun with the staff. The Head of Department didn’t like me and told me I would never get on in teaching! One one occasion, a class locked me in the stock cupboard! I passed my probation and loved every minute of teaching and being with young people.

I started my MA (Theology) at King’s College, London and worked four days while I was studying. Acland Burghley sowed the seeds for my future teaching – respect, equality and love for all. The adult must show the child respect and love first, and not expect it to be the other way around. This was based on Janusz Korczak, a Polish doctor who loved and supported his students and had a marvelous philosophy. He died with his students in Treblinka.

Liza (1 August 1973) and Nicole (27 September 1978) were born when I was at this school. I worked for three heads – Mr Abley, Mr Fisher and Mr Kelly. I ran the Staff Association, which was excellent training for my future – being diplomatic, fair and able to speak in public.

After 14 years I started to feel I had achieved all I could at this school and applied to become a deputy head. I moved to Highgate Wood, first as the pastoral and then later as the 64

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curriculum deputy. I did two years in each role. I learnt to write a timetable. As there were only nine secondary schools in Haringey, I was able to learn from each – positive and negative role models.

I worked my way up the ladder and after Highgate Wood I felt I was ready to run my own school. I first applied for the headship at Enfield Boys – I do believe boys schools need a female head – although I really wanted to run a girl’s school and make a difference to girls’ education. Something in me always makes me go for change and challenge.

I applied for a headship and was appointed to Watford Grammar School for Girls in 1987.I remembered the wise words of an experienced deputy, “Your staff are you most important and valuable resource.” I would never allow hierarchy – all staff, whatever role, would be treated with respect and love. All staff would be trusted to do their best and would be treated as the real experts in their field. I wanted to create a warm and caring environment and make everyone feel part of the family. I wanted the girls to develop self-confidence and personal responsibility, to be caring and active. My first deputies were Rita Cotton and Betty Laskiewicz – both were there to make sure I didn’t fall flat on my face. I was nervous and it took me five years to feel really confident, to feel the school was mine and to know what I wanted to do. In my first assembly I used Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’. Betty and Rita were followed by Julie Richards, Steve Johnson and Sylvia Tai. WGGS would be a place where hard work and service to others was the essence of all we did, a place where there would be love, tolerance, respect, understanding and academic achievement. This is what I wanted for my children and if I wanted it for my girls, I wanted it for all the WGGS girls.

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(Nicole came to this school and eventually become Deputy Headgirl; Liza went to Queen’s College in London.)

I felt accountable to my staff, my girls, the governors and the parents. Key values for my leadership was humility, facilitating the ideas of others, and clear decision making, but always listening to advice first. I valued trust, team work and allowing others to fly and to feel job satisfaction. I never expected staff to do things I would not be prepared to do, a helpful ‘can-do’ attitude, to lead by example.

The school motto was ‘sperate parati’ – ‘go forward with preparation’ but for the girls we used, ‘I can do it and I will do it’.

The girls were used to me talking about the school as a jewellery box with each of them being a shining diamond that they needed to keep polishing. I loved working with the girls, especially the ‘naughty’ ones. They were all a delight, and each was special. I enjoyed taking them on many visits – six visits to Israel, many to Poland, Berlin and Amsterdam and then to Rwanda.

As Head I was able to build a number of new buildings for the school, as well as refurbish many areas – the science dome, the sports hall with the gym, new science labs, a maths building, new modern dining area and a conservatory.

When I started, I taught French to Year 7-9 and some Year 10s, but in the later years I taught Six Hats thinking to every Year 7 class. I trained as a mind mapper with Tony Buzan and then learned thinking skills teaching with Edward De Bono. I used Six Hat thinking for many years and trained several schools across the country, as well as a number of business. It is a timeless and fantastic system, and so simple to learn.

I remained the Headmistress for 29 years and I loved every moment of it. The maths building was named after me! – Hyde House!

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I became a National Leader of Education and took on the role of executive head of Rickmansworth School for a term while at WGGS. I was an external advisor to a number of heads and governing bodies and helped the Department of Education.

Becoming a Dame In 2016, much to my real surprise and total joy, I was made Dame Commander of the British Empire, DBE. At first I didn’t believe this was real, but when I was sworn to secrecy and then quietly invited to meet the Hertfordshire High Sheriff, I knew it was true. It became public knowledge on 1 Jan 2016 and the staff were marvellous! So was my family.

I received an invitation to go to Buckingham Palace in February. I was able to drive right in and had my own parking at the front of the palace. John, Liza and Nicole were then taken off to be part of the audience and I was led up a staircase with soldiers in traditional uniforms (like knights in shining armour), along a red carpet into an emerald green and silver room. There was one army officer in that room receiving the KBE (male version of a DBE). He was taught how to kneel for the sword tap on the shoulder and as women didn’t have this, I had to practise my curtsey. We walked along wonderful corridors full of famous and priceless paintings. We were led to the front of a short queue at the side door of the grand pink ball room.

The Queen entered wearing a silver dress and a small black patent handbag. On either side of her were two Gurkha soldiers. She walked to her throne and the man who made me practice my curtsey stood next to her with a red velvet cushion.

First went the army officer to receive his KBE, and then it was my turn. I walked and curtseyed and then stood in front of the 67

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Becoming a Dame

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Queen – she spoke to me and knew everything about me. She had no notes! She then took my two medals from the red cushion and pinned them onto my jacket. She shook my hand and without gloves! The medals were taken off at the opposite door and put into a beautiful box. It was then that my tears started!

I didn’t realise how very nervous I was. The four of us then went off the celebrate at the Ritz Hotel.

