The Steinhardts

and the Cedar Boys.

The accounts of Helga Brown, Lore Godden and the Cedar Boys.

Edited by Jeremy Godden.(Jeremy.godden@btopenworld.com)

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The Steinhardts and theCedar Boys

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This is the account of the experiences of the Steinhardt family in Germany in the 1930’s and 31 boys from a Jewish orphanage and how they eventually came to safety in England. It is primarily based on the accounts of my Aunt, Helga Brown, (nee Steinhardt). It also includes accounts of some of the boys- ‘the Cedar Boys’ and excerpts from my mother Lore’s 1942 diary, as well as some of my memories of what she told me about these times.

Excerpts from my mother’s diary with permission of Ken Godden.Quotes from the Cedar Boy’s with permission of Bernd Katz.

Painting, ‘The Refugees’ by Lore Godden, nee Steinhardt.

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In 1914 my two grandfathers Thomas and Hugo went to fight on the Western Front in the first world war. Thomas was a horse expert with the Cavalry and Hugo was in the infantry. One of the few facts that I know about their experience was that they fought on opposing sides – Hugo for the Germans and Thomas for the British. My guess is that they were proud to fight for their respective countries in this terrible conflict; Certainly, the faded Sepia photograph of Hugo in his uniform seems to bear this out.

Hugo Steinhardt in First world war uniform

Twenty four years later Hugo left Germany and came to live in the English village of Waddesdon with his wife, two daughters and 31 boys in their charge. As Jews they could no longer live in Germany. This is Hugo’s story and the story of his wife Lilly and their two daughters- Lore (my mother) and my aunt Helga, and also the story of those 31 boys, (who became known as “The Cedar Boys”).

My Grandfather Hugo died a long time before I was born and I grew up knowing very little about him. Researching about him took me to Frankfurt in 2004, where I was surprised to see his picture and accounts of him and his wider family in the local museums-the curators seemed to know more about him than I did. Nevertheless, I feel that the process of writing this story has allowed me to get to know him a bit better. I have quoted from the boys’ accounts, from my mother’s diaries and from other witnesses of life in Germany in the 1930’s and 1940’s.

My Aunt’s and Mother’s generation are the last generation to have experienced these events. Helga was 10 and Lore my mother was 14, when they left Germany. Their generation are now getting old and this is why I have now decided to write this account and indeed why I have asked my Aunt numerous questions, which I hope were not impertinent. My mother is no longer alive and when the rest of her generation have gone

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we will only have the history books left to remember this time. I am also writing this as a debt of gratitude to those who offered these 35 people rescue and sanctuary in the spring of 1939, just months before the second world war started.

The story of Hugo, Lilly, Lore and Helga is told simply as I can think of few descriptive words that are appropriate. One word that could be used in places is ‘Evil’. This is not a word that I use with ease in my secular life but it is a suitable for some of the events described. Another word would be ‘ordinary’: Hugo was an ordinary school teacher, like Lore was, and as I am myself. He had an ordinary family of two young daughters who enjoyed games, parties and sport- just like my own two daughters.

My grandfather Hugo, was not a particularly religious Jew although he observed religious festivals and the Sabbath. Somewhere between leaving the Judengasse in Friedberg, Hessen , (the street of the Jews) where he was born in 1887, and starting a family in the 1920’s, he abandoned some of the ancient beliefs and practices of the Jewish faith. This process may have happened to him while he was a student of modern languages in Giessen and Berlin. It may of course, have been precipitated by his experiences of the first world war.

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Hugo Steinhardt’s Torah, early 1930’s

Whenever this apparent assimilation took place it would not be unusual amongst the Jewish Community. Many Jews of Germany had wanted to be part of the enlightenment or ‘Haskalah’ since the 1770’s. Most of all they had wanted to be considered good Germans. They learnt German rather than a Jewish dialect, adopted German first names, wore the same clothes, adopted the same styles as the rest of the population and believed fervently that their commitment to all aspects of German life would finally lead to their full acceptance. To many, the first world war was a chance to prove this beyond doubt. Amongst the hundreds of thousands of Germans who died in the first world war there were more than 12,000 Jews, including Robert, Hugo’s brother.

Hugo, himself was promoted to non-commissioned officer in the 2nd Battery of the 120th Infantry Batallion, but was sent home wounded from the Western Front. He was later honoured with the ‘Iron Cross’.

The Document received in 1935 to show Hugo’s First World War Record (source W.Wagner)

5Memorial to Jewish Soldiers who died in 1914-1918. Friedberg. Robert Steinhardt was Hugo’s Brother. (Plaque now housed in the entrance to the ancient ritual baths on the Judengasse, Friedberg.)

Hugo’s secular and modern way of life could prove uncomfortable to his family. His father David was an orthodox Jew and some family members avoided eating at Hugo’s home because he did not keep a strictly Kosher kitchen. However, Hugo became a fluent Hebrew speaker and later in life he was to use this skill to help his pupils and charges with their Bar Mitzvah’s

Hugo’s grandfather Jakob had owned a Drapers shop on the old, often poor and crowded Judengasse. This ancient street in Friedberg had been the site of the Jewish Ghetto, until the Jews were emancipated in the 19th century. Jakob’s son David (born 1858, died 1929), took over the family business which was situated at the end of the street. It is still possible to visit the nearby Mikvah baths, dating back to the 13th century , where ritual immersions used to take place, down steep steps, 85feet into the water table.

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My Great, GreatGrandfather Jacob Steinhardt and his wife Minke. Probably second half of 19th century.

Memorial to Jewish Soldiers, Friedberg. Robert Steinhardt was Hugo’s Brother. (Plaque now housed in the entrance to the ancient ritual baths on the Judengasse, Friedberg.)

The Judengasse Friedberg 1939. The shop previously owned by David Steinhardt, front right.

The Synagogue at the end of the Judengasse, Friedberg.

(It was destroyed in the 1940’s.)

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The following information was provided by Hermann Mangels, an inhabitant of Friedberg, whose wife Augusta, lived in the town in the 1920’s. Her house was in the Usagasse, the adjoining street,. She does not remember my mother living there, as Lore moved to Butzbach at an early age, but she remembers other members of the Steinhardt family who lived at 23 Judengasse and 8 Usagasse (the corner between the Judengasse and the Usagasse).

Herman writes about his wife: “ Since she was 8 years old, she took notice of Gisela Steinhardt, just neighbored as a little child, that was handicapped in her moving. She took the “Kinderwagen” and traveled with her into the sun on the “Seewiese” on the other side of town to our park-like open area. She remembers especially that Gisela’s mother Jenny Meyer, (Hugo’s sister) gave my wife a banana to give this to Gisela as food. Bananas were, as she had very poor parents that had to pay for their new bought house Number 6, for her not affordable food. Then she only tasted the banana’s peel scraping it off with her fingernail, and did not find it so good.”

“This procedure went on for several years and also on Friday afternoon when Sabbath came, she was called to light the gas flame of their gas oven. For doing this service in the neighborhood on Easter (sic) she got this special bread that is called ‘Matzen’.” He continues: “From the family Meyer she knows, that they had a shop in the house Usagasse 8 with manufactured goods and special rustical dressings and shoes for farmers”. (They took over the shop from David Steinhardt and remained there until the early 1940’s).

