EMOTIONAL REMINDER OF ‘HARDSHIP OUR PARENTS FACED’

IDENTICAL twins George and Peter Summerfield arrived in Britain as penniless refugees a month before the Second World War.

Then known as Heinz Gunter and Klaus Peter Sommerfeld, they and parents Margot and Franz came here with little more than the clothes on their backs.

They were fortunate that a Jewish charity representative approached them and arranged hotel accommodation for several weeks. Now almost 84, the twins have only recently learned about the charity which came to their aid.

Earlier this year, George, who lives in Stanmore, and Peter, from Hampstead Garden

Suburb, were presented with extensive records about their family kept by the CBF, and latterly WJR. The twins with their archive documents and (below) pictured with a neighbour in Belsize Park in 1940

“We were born in Berlin the year Hitler came to power,” George explained. “Our parents decided to emigrate to America and managed to escape at the end of August 1939. We had permission to come to Britain but only on a temporary basis.

“We travelled on the last train out of Berlin via the Hook of Holland. All our baggage was confiscated by the Gestapo in Hamburg so when we arrived at Liverpool Street station, all we had was a small bag each.

We were standing at the station when we were approached by a Jewish charity. All my brother and I remember is being put up in a hotel at Russell Square for a couple of weeks.”

The family were supported by the CBF for nine years, until the twins became British citizens in 1948, changed their names and signed up for national service.

“My father was interned on the Isle of Man in May 1940 so my mother was left with the two of us during the Blitz,” George added.

“Every afternoon we would go to Tottenham Court Road station and spend the night there, then go back in the morning to the room we rented in Camden Town which we hoped would still be there. My mother would go to Bloomsbury House virtually every day to try and get passage to America. But we never made it across because the German U-boats were sinking ships.”

They both had full scholarships to study law at Oxford. Peter became an international solicitor; George started a company offering vocational guidance.

When the twins were reunited with their records, they learned the extent of the assistance the family received, including donations of children’s clothing.

“The records are meticulous,” said George admiringly. “The archives filled in details about our early arrival and what went on behind the scenes. It was very emotional as it brought home the hardship that was faced by our parents and the help the charity gave us.”