The Next Stage and Challenge All headteachers are good at pontificating, on encouraging others to take social action, but not often becoming really involved. I resigned in Nov of my 29th year and became the Patron/Director of the Rwandan Sisterhood, supporting Africa Women. I also spent more time teaching about the Holocaust and working for refugee organizations. I took many trips to Rwanda and then began supporting projects in Zimbabwe. I have a number of projects in Rwanda and Zimbabwe (see below).

In 2019 I was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Education from Hertfordshire University. This beautiful ceremony took place in St Alban’s Abbey with hundreds of new teachers.

Holocaust Work All my life I have been haunted by the Holocaust. As a child I had dreams of being chased down a cobbled street. I have always been worried about where my food is coming from and if there is enough of it, and if I have food readily available. I dream of what I would take if I had to leave quickly! My father had two photos on his pedestal. One was of himself and two people who I later learned were Justin, his brother, and his sister Helene. No one every spoke of her or explained. The second photo was of a large family in Nördlingen, Bavaria, Germany. My father’s family.

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Henry with his brother Justin and his sister Helene

Henry’s family in Germany 70

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Receiving my honorary doctorate from Hertfordshire University

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I trained as a Holocaust educator in 2015 and became a fellow of the Imperial War Museum – this was a year’s course and I loved it. We spent a week at the IWM, then a week in Poland, a week in Lithuania and a week in Israel.

I did all the online courses at Yad Vashem and a module at the University of London. I run an annual Holocaust conference for sixth formers with academic lectures and survivor talks. I have done this for 13 years.

I am a trustee of the Holocaust Education Trust (HET) and the National Holocaust Centre and Museum. I am Chair of the Board of the Jewish Heritage Foundation and a Honorary Vice President of the Jewish Leadership Council. I am on the education advisory group for the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT).

I was a national commissioner for the UK Holocaust memorial and chaired the education committee. I went with the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, to Israel, in a private plane to look at memorials and museums.

I take adult groups on Holocaust education visits to Amsterdam, Krakow, Berlin and Budapest. I take an annual visit to Rwanda with a group of adults and students.

I teach the Kindertransport programme of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum. This is called the ‘Journey’ and is appropriate for Years 5-6.

In 2017 I was a national Religious Education Commissioner.

I intend to spend all my time teaching about the Holocausts and running my African charity.

I am blessed with two wonderful daughters – Liza and Nicole. Nicole is married to Andy. A great tragedy hit us when Liza’s husband, Robert, suddenly died when Sky was just two.

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I have four wonderful grandchildren – Leela, Ruby, Eva and Sky. I love helping them and being in their company.

In 2019 John and I visited Nördlingen. I have written my parents’ stories as far as I can.

Highlights of my life • Being a madricha in Habonim • Getting married • Having my two girls • Having wonderful grandchildren • Being the Head of WGGS • Studying for a year with the Imperial War Museum and becoming a Holocaust trainer – gaining my Fellowship • Joining a Radlett Reform Synagogue and learning to take the service and read the Torah portion • Taking students and adults on educational visits • Climbing Ben Nevis for charity with Nic in the midwinter • Cycling to Paris with Nic • Going to Rwanda and working for the Rwanda Sisterhood Memory is important and remembering those that went before us is part of our heritage and the heritage we give to our children.

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Standing on the Shoulders In the garden there’s a tree planted by someone who only imagined me.

What love, what vision.

I marvel at the gift.

No fruit could be sweeter than this.

I’m standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me.

As my people went from land to land, something passed from hand to hand, and it isn’t just the words and stories, of the ancient laws and golden glories, it’s the way we study the book we study, it’s the way we study the way.

I’m standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me.

Today my life is full of choice because a young man raised his voice.

Because a young girl took a chance, I am freedom’s inheritance.

Years ago, they crossed the sea and they made a life that’s come to me.

I’m standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me So in the garden I’ll plant a seed, a tree of life for you to read.

The fruit will ripen in the sun.

The words will sound when I am gone.

These are the things I pass along, the fruit, the book and the song.

I’m standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me.

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Doug Cotler

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Appendix 1 THE RWANDAN SISTERHOOD, SUPPORTING AFRICAN WOMEN. This is small but effective charity, as there is no middleman. I organise an annual group visit and deliver all the items for each of the projects listed below.

Our mission is educating women – firstly about their health, then developing self-sufficiency skills and then we help with their children’s health and education.

I am the patron/director. The CEO is Souvenir Mutesi. We work in Kigali and in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

We work in a very deprived area. We have volunteer midwives and others involved in the various projects. We have recently purchased a plot of land and hope to raise enough funds to build and house all our projects on one site in Kigali.

We work with the Way Forward Ministry Church in Bulawaya.

Our projects are: • Mama Packs to support mothers giving birth.

• Development of self-sufficiency skills – teaching knitting.

• Nursey/primary school education for 78 children.

• Feeding project – for babies with level four malnutrition.

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She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to national state education and Holocaust Education (2013) and received an honorary doctorate from the University Hertfordshire (2018)

Our Family History

Dame Helen Hyde DBE left Watford Grammar School for Girls after 29 years as the Headmistress. She was a recognised national leader and coached and mentored a number of new headteachers and leadership teams.

She gave up her headship as she felt she could no longer be a bystander. She had to take action to help and support others, for social justice no matter what race, colour or religion. She tries to challenge and encourage others to be active, to be an upstander and to work to improve knowledge and the life chances of others.

Helen Hyde

From the Introduction:

Helen Hyde

Every family has a story and all stories are important and need to be remembered. Remembering is a precious gift. It helps bring people alive. It is also a memorial for those who died so cruelly. It is important that we do not do the Nazis’ job for them and depersonalize those that were murdered or victimized. We must never see them as ‘victims in waiting or doomed’. Each one lost had a name and a future.

Our Family History