Hermann Mangels writes, “The cornerhouse between Usagasse 8 and the Judengasse was named , “Zum roden Juden”, (The Red Jew), At the early time at 1350 that house was colored red, to mark the border of the Jewish district.”

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The Jews had been in Germany for over 1600 years, following the Romans as they migrated up the Rhine Valley. We know the Steinhardts had lived in Western Germany since the 18th century. Helga was told that originally they had lived in Colmar in Alsace and then moved to Kassel and Friedberg. Some of Hugo’s cousins went to Russia and France, and one of his uncle’s emigrated to Israel in the 19th century. Hugo’s father, David and his uncle Samuel stayed in Germany. Samuel’s son Max , his wife Teresa Katzenstein and their children Alfred and Marga will be remembered at the end of the account.

Hugo’s father David had married Rose Appel and they had four sons and two daughters. As well as my grandfather born in 1887, there were his brothers Max born 1889, Robert born 1886 and Morritz, born 1885, and two sisters- Greta and Bertha. David’s wife Rose died fairly young and he remarried. By his second wife-Regina Schack he had another daughter called Jennie. Jennie and her husband took over the Drapers shop on the Judengasse. Their disabled daughter was called Gisela. They also will be remembered at the end of the account.

A School outing from Butzbach. Hugo at the back on the right, Lilly (in checks) on the left.

From 1921 to 1933 Hugo taught languages at the Grammar School in Butzbach. According to Helga his daughter, Hugo , “Spoke slowly, concisely and always grammatically correctly”. There were only about 30 Jewish families in Butzbach at the time so pupils were mainly non-Jewish, as were the teachers. They enjoyed outings with the other non-Jewish schoolteachers. The photograph shows Hugo and his new bride Lilly, on a trip with their pupils. Lilly was the daughter of Eva Kramer, who had been married before, and Josef Butzbach who was an estate agent in Friedberg.

Lilly (real name Joanette),was born on the 3rd of January 1898. She attended a business studies college in Frankfurt and for a time worked in a Belgian bank. She stayed there with her brother Gustav, who later died in the great flu epidemic of 1918Lilly married Hugo on the 27th of June 1923 in Friedberg and they had two daughters; Lore (My

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mother) born in 1924 in Friedberg and Helga ( My Aunt) born in 1928 after they had moved to the nearby town of Butzbach.

My mother Lore attended the Primary School from the age of 6 in Butzbach , (until 1933) which she enjoyed . She was an able pupil and she passed her exams a year early, aged 9 instead of 10.

Hugo and Lilly Lore and Helga Outing (Lore middle front row)(both children’s pictures probably Butzbach early 1930’s)

Up to this time Helga says that the family were not directly affected by anti-Semitism However there were problems at the school that Hugo taught in. A group of children were encouraged by some teachers to join a right wing youth organisation which was anti-semitic and a precursor of the Hitler Youth. This caused an insolent attitude by some of the pupils to Jewish teachers like Hugo. However, according to documents this group was stopped and people involved were reprimanded. Such groups were involved with lots of enticing outdoor activities and sports in the countryside. Later on all German children apart from the Jews and other excluded groups, had to join the Hitler Youth from the age of 10. I remember my Mother (Lore) telling me that she wished she could take part in all the exciting things on offer in such groups, as she was very keen on sport and expeditions to the countryside.

The Steinhardt family moved from Friedberg to Butzbach, another small town nearby, some time between 1924 and 1928. Grandfather Josef Butzbach, (Lilly’s father) was a widower and lived with them until his death in 1930. He had left the traditional Jewish areas because of his work in the property business. She believed that they had originated from the Butzbach area, hence their surname.

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Small German towns no longer had particular Jewish areas and the Steinhardts lived, worked and played amongst the general population, although about half their friends were of Jewish origin. Helga says this apparent assimilation went on until 1933 when the Nazis came to power. Lilly (our Grandmother) belonged to non-Jewish Gym club. A non-Jewish neighbour of the Steinhardts told Helga that they had the best children’s parties in the area and most of the guests were non-Jewish. Helga visited the neighbour in 1998. The neighbour was blind by then and had been a music teacher. She had later married a German Gauleiter. (A Nazi local official).

The photo shows a picture of Lore’s birthday party in the Steinhardt’s landlord’s garden in Butzbach. Most of the other children are non-Jewish. The Landlord (not Jewish) was very anti-Nazi. Helga remembers him:‘ His name was Heil and when people came into his business premises saying ‘Heil Hitler’, as they were expected to, he was so incensed that he told them that it pleased him that they realised that Heil should always precede Hitler. He could have been severely punished for that.’

Lore’s birthday early 1930’s. Lore seated second left, Helga standing middle front. Butzbach, One of the memories I have of my mother’s Jewish background was when she described to me the great excitement on the night before Erev Pesach (Passover) when they would carry out bedikat chametz , the search for chametz (leavened bread). The girls would enthusiastically charge around the house searching for the bread so that the house would be ready for the Passover Seder, when only unleavened bread would be allowed. This ancient festival recalls the account in Exodus, which describes the Jews fleeing from slavery in Egypt. In the biblical account there was no time to allow the bread to leaven before their departure.

However, generally, the Steinhardts were not a religious family. Helga writes, “We didn’t observe the Friday night rituals, as so many, even non-orthodox Jews do. …. we celebrated Rosh Hashanah, Passover, (not eating bread), Yom Kippur-fasting and having a jolly time at some of the others like Succoth

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Lore and Helga’s maternal Grandfather’s grave, probably in Friedberg

Photograph of the teachers at the Oberrealschule in Butzbach. 1926 (Hugo standing in middle).(Source: School photo album).

According to his references and his daughter Helga’s recollections, Hugo Steinhardt was an accomplished teacher. Although, gentle in manner he was strict when it was necessary and always followed the correct protocol. Helga says he was, “very law-abiding in the true Germanic manner”. For example, he refused a present given to him by his pupils as this was not strictly allowed. This was to celebrate the birth of Helga, his second daughter in 1928. He was also known to be guarded about his political opinions. In the tumultuous politics of the time these were very pragmatic traits. Hugo was a confident linguist with a mastery of English, Latin and Hebrew, as well as other European Languages. Helga says he was a very patient man with his pupils or charges but, “perhaps less so with his own daughters.” He was also a man of his times. “To my knowledge”, she recalls, “he never entered the kitchen, cleared or cooked or washed or ironed garments-women’s work!” He comes across as a man of broad interests. As well as being an avid reader and having a sound academic mind, he was a practical person, with a knowledge of carpentry, photography and gardening. These skills were to serve him well as an educationalist in the next few years of his life.

All Hugo’s teaching skills were no longer of benefit to German state school children after April 1933, when the National Socialists brought in the law to ‘reinstate professional civil service’. For the first time since the emancipation in1869 the Jews had a separate legal status . The people of Germany were separated into ‘Aryan’ and ‘non-Aryan’ and the Jews, as ‘non-Aryans’, were barred from state service. On 26th June 1933 Hugo received a short letter from the State of Hessen to say that he was dismissed. (See next page.). As a Jew, he could no longer work as a school teacher for a state school. Helga notes that anti-Semitism grew very quickly in their small home town of Butzbach, after the Nazis rose to power. In some other towns and cities, Jewish teachers managed to hold on to their jobs for much longer.

