About the contributor

My mother and I arrived in England in January 1939. We were German Jewish refugees from the Nazis. My mother was in her mid-forties, I seventeen. We had one trunk with household goods, two suitcases, and ten German Marks each.

At that time there were two ways England took in refugees from the continent. You either had enogh money to live on, or you went as a domestic servant. A school friend from Germany already living in England secured domestic permits for us. I knew a little English from school.
My mother became the cook and I the housemaid in a boarding house in Eastbourne.

I clearly remember September 3, 1939. It was still summer and a glorious Sunday morning. Madam gathered all the guests and servants--there were two others beside us--in the living room to listen to Chamberlain's declaration of war. It was barely over when an air raid siren wailed. The all clear fllowed quickly. It had been a false alarm. I remember thinking I never want to hear this again.
In November 1939 the East Coast was declared a restricted area and all aliens had to leave. I couldn't have been happier. We were going to live in London! Where I'd wanted to live since we arrived.
We were without funds and relied on Jewish Refugee Committee(called Bloomsbury House) for help with money, lodging and jobs during that first year.
Eventually permits were available for sewing in factories. I worked as a machinist for four years. Then I was called up for war work and for another three and a half years I cleaned and restored damaged gyroscopes.
After the war I became a dress designer and worked in that capacity until I emigrated to Canada in July 1952. My mother had died the year before. The rest of my family had disapeard in the holocaust. I was alone and free to do what I wished.
In 1957 my husband and I came to Seattle and never left.

I might add that I kept diaries since I was seventeen and recorded the war on a daily basis. Years later I chronicled my experiences in a book I called Six Years of Darkness.