Werner (William) Jacoby
Child refugee who saw his German synagogue burndown — and became a social housing entrepreneur in the UK
HE ARRIVED in Britain as a ten-yearold refugee and rose to become chief architect at London’s Lambeth Council, involved in the planning and design of many social housing projects in the borough. Later he launched his own private practice. William Jacoby, whose career at London’s Lambeth Council took him right to the top of his profession, arrived in Britain from Berlin with his older brother Gunther on the Kindertransport in January, 1939, in the wake of Kristallnacht.
Werner (William) Jacoby, who has died aged 91, was the second of two sons born to Georg and Ellie Jacoby in Swinemünde, a town then in Germany on the Baltic Sea. His father and uncles ran a local corn exchange and the family banking business. His mother Ellie Berhendt was a classically trained concert pianist, who was born in Berlin. The family lived a comfortable middleclass life, assimilated into German society, and enjoyed family trips to the seaside. Georg was a warden at their synagogue.
In 1934 Jewish bankers were driven from the industry and their funds confiscated. Georg himself found his bank surrounded by angry creditors one morning, but calling the police resulted in a severe beating, and he died from his injuries in hospital shortly afterwards. The family subsequently lost all their wealth and the two boys were moved to a Jewish children’s home to help their mother cope with their upbringing.
Werner and Gunther moved to Berlin and lived with their mother and maternal grandmother in Barbarossa Strasse. Werner had vivid memories of Kristallnacht, the smashed windows and the family synagogue in flames. As the situation deteriorated for Jews, Ellie planned to leave Germany, but could not abandon her own mother, who became too ill to travel. Places were found for the boys on the Kindertransport; Gunther left first, travelling to Holland. Werner followed, arriving at Harwich at the end of January, 1939. He waved goodbye to his mother, who fully intended to follow, and he looked forward to the adventure of the journey. He never saw her again. The two women were deported to Theresienstadt, where his grandmother died. His mother was then sent to Riga, where she was murdered by the Nazis.
Under the guardianship of Harry Salmon, a director and future chairman of J Lyons & Co, his first home in the UK was a hostel shared with 23 other Kinder. It was called The Haven, situated above Montague Burton, the tailors, in London’s Kentish Town Road. One day the children came down to breakfast to find that their German names had been changed to more politically correct English names. From then on Werner was to be known as William.
He was evacuated first to Rickmansworth for two unhappy weeks, then Saltdean, near Brighton for six months. He went to school at the local golf club. Later he was relocated to High Wycombe. He left school at the age of 15, having been granted an extra year to improve his English. Later William returned to London where he was employed as a messenger boy for the ARP (air wardens). He began to train as a joiner but soon decided manual labour wasn’t for him. After two years he joined an architects’ office and studied at night, gaining a scholarship from Middlesex County Council that allowed him to study full-time, qualifying after the war was over.
William, known by then to most people as
Willy, was contacted by the Jewish Refugee Committee, and joined some of their activities, making lifelong friendships.
He lived in various places — from Hammersmith to Ladbroke Grove, eventually settling in Finchley. He became a member of Young Poale Zion, the predecessor of the Jewish Labour Movement.
He paid his first visit to Israel in 1954 and spent six months there through the Jewish Agency, but did not obtain the secure offer of employment he sought. Although he was part of an aliyah group, he decided to settle in the country that gave him refuge as a ten-year-old boy. But friendship with another member of that group, Marion Goldstein, blossomed into romance and then marriage, in March, 1957 at Highgate Synagogue, then in the Archway Road. Five children followed: Eli, Anna, Gillon, Gavriel and Ilana. A dog, a cat and two goldfish joined them in the family home in Hampstead Garden Suburb.
The family joined Hampstead Synagogue and the children were all bnei mitzvah there. Willy loved the music of the mixed choir, and especially the voice of cantor Rev Charles Lowy, and regularly attended Shabbat morning services . Willy’s architectural career began at the Hospital Board of the London County Council, and led to his becoming chief architect
at Lambeth Council, involved in the planning and design of many social housing projects. In the mid 1980s he left Lambeth on the back of economic upheavals, and entered private practice with a former colleague, working on a variety of projects, from the Docklands regeneration scheme to designing schools and renovating pavilion buildings at the Oval cricket ground.
Though keen to learn about new computer-assisted design programs, Willy found this transition to electronic tools and formats difficult and preferred to work from his drawing board. In his spare time, he developed an interest in antique furniture restoration, and later in collecting antiquarian books and bookbinding. He also had a great passion for classical music, and was a keen concert goer with Marion.
Following retirement, Willy and Marion took European city breaks and regularly visited the USA and Israel on alternate years to catch up with family and old friends. He built a large collection of Spy illustrations of notable Jews, and indulged his true passion for books, particularly his growing antiquarian collection. A gentle and loving father and grandfather, Willy is survived by Marion, their five children, eight grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren.
Werner (William) Jacoby: born November 28, 1928. Died July 9, 2020