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Document received by Hugo Steinhardt from the the State of Hessen in 1933 to say that he could no longer work as a school teacher. This was because he was a Jew. .Ironically this was received two years before his commendation for his role in the first world war, shown on the previous document. Government departments did not always liaise together. (source Werner Wagner).

13The former Grammar School in Butzbach, where Hugo worked until 1933. (Author’s photo)

The Synagogue in Butzbach. It was built in 1926 and replaced a room in the Raththaus (town hall) that had originally been used. It was destroyed by the Nazis on Kristalnacht in 1938.

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The Steinhardt family lived in an apartment in this block in the Taunustrasse in Butzbach, until moving to other towns and eventually Wiesbaden.

Synagogue, Wiesbaden. From reconstruction .(Active museum of German Jewish History, Wiesbaden). The Synagogue became a focus for the Steinhardt family after moving to Wiesbaden. They were increasingly separated from non-Jewish society from this time.The Synagogue was destroyed on Kristallnacht in November 1938,

The Apartment in Wiesbaden. The Steinhardts lived in the top flat. They rented out rooms to make a living. Lilly’s sister Bertha moved here from Bad Nauheim, to help. (Authors photo).

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A plaque has recently been placed outside as a memorial to those Jews who were deported to their deaths from the house in 1942.Because the family was now on reduced income they were forced to leave their rented apartment (they even had a maid) and temporarily move in with Lilly’s unmarried sister Bertha, who had a guesthouse in Bad Nauheim. This was a pleasant local spa town, which had been popular with visitors. By now non-Jewish guests no longer stayed and Jewish visitors were few and far between. In Bad Nauheim, Helga attended the Catholic Kindergarten and Lore the convent for a few months. Bertha had to give up the guest house eventually and it was decided that Hugo would try to obtain a teaching post in Paris. Lore and Helga were sent off with Bertha to Enghein, a suburb of Paris, supposedly to stay with Raoul (Hugo’s cousin) and his family. Helga recalls, ‘It was not a popular move’. Bertha and the two girls spent ‘a disastrous time in a bed sit, which was very cramped’. Hugo could not get a work permit. He and Lilly tried to cross the border with a plan to work in Belgium but they were stopped in Aachen.

Bertha and the children returned to Germany and the family moved to Wiesbaden, an attractive city which at that time was not so affected by anti-Semitism as Butzbach. Helga recalls, ‘It soon caught up’. At first they all lived together in another bed-sit, this time not even with a gas ring but a hay-box, but then Lilly decided to find an apartment and take in Jewish paying guests, with Bertha as cook and a Jewish maid. By the time the Steinhardts lived in Wiesbaden, the Jews were no longer allowed to employ non-Jewish people unless they were over 45. (Helga revisited the apartment in the 1990’s. It was then a student hostel. It was not in a Jewish area of town..There was a plaque outside stating that it had been used to accommodate many Jews who had their homes taken away from them in 1942. There was also a list of names of people deported from there to their deaths.)

Hugo’s Tutor Group. Wiesbaden .Lore with Lotte Kahn back, Ellen Kahn front. Source Lotte Guthman-‘Stationen’.

The Nuremburg Laws of 1935 had taken citizenship away from the Jews. They were now classified as a subject ‘race’ and were increasingly separated and marginalised from everyday life. However, Helga remembers, ‘doctors and dentists sometimes continued to treat Jewish patients for a time, but hid their swastika badges, thus pretending they were not party members.’ By now, Hugo and Lilly only joined Jewish organisations and had become friends with the Rabbi and other prominent members of the community in Wiesbaden. Hugo acted as tutor to groups of Jewish children to make ends meet. The

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photo shows Hugo with one such group. Lore is standing on the back row, next to a girl called Lotte Kahn. Ellen Kahn, one of Lore’s friends, is in the front row. (See page 22 ).The Steinhardts went to Synagogues wherever they lived but were not orthodox, although all the relatives on Hugo’s side were. Hugo was fluent in Hebrew because of his upbringing. However, Helga says, ‘ He was not outwardly very Fromm but he was more religious in the sense of being caring and generous.’ Helga remembers going to Synagogue in their ‘best Saturday hats’, but if they went without their parents , ‘they sometimes skipped services and went to town instead.’ Hugo only started presiding over religious services when they moved to England when there was not a synagogue or Rabbi nearby. All Lore’s friends in Wiesbaden were Jewish and the two sisters joined various Jewish clubs. Lore was particularly keen on the sports club. This was affiliated to the RJF-Schild-Reichsbund, the German Jewish WW1 veterans association that Hugo was a member of. This group had as many as 50.000 men at one time but was forbidden after November 1938. It was active in defending the honour of the Jewish veterans and countering anti-Semitism, as well as providing a social club. Helga believes that Lore was active in the group because she was excluded from sport at her school. Lore practising athletics-late 1930’s Lotte Guthman and Lore in the Rhine (1937)

They were not allowed to go to swimming baths.Lore was very friendly with the local Jewish doctor’s daughter. He was no longer allowed to treat non-Jewish patients after the mid 1930’s. (Helga does not recall their name). She also played with Lotte Guthman, the daughter of a local solicitor who lived near the doctor. Lotte loved the ‘glorious skating parties’ in the Steinhardt’s back yard. She remembers Hugo flooding the area which would then quickly freeze. Another friend was Lore’s class mate, Ellen Kahn. The Kahns were in the import-export business and they managed to emigrate to Argentina in 1938. Helga’s friends included the Rabbi’s daughters, Eva and Hannah Lazarus. They also managed to emigrate, going to Haifa in Israel, where their father continued to practice as a Rabbi. (They did not find out about the fate of the doctor’s and solicitor’s families until after the war-see page 21)

A very attractive apartment was rented and Hugo found part time employment as a teacher at a Jewish School in Mainz. Lore was granted a place at the Grammar School and was allowed to attend until leaving Wiesbaden in 1937 when she was 13. Helga started at a state primary school in 1934. She was asked to sit in splendid isolation at the front of the class and to play indoors for ‘fear of contaminating others’, but in 1935 all

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the Jewish Primary School children were asked to leave. There was no alternative school available until 1936 when a disused army barracks, a long way out of town was equipped as a place of education, but with few teachers and fewer resources.

Until 1935 it was still possible to shop in non-Jewish shops. By 1935 some shops had ‘Juden verboten’ displayed outside. As Jews were no longer allowed into cinemas, restaurants and places of public entertainment the Steinhardts increasingly socialised just with Jewish friends. Helga remembers that one night in 1937 Hugo and Lilly decided to go out and visit a non-Jewish restaurant with friends. They were stopped on leaving the restaurant and had a ‘J’ printed on their arms.

Life was more difficult in the smaller towns and villages as people’s identity was known to everyone, while Helga thought Jews were better of in a big city like Wiesbaden or Frankfurt where, ‘You didn’t stand out in a crowd’. Neverthelesss by 1937, Helga remembers that they were quite likely to be attacked on the way to school or synagogue. In 1933 Wiesbaden had 2,713 Jews and Frankfurt had over 26,000. Even after 1939 Frankfurt still had over 14,000 Jews, the largest after Berlin. The numbers had declined due to emigration but were still large compared to a small town like Butzbach which only had 100 Jews in 1933, declining to only 40 in 1938. Lore remembered some neighbours and friends starting to ignore the Steinhardts. She said people were worried that they would lose their jobs and positions if they mixed with them. Lore was a keen and talented skater but they were no longer allowed to use the public skating ring in Wiesbaden but went skiing with Jewish friends in the nearby Taunus Mountains.

