John Wahlich’s Family Tree
so Johann and Gustav obtained passports via Fonds Matteotti that would allow them to stay in Belgium temporarily. “I have my father’s Czech passport, which the Belgian legation in Prague stamped in February 1939.”
Leaving Czechoslovakia
Five days later, Johann and Gustav left Czechoslovakia with a 36-hour visa to travel through Poland. On arrival at the port of Gdynia, they set sail for Antwerp in Belgium on the SS Kastelholm with other refugees from the Sudetenland.
“My grandmother Marie had to stay behind in Strančice with Gustav junior, Elly and Anna, who was partially sighted. It was a potentially hazardous journey, so perhaps that’s why Marie and the children stayed behind. It must have been very traumatic for them to be separated from Gustav and Johann, and to live in constant fear of increasingly belligerent Nazis.”
After arriving in Antwerp, Gustav and Johann were sheltered in a hostel at Heist-aan-Zee near Zeebrugge. They lived there with other Sudeten German refugees for 14 months. John has been able to trace their movements via the Belgium State Archives.
“I have my father’s identity card from his time in Belgium, and discovered that he had his appendix taken out there. The family wanted to emigrate to Canada, but they were refused entry by the authorities because of Anna’s poor eyesight.”
The Germans invaded Czechoslovakia on 15 March, and Marie knew then that they had to escape. “It’s my belief that she got them on to one of the Kindertransport trains, which were organised by Sir Nicholas Winton and colleagues to rescue mainly Jewish children.
“The largest Czech Kindertransport left Prague on 30 June 1939, and arrived at Liverpool Street Station, London, the following day. Marie and my aunts and uncle were registered by the Czech Refugee Trust Fund on 3 July, and the organisation supported them while they lived in a hostel in Margate. “Gustav and Johann were still in Belgium and must have been desperate to be reunited with their family. I have a postcard that Johann sent to the family in Margate, dated 10 May 1940.”
Time was running out for Johann and Gustav. The day the postcard was sent, the Nazis invaded Belgium and bombed Heist-aan-Zee. Father and son left their hostel and began making their way along the coast. They journeyed on foot with 80 other Sudeten Germans, led by a man called Willi Hocke who helped many refugees escape the Nazis via Belgium.
In the 1990s, Johann had given John a book called Menschen im exil (Selbstverlag, 1974), which means People in Exile. “Willi Hocke was listed in the index, and there was a whole chapter describing my father and grandfather’s escape across Europe. It was so exciting to read the account, although poignant given what they suffered.
Desperate Trek
“They had very little food for the 80-mile trek and were strafed by German bombers. They arrived in Calais to a melee of people desperate to get onto boats.
“Together with 1,125 other refugees and a party of Belgian commandos, Gustav and Johann crammed onto the merchant vessel Leka. It was captained by Frithjof Utne of Norway, a brave man who ensured that refugees were taken aboard despite competition from armed soldiers. Leka was the last ship to leave Calais as the German bombardment began.”
However, the refugees weren’t out of the woods yet. “The voyage was extremely dangerous. Captain Utne managed to leave Calais without a tug or pilot boat, and it took him two days to navigate
the English Channel avoiding mines. One of the commandos, Carlo Segers, wrote about the sailing in his book Donneznous un champ de bataille (1959), which means Give Us a Battlefield. The soldiers had their weapons confiscated, because they were stealing food from the refugees. Everyone was starving.”
What’s more, when Leka reached Southampton, irate British officials refused to let the refugees disembark. “It was only down to the captain’s doggedness that the passengers were allowed ashore 24 hours later. His bravery was recognised with an OBE and the Norwegian War Cross.”
Unlike other refugees, Johann and Gustav were not interned. They were supported by the Czech Refugee Trust Fund and went to London, where they were finally reunited with Marie, Gustav junior, Anna and Elly.
“I was intrigued to find an online account by Rudie Thramer of her own parents’ escape from the Sudetenland: www.mirfield memories.co.uk/rudie_thramer. htm. Rudie was born in Bruges when her parents were refugees, and now lives in Mirfield, West Yorkshire. I rang her up and it was amazing to speak with someone who was actually part of the story, albeit as a baby.
“Rudie’s account is almost identical to Johann and Gustav’s. Her parents Rudolph and Anna were social democrats from Horní Město in the Sudetenland, and they too escaped through Poland to Belgium in 1939. They stayed at the same hostel as my father and grandfather in Heist-aan-Zee, and arrived in Southampton the same day: 25 May 1940.
“Everything fell into place when I saw Rudolph and Anna’s identification cards from the fund. Their registration number was two digits away from my father’s.
They must have known each other and escaped on the same boat.
“It has been so rewarding to connect with Rudie, and she has helped me to find family members in the Czech Republic. It’s easy to trace ancestors there because they have digitised birth and death records dating back to the 1850s. The challenge lies in deciphering the old German script.”
A New Life In London
Rudie’s parents and the Wahlich family moved from their hostels to houses in London. They had all arrived with hardly any possessions, and no knowledge of English. Yet they still managed to forge successful lives in Britain.
Johann worked as a tool-maker in London, and Gustav continued his career in velvet-weaving. Johann married Cockney Vera Spencer in 1947, and they had John and his brother Michael.
Elly is the only living member of the Wahlich family who escaped the Sudetenland. “My aunt is elderly and can remember some of her wartime journey, although she was only eight. Marie made it seem like an exciting adventure, which makes me feel such great admiration for my grandmother.”
John has found it hugely rewarding to discover more about his origins. “It’s lovely for my wife Clarice and I to be able to pass the story on to our daughters, Sophie and Charlotte. Our granddaughter Imogen has been given the middle name ‘Wahlich’, and it’s good to know that our heritage will continue.”
‘Rudie has helped me to find family members in the Czech Republic’