When we boardedthe Kinder transport, the noise was unforgettable ..just one huge howlfrom 150 children
New bid to preserve the extraordinary history of Jews who had to flee Hitler’s death camps and ended up building a new life in Scotland
THE remarkable stories of Jews who fled to Scotland to escape persecution by the Nazis is to be immortalised in a new Holocaust study centre.
Among them were Henry and Ingrid Wuga, who left Germany as part of the Kindertransport – a humanitarian programme that ran between November 1938 and September 1939.
Henry, now 94, had to flee his home town of Nuremberg, at the age of 16.
He said: “When Hitler came to power, you could feel the antiSemitism everywhere.
“There were only two other Jewish boys at school and they made us sit at the back of the class. It was terrible. At school, they would sing a song, ‘Two Jews in the water hollow, one Jew drowns, we hope one will follow.’
“Nuremberg was a special place for the Nazis and they would hold massive rallies there.
“We had a maid and as they marched past, she leaned out the window with her hand extended in the Hitler salute.
“My father pulled her back inside and said, ‘What are you doing?’ She just said, ‘Oh, I was checking if it was raining.’
“The atmosphere was horrible. We knew we couldn’t stay there.”
Henry left Nuremberg in May 1939 after his mother managed to secure him a place on the Kindertransport.
He said: “When we got on the train to head for the Dutch border with all those young children, the noise was unforgettable. It was one huge howl from 150 children.
“There was tremendous trauma for the parents and the children. I have never forgotten it.”
The persecution of Jews began immediately after the Nazis came to power in 1933.
It would culminate in the Holocaust – the systematic, statesponsored murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and their collaborators.
When World War II started, Henry was living in Scotland. In February 1940, he was evacuated to a farm in Perth. The only way he could contact his parents was through an uncle in Brussels. But after he sent a letter there, he was accused of being a dangerous enemy alien and was interned on the Isle of Man.
Henry said: “I found out my father had died of a heart attack during an air raid through one of those letters. I can’t explain how traumatic that was.”
He has many reminders of his turbulent family history, including his ID card and the yellow star his mother Lore was forced to wear in Nazi Germany. She survived the war after she was protected by Catholic neighbours.
Henry said: “These things should never be forgotten. There are people who have no knowledge of what the Holocaust was.
“We have millions of people coming across the Mediterranean. Instead of turning our backs, we should be reaching out and doing what we can to help.”
Ingrid has vivid memories of her own journey from Dortmund.
She said: “I’ll never forget saying goodbye at the station. You wave goodbye until you can’t – until the train is so far away you can’t see your parents any more. It’s just horrific.”
Henry met Ingrid in a refugee club in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street. He
My uncle and his family would not come. They all perished INGRID WUGA ON HOW WAR TORE FAMILIES APART
said: “It was love at first sight. We were both far away from home but had a shared love of Scotland. We were so lucky to be safe.”
The couple, who now live in the city’s Giffnock, got married in 1944 and have two daughters and four grandsons.
Ingrid’s parents, Erna and Ascher, followed their daughter to Britain by applying for jobs as domestic servants.
She said: “My mum and dad decided to give up everything. They realised how dangerous the situation was for Jews.
“It was hard for them, as they were both well educated, but it turned out to be the best decision they ever made.
“My uncle and his family would not come. They were all rounded up and sent to a concentration camp, where they perished.”
The Scottish Jewish Archives Centre – housed in Scotland’s oldest synagogue in Garnethill, Glasgow – recently received a £296,900 cash injection from the National Lottery.
The new study centre, which is scheduled to open next summer, will highlight how Scottish society, churches, trade unions and others rallied to support refugees and showcase the contributions they went on to make here.
Eva Szirmai, 89, is another survivor who will have her story safeguarded for future generations.
She was just 14 when her native Hungary was invaded by the Nazis and eventually emigrated to the UK with her mum Iren in the 60s.
She said: “We ended up in the ghetto in Budapest and we were very lucky to survive.
“My father died in Buchenwald, my grandmother died in Auschwitz. It was a horrific time.”
Eva and her mum settled in Glasgow.
She said: “At first, it was difficult for me when I came to Scotland with the language difference but the people were very welcoming.
“After all the bad things that happened, we have been very happy here.”
Harvey Kaplan, director of the centre, said: “It is wonderful that we’ll now be better able locally to meet demand for access to the Holocaustera collections and bring them to a wider international audience.”
Lucy Casot, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Scotland, said: “Untold stories of Scotland’s Jewish people and history will be shared and preserved for future generations.”
TOMORROW MY DEATH CAMP PILGRIMAGE