In October 1937 Hugo saw the job advertised for the head of a Jewish boys home, the ‘Flersheim Sichel Stiftung’ in Frankfurt am Main. The previous Head had retired and emigrated to Sweden. Hugo applied and was appointed. The appointment included an additional teaching post at the Jewish School, the Philanthropin, which was a very prestigious establishment. He was to teach English. The job included a situation for Lilly to use her office training and Bertha was engaged as cook. A modern flat was available on site. Lore entered the grammar school section of the school with the boys and Helga also joined her there at the age of ten

The Steinhardt family (late 1930’s)

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The Philanthropin was founded in 1804, remaining as a school until 1942. The Jewish boy’s home was separate from the school and was originally intended for gifted boys from broken homes or orphans. Increasingly, after 1933 the home became a refuge for children from the villages where anti-Semitism was generally much worse than in the cities. Hans Hellman (later Jack), moved to the children’s home in 1935 from the village of Tann to the East of Frankfurt. He remembers the ‘sadism’ of his anti-Semitic teachers in Tann. ‘The teacher used to beat the Jewish children, unmercifully, with a cane. I was beaten I would say every other day’.(2) Bernd Katz also says, “If someone in line talked…..the teacher would then say, ‘Es war der Jude der gesprochen hat’. (It was the Jew who talked). There were many times when I came out of school in the afternoon and I would find a group of boys waiting to beat me up.” (1). He was from Hof in Bavaria and arrived at the boy’s home in Autumn 1937.

The Philanthropin- from a reunion 1991.

Gert Heuman joined the home after his mother managed to flee to America. He remembers: “A separation from home that could have been traumatic at age nine was not. In Germany I was occasionally beaten up by Nazi youngsters, but that was merely part of life: I would have been beaten up anyway by some group of kids. Only once did I return home crying, not only roughed up but pushed deliberately into dogshit. Where was God, I bitterly asked”.

“Nazi parades were thrilling, physical hunger was moderate. Because I didn’t look Jewish, and was adorned with likeable flappy ears, my mother would send me out to see whether a warm hearted grocer might be induced to sell me an egg. Every Saturday I came back with something. Perhaps the tendency then to protect children from adult knowledge made me understand very little of what was happening to relatives: Kristallnacht exists in my mind as a vague rumour of uncles who left home for a while. A

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month later my mother was in America. Unable to get a visa for me, she left anyway but made sure I would be on a Children’s transport to England. When we said good-bye neither of us knew that it would be for seven years: by the time I rejoined here, I was an adolescent, and she a stranger.” (5)

Numbers at the home increased from 14 boys in 1927 to 32 in 1938. The children’s home was in a superior part of Frankfurt. (Anne Frank had lived at the end of the street, prior to leaving for Holland in 1933.) Places at the school were mainly given to non-orthodox boys but there were some exceptions. The children’s home was housed in a purpose built modern Building , its Bauhauss influenced architecture standing out against the traditional buildings in the street.

The Children’s home:-Flersheim Sichel Stiftung in Frankfurt.

Other Jews at the time lived in the East end of the city and there was little contact between the two sections. Many of the Eastenders were originally from Poland and were less westernised. They had their own synagogue and school which was less affected by the process of assimilation and concentrated more on religious subjects. I remember Lore telling me that Lilly considered the old established Jews were all a bit superior to the more recent arrivals from the East. She even considered that her own family was of Sephardic origin unlike the Ashkenazi newcomers, although there is no evidence of this.

The Philanthropin had always encouraged methods which they believed would equip their pupils for life in modern German society. Modern languages were taught by oral methods and scientific and practical skill were encouraged. The building is now nearly 200 years old and its foundation and history was based very much in the philosophy of the ‘enlightenment’. It was the antithesis of the traditional Jewish schools of learning which still existed where pupils concentrated on the Torah and Talmud. By the time Hugo joined the Philanthropin in 1937 it was now obvious that neither tradition was going to offer them a future in Germany.

On October 28th 1938 several of the smaller boys in the home and the two eldest were deported to the Polish border. They were children who were of Polish origin. The young ones were sent back. None of the boys spoke Polish. Uri Sella (born Ulrich Stobieka in Poland) was one of those sent off. Bernd Katz says he was sent to Hauptbahnhof (main

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railway station) with a ‘little suitcase’. “We all said goodbye and I doubt very much if we ever expected to see him again. A day or so later the bell rang at the front door and when Mrs Steinhardt opened it there was Uri. It seems they didn’t want him, maybe he was too young.” (1)

The Polish Government knew that the Germans wanted to force the Jews out of Germany so they announced in October that the 50,000 Jews in Germany of Polish origin were to lose their Polish citizenship. The Germans countered this by arresting most of the Polish Jews and attempting to deport them to Poland. About 17,000 were deported from Germany in all. Conditions on the border became intolerable over the winter as more and more Jews ended up in a ‘no man’s land’ at the border. Many ended up in the refugee camp of Zbaszyn. Bernd Katz refers to the experience of the young Solomon Horn, another pupil at the children’s home of Polish extraction. On the evening of the 29th October 1938 a policeman arrived to warn him to leave as he would be arrested in the morning. Solomon was ‘dumbfounded’. He said, ‘I had no idea why anyone would want to arrest me’. Very early next morning three SS men came to take him away. They were allowed to take 10 Marks with them and one suitcase. One of the men introduced himself as SS Captain Horn. Solomon remembers him saying, ‘ I came to see what these Dreckjuden (dirty Jews) look like that have the same name as I do’. They were taken by train to the border and herded into a tunnel for fourteen hours between German and Polish Customs. His Aunt and Uncle were deported and he never heard from them again once the war started. Solomon’s family were near the end of the queue and they were not sent across the border. He later learnt that the Polish Government had closed the frontier during the day. Solomon and his family managed to migrate to America on April 13th 1939. (1).

A young man of Polish origin from Hannover, Hershel Grynszpan heard of the similar deportation of his parents and sister. In his anger he killed an official at the German Embassy in Paris. His action was used as an excuse by the Nazis to unleash two days of brutal violence on the Jews of Germany. This pogram was to become commonly known as Kristallnacht because of the shattered glass from Jewish buildings..

21The ‘Boys’ in Frankfurt.

Otto Decker and Ulrich Stobiecka 1940

By now Hugo realised that the pupils at the home would now need even more practical skills. Spoken English would be of use if children emigrated to Britain or the United States. Horticulture and other practical skills were encouraged, particular for those who might go to Palestine. Lore now attended a Jewish vocational college where she learnt housekeeping skills such as needlework. Lore also learnt Hebrew at

Practical classes and chess at the Children’s Home (Probably 1938)

the Philanthropin. Helga had started Hebrew at a Jewish Primary school, two years earlier but said she preferred English lessons. Lore had attended a non-Jewish school in Wiesbaden. Hugo Steinhardt’s many talents had helped him to get the job and now held him in good stead in these challenging times. Helga says he had his own dark room and taught the boys how to develop and print their own black and white photos. (Helga remarks, ‘One less toilet for the rest of us’). He helped the boys to make toys, puppet theatres and puppets (and a dolls house for his daughters), in the work shops. He also instructed the boys in growing vegetables, as well as sharing more cerebral interests such as chess, debates, and reading.

By the autumn of

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The Children’s Home in Frankfurt and the, ‘Boys’. Mrs Casparius, (The Governess), on left, cuddling George one of the twins. Hugo on right, Lilly nearly hidden, back left. Left photo of Hans and George Bodenheimer the twins 1936

Two of the boys in the Garden.

The twins – Hans and George Bodenheimer 1936

By the Autumn of 1938, conditions in Frankfurt worsened. Jewish property was confiscated and Jewish organisations disbanded. The Boy’s home had continuous visits from the SS at six o’clock in the morning.

Bernd Katz refers to the attack on the children’s home on the 9th November 1938 which was a day before his 11th birthday. The atmosphere had been tense and full of rumours all day. Fathers of the children had been arriving from the villages to escape Nazi attacks. (They were mainly after males at the time). Bernd recounts, “As night fell…we heard a rushing noise like a huge wave coming ashore during a severe storm. The noise kept getting louder and louder. Then we heard the chanting, “Kill the Jews, kill the Jews, and rocks started to fly through the windows”. The children were sent to the back bedrooms and climbed under the beds. Luckily the front of the building where the stone throwers came from had barred windows which had protected them to an extent. At the back of the building were large unprotected windows. Bernd noted, “The attackers came mainly from our neighbourhood.” (1)

Solomon Horn recounts his mother’s memory of that day and night.(‘Kristallnacht).They had recently returned from the Polish border. He was back at the Flersheim Sichel Stiftung home and she lived locally. A neighbour had warned her in the morning of the ‘Storm trooper led , “Spontaneous demonstrations” to come that day. She hurried home. She recalls, “ We heard the mob trying to get in for about an hour before they figured out that the back entrance was open. Then we heard them dragging out the people on the lower floors, one floor at a time. We heard screaming and crying and saw them beating people and burning their books in the street.” Solomon’s mother’s store had been looted and the windows shattered. She had lost her life savings which had been invested in the store.(1) The Jews had to pay to clean up the mess after Kristallnacht and any insurance money was given over to non Jews.

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Burning Synagogue in Frankfurt, after Kristallnacht

In November 1938 after Kristallnacht, 27 male teachers, including the Headmaster and Hugo were arrested and taken to concentration camps. Hugo and his brothers were taken to Buchenwald where Hugo was badly beaten up .Helga says his brothers suffered less than Hugo . She recalls that they thought Hugo was too gentle in his speech and manner. Some of the teachers returned but two died and others never regained their health. Fifteen teachers managed to emigrate at this point.

During Hugo’s imprisonment in late 1938, Helga and Lore wrote letters abroad pleading for help. Helga addressed a letter to President Roosevelt and received a reply but no offer of help from the American consulate. In July 1938 Roosevelt had convened the ‘Evian’ conference in France where 32 countries met to discuss the fate of the Jews. But no doors were opened and no hope was offered after much debate and discussion. The Nazis gleefully noted the refusal of America, Britain and the other countries to offer safety to the Jews. Hitler said, “ They complain in these democracies about the unfathomable cruelty that Germany …uses in trying to get rid of their Jews…they affirm with complete coolness that over there, evidently there is no room!”

Reply from the American Consul stating that the Steinhardt family would ‘Have to wait its turn’.

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Eventually one of the girls, wrote a letter to Lord Rothschild in Britain. He passed the letter on to his cousin James de Rothschild who promised to help to rescue them from the ever worsening situation. The letter which almost certainly saved their lives was just addressed to “Lord Rothschild, London”.

The Nazis had always encouraged violence but it had been unofficial and local. Much of the officially sanctioned persecution had been legalistic. Kristallnacht was now a major shift towards state organised and endorsed violence, although the Nazi propaganda machine claimed it was a ‘spontaneous’ action. According to Saul Friedlander over 20,000 Jews in Germany were arrested, more than 1000 Synagogues were burnt down and 7,500 Jewish Businesses destroyed. 91 Jews were murdered and hundreds more died of mistreatment and ill-health over the winter in the camps. Other sources claim the figures were even higher.

After the Kristallnacht pogrom, Jewish shops were forced to close and Helga remembers that shopping, especially for food was a problem for the Steinhardts in Frankfurt. The home was now searched several times a week. Nazis would come and deliberately storm around about 5am, claiming to be searching for weapons. Helga remembers being very scared. Helga recalls that another Jewish home nearby had burned down at the same time as the local synagogue while Lore, Helga and the Boys were at school. They ran about 3 miles home to make sure it wasn’t theirs.

Colonel Julian Layton had acted as envoy from the Rothschilds in England on behalf of many Jews in Germany and his dealings included meetings with Eichmann. He arranged for the Steinhardts and the Boys to be allowed into England. To be released from Buchenwald, Hugo had to prove that he was going to emigrate and the family also believe that his war record may have been taken into account. At the time this was Nazi policy, to make life so unbearable for Jews that they would try and emigrate. Unfortunately it was hard to find a country to allow them in. Since the mid 1930’s Jews were not allowed to take anything of value out of Germany so they were less welcome as potential migrants. The difficulties can be seen in the tone the Daily Mail adopted in 1938 when they wrote that, 'the way stateless Jews from Germany are pouring in is becoming an outrage'.

Most of the costs of emigration to Britain had to be born by the Jewish Community. However the United Kingdom was relatively generous compared to other destinations. 56,000 Jews came to Britain between 1933 and 1939. The USA, a much larger country provided 50,000 places but with stricter entry criteria. In addition 40,000 managed to emigrate to Palestine during this period.

One of the girls’ cousins, Marga had come to live with them in Frankfurt and was in Helga’s class at school. Permission was not given for Marga to accompany them to England but another male cousin Helmut Rothschild, (the son of Hugo’s sister Bertha and husband Theo Rothschild), was allowed to go. The home had a Jewish governess. She also was not allowed to emigrate with them.

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Lore, Helga , their parents and a group of 21 boys in their care left for England on March 15th 1939. They went by train from Frankfurt to the Hook of Holland . Bernd Katz, one of the boys, remembers the journey as being ‘uneventful’. ‘The boat ride to Harwich was rough but we made it’.(1) It was then a train and a bus ride to

‘Kinderausweis’ (Child’s identification papers), giving permission for Helga to leave Germany and enter Britain. Female Jews had to take the name Sara and all males Israel, on the documents.

Waddesdon. They travelled in the same boat as a Kindertransport. Hanan Bodenheimer (who eventually went to live in Israel) noted, “ My first impression was, so this is England, look at the women and all the make-up that they are wearing and they smoked.” (1) Helga remembers the small children on the Kindertransport , many of whom were distressed. 10,000 children travelled on the Kindertransports from Germany, Austria and occupied Sudetenland, between December 1938 and August 1939.. They had to leave their parents behind.

Gert Heuman (Geoffrey Hartman), “My passage to England was uneventful. But during the long train ride to the port in Holland, the boys with whom I travelled….became

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restless; they fool about with the one family object I was able to take along, a violin. We all play on it, or rather with it; another string breaks. Eventually the case cracks, we can see a label inside. On it there is a signature. It identifies the unrepairable instrument as a Stradivarius.” (5)

On April 15th Lilly’s sister Berthe arrived in Waddesdon and she carried on looking after the kitchens as she had done in Frankfurt. In June 8 more boys arrived, mostly in their teens but also one six year old. Some parents arrived late that summer seizing the last opportunity to leave before the war broke out.

Hans Hellman one of the Cedar Boys, (who became Jack Hellman) remembers knocking on the door of Waddesdon Manor and telling Mr De Rothschild, “My father’s cousin will give him and my mother a visa, providing he has a working permit.”

Without hesitation he said to me, ‘Would he work on a chicken farm?’

I said, ‘He’ll do anything’. (2)

There were complications with his father’s exit visa in Germany but his mother and father escaped. They arrived in Harwich on 1st September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland and the day before the war started. Once the war started emigration became impossible but it was several years before the facts emerged about what happened to those that remained.

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Dorothy and James de Rothschild 1929

Theresa Steinhardt (nee. Katzenstein) and her Daughter Marga 1947. (Hugo’s cousin’s wife and daughter )

After the war, the Steinhardt family began to learn what had happened during the Holocaust. Many in the family had managed to migrate in the 1930’s but others had not succeeded. Marga and her mother had survived but Marga’s father, Max (Hugo’s cousin) and her brother Alfred both died in the camps . Max died in1944 in Hailfingen near Stuttgart- a sub camp of the K.Z. Natzweiler concentration camp (which is near to Strasbourg in present day France). Alfred died in Auschwitz in 1944. Marga and her mother Theresa survived a death march and the Riga ghetto. Marga carried her mother on the march as her mother had severe frostbite. Theresa and Marga emigrated to the USA where Marga married and had two daughters and Theresa lived until she was 90.

Jenni (Hugo’s half-sister), and her husband Willy Meyer had taken over the draper’s shop in Friedberg in the early 1930’s. Jenni and Willy and their handicapped daughter Gisela were deported in 1942 to Darmstadt, then to Warsaw and eventually to the death camp at Treblinka where they died in 1942. (Jenni was 36 and Gisela was 10 years old). Hugo’s sister Greta Rosenthal, (nee Steinhardt) was deported to Theresienstadt in 1942 and then to Auschwitz in 1944 where she died on 9th October 1944 aged 67. Her husband Meir died in Theresienstadt in 1944. Their two sons; Ernst and Kurt were deported to Darmstadt, on route to Warsaw and Treblinka death camp where they died in their 20’s. *

Hermann Mangels, inhabitant of Friedberg, refers to the memory of Mimi Kratsch who also lived there: “ When Jenni was on deportation in Darmstadt she saw Mimi Kratsch, which live in our house, Judengasse 25, she was about the same age and at that time in college to become a teacher., and cried “Mimi, Mimi” but her mother calm down and said : ‘You might not call to Mimi, otherwise she gets trouble’ And Mimi got in tears, for she was not able to help.”

Bertha (Hugo’s sister) married Theo Rothschild (from Heldenbergen, a local small town,) and had one son Helmut. After Bertha died his father remarried, and had a second son. Father and new wife Rieta and little child all died in Treblinka in 1942.* Helmut had been given a place in the children’s home in Frankfurt and emigrated with the boys. He later joined Uncle Max at the bakery in New York in 1952 and married a San Salvadoran and lived in El Salvador until his death in his 50’s. Lore had been very fond of Werner Florsheim, (now Bernard Florsham). He accompanied her after school and he came out with the Kindertransport. He arrived in Coventry but stayed in Waddesdon during the bombing of Coventry. His parents took over the Frankfurt Boys’ Home after the Steinhardts left. Another 40 boys were admitted in the late 1930’s. Plans to evacuate them to Ecuador failed and the Florsheims, their younger son and all the new boys were deported and perished in Litzmannstadt (Lodz) in Poland. *Source- the Gedenkbuch

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The Rothschild family from Heldenberg. The woman on the top left is Ida steinhardt.(nee Rothschild). She married Hugo’s brother Max. Their son Gunther Steinhardt is at the bottom right. Their family went to New York in the late 1930’s. Nanny Rothschild is in the middle holding her son Kurt. Just to her right is Bertha Rothschild, nee Steinhardt. This is Hugo’s sister who died in 1935. Her husband Theo Rothschild is to her right. Their son Helmut is the small boy in the middle of the front row. At the age of 11 he went to the children’s home in Frankfurt and came to Waddesdon with his Uncle Hugo Steinhardt. Helmut, eventually went to El Salvador after the war. Ida and Theo’s father Abraham Rothschild is the elderly bearded man. It was Abraham’s 70th birthday. Abraham and his wife died naturally in the mid 1930’s. Within the next few years most of his family, shown on this picture, would perish in the Holocaust.. ( Rothschild was a common name and they were not related to the banking family) Photo 1930, source Monica kingreen.

Miss Casparius, the governess had suffered a similar fate. I remember Lore telling me of the agonising decisions by some of the boys’ parents about whether to let them go to England on their own. Most of those who chose to stay with their loved ones in Germany perished. (By 1945 only 602 Jews had remained in Frankfurt out of a population of over 14,000 in 1939).

Of the 31 boys who eventually arrived in Waddesdon, it was confirmed in 1945 that 14 of them had lost their nearest relatives, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters in the concentration camps.

The Steinhardts also learnt of the fate of some of their friends. They remembered Lore’s friend the doctor’s daughter and her family, who lived a comfortable lifestyle in a select part of town. Helga says, “They did not recognise that their life was in danger and they all perished in the holocaust”. Lotte Guthman- Lore’s friend from Wiesbaden, was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942. Lotte, unlike her father and brother survived the holocaust and emigrated to the United States after the war.

Lotte Guthman’s own testimony of the holocaust is available in print and she has spent a great deal of her life communicating the truth about what happened. (This involved travelling to Europe to tell her story to the next generation of Germans. In her account, ‘Dance Macabre on the Unfinished Autobahn’, she describes a trip to the edge of the Taunus mountains with her friends, who included Lotte Kahn. (see below and page 8.). Lotte Guthman also recounted what happened to the children in Hugo’s tutor group, on the photograph.

The following is taken from Lotte’Guthman’s description of her trip with her friends- Ruth Stern, Melanie (Friedl) Weyl, Trude Baum and Lotte Kahn. (Who is shown on the photograph above). The account refers to events in spring 1939- just after my mother and her family were to arrive safely in Waddesdon in England. I include it here as it gives a description of the world that they were escaping from, as well as indications of worse to come. (Lotte Guthmann was thirteen at the time of this trip).

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My Grandfather Hugo Steinhardt with a tutor groups in Wiesbaden. 1937. (See pg 10)(back): My mother Lore Steinhardt, Lotte Kahn: (Front)Paul Kleinstrass, Ellen Kahn (middle, unrelated) and Leo Kahn, (Lotte’s brother). Ellen migrated to Argentina with her family in 1938. Paul went to safety on a Kindertransport to Sweden, Leo was sent to Holland on a Kindertransport, but was deported when the Nazis invaded. Both he and his sister Lotte perished in Auschwitz...(Source, ‘Stationen’, by Charlotte Guthman Opfermann.)

“These excursions into the nearby mountains or the picturesque villages along the Rhine river are part of daily life in that part of Germany. After Kristallnacht, November 10 th

1938 it was no longer possible to enjoy such Sunday outings with my non-Jewish former classmates. Almost all these former classmate friends had turned their collective backs on me after the trauma of the Kristallnacht event. Consequently, I tried to reaffirm my Jewish friendships and now relied entirely on this shrinking circle, which grew smaller and smaller as some lucky families still managed to leave the country. Everyone tried to emigrate and escape the vague, undefined, threatening future which the German regime planned for the Jews. Few succeeded.

My friends … and I did not realise that this outing would be the apex of our time as teenage friends. We had known each other since the mid 1930’s, but we had become close friends only since the traumatic mid-November days 1938.

As we walked in the woods that afternoon, we came upon a truncated segment of Reichsautobahn under construction. There were banners proclaiming the economic importance of this project every few hundred meters along the way:

Germany was a great nation. The country and the Volksgenossen looked forward to a glorious future. Germany was the envy of the whole world. Thanks to the Fuhrer, there was work and gainful employment for everyone.

Reading these proud pronouncements, it was painfully clear to us that this prosperity, this good fortune, this glorious future no longer had anything to do with us.

We were not yet obligated to wear the conspicuous Yellow Star Badge on our clothing. If we were careful and tried not to attract any undue attention, we could still risk such a Sunday hike with measure of personal safety, enjoy the lovely countryside and the beautiful , sweet smelling forests which we loved so well

Almost all restaurants had posted the Juden unerwunscht (Jews not wanted ) sign. This was not a problem, and we had gladly packed our own Butterbrote for a picnic under God’s blue sky, rather than partake in the traditional, popular Weck, Worscht ‘n Woi (roll, sausage and apple cider of the region).

On the spur of the moment, our little group decided to climb a small hill formed by rocks and piled up dirt, leading to a span of unfinished Autobahn bridge near our forest path. It was a slippery climb. There were slick pine needles under foot and rocks and building debris everywhere. From the top of the little hill we looked around at the beautiful countryside, our homeland. We could see the Rhine in the distance, the Taunus mountain range on the horizon , fragrant pine trees all around. We inhaled deeply. The air was priceless.

We formed a small circle atop this little command post and, for a while, stood motionless as powerful, sad feelings welled up inside each of us. We could not formulate words for

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what was on our minds. We were young, had not experienced much of life. We felt an unbearable, undefinable, sadness, a foreboding of great dangers lurking ahead. We did not know how to ease the gnawing pain, how to share it or how to comfort one another.

Suddenly, Lotte Khan provided a moment of profound shock. She was always elegant, gracious, beautiful, polite, never anything less than a perfectly poised young lady. In the midst of our heavy silence, she briskly walked to the edge of the truncated bridge. Fearing for her safety, we shouted

But she ignored our concern and just kept walking until she stood at the edge, just inches from that sudden drop down several hundred feet onto rocky, craggy terrain. Standing at this perilous precipice, she took a deep breath and then spat on the stretch of road below……..

As if by some miracle, the release of that mouth full of her spit made all of us feel better. We relaxed, relieved that she had not come to harm……

Then we threw our heads back defiantly. Without saying a word, we formed a circle and on impulse danced an energetic Horrah, while the Fuehrer’s rough unfinished Autobahn bridge segment provided an improvised dance floor….and we stamped our feet in angry, defiant rhythm… We danced on and on until we collapsed, exhausted, totally out of that precious life sustaining breath.

The Horrah was not a dance in our normal dance-vocabulary-repertoire. We were more au courant with waltzes, tango, foxtrot, laendlers. It was popular among Zionists in the 1930’s, had been taught us and performed with us by Hachscharah students on their recruiting visits, and was- in our our minds- associated with being Jewish, with a hoped-for Jewish homeland in far away Palestine.

Our impromptu Horrah performance wasn’t much. But it was the best we could do at the moment. And it felt wonderful. In the end we choked, coughed, gasped for air. Still laughing, we sat on the ground. It wasn’t happy laughter. We had made a brave attempt to reassure one another. We were still here. We held on to each other’s shoulders and arms, conscious of our love and desperate need for one another.

…We were sure that we would stay together, stick up for each other, defy the threatening monster in whatever form, whenever and wherever it would finally face us. We did not know it then, but we were shadow boxing. Standing on this little hill, we were really being sucked slowly into the big Black Hole of the Holocaust that was to consume us all.” (6) Reproduced with permission of the author).

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Some relatives of the Steinhardts had managed to emigrate from Germany in the 1930’s and were now settled abroad. Hugo’s brother Max had been apprenticed to a baker and bought a bakery in Bed Schwalbach, not far from Friedberg. Max married Ida Rothschild, (the sister of Bertha’s husband Theo). Alfred, (Max’s oldest son by a previous marriage), managed to emigrate to the USA in 1938, and was employed in a bakery in New York. He sponsored his parents and brother Gunther so that they would be allowed to escape from Germany. They built up a successful bakery business there. Gunther is now still alive in West Palm Beach in Florida. Ida’s three brothers all perished in the holocaust.

Hugo’s brother Moritz was apprenticed to a watch-repairer and had his own business in Bad Nauheim , near Friedberg. He married Seline and they lived in Bad Nauheim, just North of Friedberg and they had three children .The eldest daughter Rosel married a farmer and managed to emigrate to Australia in 1939. They sent for their parents, their sister Liesel and their brother Keith. Keith is now aged 80, and is retired from a jewellery and watch repair business set up by his father in an elite area of Melbourne. Seline later learnt that numerous members of her family also perished in the holocaust. There are a number of second generation offspring and Helga’s son David, who lives in New Zealand, met them a few years ago.

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Left:Keith Steinhardt 1942 (Hugo’s nephew). Australian forces.

Right:Hugo’s brother Moritz in middle with his wife Selina, and daughter |Liesel on right, her husband on left

Prize to Erwin Freilich, one of the Boys at the Cedars.

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Erwin Freilich 1939

Lilly, Hugo , Lore and Helga , and the 31 boys settled in their new surroundings in England. They were now known as the Cedar Boys after the large mock Tudor house that was provided for them in Waddesdon, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. This had been originally built on the Rothschild estate as a maternity home but had been left empty. They were provided with furniture and basic necessities by the Rothschilds. However I remember Lore saying that they had to go to the manor to ask for extra money to cover extras, such as clothes, visits, presents etc as they had left Germany with nothing of value and just a few belongings. Jack Helman said the villagers made them very welcome. Soon they would go to the village school.

He recalls, ‘The first day that we got to the Cedars, the first thing we did was throw a soccer ball on the lawn and kick it around. The local boys came to see what was all of a sudden being brought into their village. They said ,’We’ll see you tomorrow.’ I was so excited. I was absolutely so exuberant. I ran to my house mother (Lilly) and told her, ‘Somebody who’s not Jewish wants to see us tomorrow.’ (2)

Geoffrey Hartman, (Gert Heuman), recalls sitting in a room at the Cedars with a dozen boys, looking at a map of Europe and Russia, ‘glued to a small, crackling radio’. They shifted coloured pins to indicate the progress of the German army, invading Russia. He recalls, ‘To us it does not matter whether the pins move forward or backward. It is just too exciting to follow one battle after another.” (6)

Gert recalls receiving two postcards from his grandmother who had been left behind in Frankfurt. ‘The postcards come from a place called Theresienstadt, and the stamps ( I am an avid collector), interest me. A message forwarded by the Red Cross says: I am in good health; everything is fine. The idea forms in me that Theresienstadt is a vacation spot, or where old people go to be cared for.’ (6)

Gert continues, ‘Only here and there did the consciousness that I was a Jewish refugee disturb me enough that I recall the very moments. At another level of course , I was always conscious of it. The Germanic upbringing which continued at the Cedars stressed obligations and also therefore that our food and clothes, our education were provided by charity.’

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Gert Heumann and Peter Gortatowski,Waddesdon 1940

Waddesdon

Geoffrey (Gert) recalls the time when a group of Eastern European Jewish refugees were housed temporarily in Waddesdon village recreation hall. The hall was , ‘packed full one day with a motley , unwashed crew. We were told that they too were refugees, but from the East, Ostjuden. The inhabitants of Waddesdon, who could scarcely distinguish German refugees from German spies, were faced with people whose habits were utterly unlike theirs or ours. These colourful D.P.s were given to talking and gesturing unintelligibly and … to haggling in the shops! I remember disavowing them: We (the German refugees) have nothing to do with them.’ (6)The pressure that he felt to assimilate, he believes, ‘did not come from admonition but from homelessness’. His mother had fled to America, unable to get a visa for her son. He was left to escape on the Kindertransport with the Steinhardts and the rest of the ‘Cedar boys’.

Bernd Katz remembers ‘There was a club in town where they put on shows and boxing matches’. Heinz Meyer Bender (who changed his name to Henry Black) was the boys representative in the boxing and was very successful. He won the North London Junior Boxing title in 1940.Henry became an estate manager in Norfolk. Bernd also remembered a show where they all had to sing the ‘Lorelei.’ (1)

In 1939 the first of the boys left for Israel. In 1940 four more went to the USA, including Bernd Katz. Some were reunited with relatives. Those over 18 were keen to enlist to fight against the Nazis. At first they had to join the Pioneer Corps but eventually joined the regular British armed services. German sounding surnames were changed in preparation for the invasion of Europe thus protecting any Jewish soldiers who were captured.

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Henry Black. British armed forces 1940’s.

The remaining Cedar Boys 1944.

After the war others were reunited in the USA with relatives who had survived. Two who had no surviving relatives settled on a kibbutz in Israel. The boys generally made a success of their lives, for example in estate management, teaching, academia and business .One boy Uri Seller, (originally Ulrich Stobiecka), eventually worked for the Israeli Embassy. He said after the end of World War Two, “We had to pick ourselves up and say , O.K. what now?” (3). Hans Bodeinheimer eventually worked in a Golf Course near the coast in Israel. He was active in three major Israeli wars as well as having a role in the raid on Entebbe.

Bernard katz. British forces,early 1940’s

Ulrich Stobiecka and Hans Bodenheimer Waddesdon 1940.

Uri’s responsibilities included working with Russian Jews who were migrating to Israel and also aiding Ethiopian Jews who were airlifted to Israel in ‘Operation Moses’ during the 1980’s. The latter involved Uri in operations in Southern Sudan.

Uri’s wife Granta has given Berndt Katz some hints that Uri was involved in a dramatic rescue from Khartoum. In the spring of 1985 President Jafaar Numeira, the pro Western Sudanese leader was overthrown, to be replaced by a new Islamic government. The new government received a tip off that Israeli agents were operating from Khartoum. The airport was closed and the Israelis went to the Americans for help. The Israelis were moved secretly from house to house each night in an American Embassy minibus. Finally the Sudanese were becoming suspicious of the Americans and CIA technicians built special crates, one for each Israeli agent. The crates were fitted with holes and plastic tubes for breathing as well as solid-state oxygen tanks in case the holes became blocked. A cargo aircraft flew to Khartoum after the airport was reopened. The plane managed to quickly take off for Nairobi, where the Israelis were given new identities to

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cover travel back to Israel. Grania enclosed a note to Berndt Katz, “Notice, Uri is not claustrophobic” (1).

Lore and Helga attended a prep school in Aylesbury. Lore was about to take her School Certificate in May 1940 when she was interred as an enemy alien. All those aged 16 and over were interned . Hugo was granted exemption, presumably on health grounds. She was sent to the Port Erin internment camp on the Isle of Man where Helga says , “she enjoyed the company of others in her age group”. She went swimming daily and took part in activities organised by the refugees. Whilst on the Isle of Man, Helga believes that Lore met a young man who wanted her to emigrate to Palestine with him but her parents were not keen to loose her. She was released from the Isle of Man after six weeks, and had to change to a better school so she could retake her exams. Her interests in the kibbutzim and migration to Israel surfaced again later in 1942.

Lore and Lilly in 1940, a year after Aunty Bertha, Lilly’s sister. Outside the

Arriving in England. Cedars 1947. Bertha died in 1955.During her spare time in 1940-41 Lore entertained the villagers and evacuees with her performances as a skilled acrobat and gymnast. She also took part in dancing displays and drama. In the holidays she worked in the Manor nurseries and assisted the W.V.S She had gone to Bristol to study domestic science but left in 1941. The course was not what she envisaged . She applied to join the WAAF’s but was rejected, Helga thinks possibly because of her nationality.

The following is taken from Lore’s (my mother’s) diary which was written from the end of 1941 to September 1942. I have only included some passages which I think are relevent to this account. (Some of it is difficult to read). However I believe this writing shows with honesty the challenges that she faced in a new and often bewildering environment, as she attempted to make her way towards an independent life.

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Documents for Lore Steinhardt.She was Interned in Port Erin, Isle of Man.. on 27th May 1940 just after her 16th birthday . This was because she was classified as an ‘enemy alien’ in Britain. She was released on 2nd July 1940. Also map of Port Erin.

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Lore started her diary whilst studying domestic science in Bristol and also Torquay. From hindsight, the detailed study of how to run a house, iron, starch, cook etc seems an odd choice for my mother who was not the most patient housewife. However, no doubt it seemed a pragmatic choice for Lore at the time. Perhaps they felt this would help her find employment easily in difficult times. It was written in English, an achievement in itself, as she had only been in Britain for just over two years.

A lot of her diary is taken up with concerns over her exams and how her family would react if she failed them. It refers also to her reflections on being a Jew and how she became attracted to the Zionism of the times.Torquay 17th June

The boarding house is very comfortable, rather too much food- for too little exercise. I cant get anybody to do anything with me. We are just talking about dances…I don’t like the work much so far- not enough patience yet to sit down a long time. I want to be moving all the time,

…………I had an interesting talk with a sergeant on the train. I’ll mention it tomorrow.

18th June 1942

..6 hours laundry work-doing everything wrong-spending two hours starching one serviette…The soldier on the train asked me in the corridor-what was the idea of cutting up frogs etc. (Lore studied Biology as part of the as Domestic Science course). He looks after 150 men, they get bad food, badly cooked rice everyday, some cooks who don’t even know there’s more than one way of cooking rice and here he comes into the railway compartment and finds 5 girls talking about dissecting worms etc. What he meant was that they ought to do something more useful – as they only get married after they got their degree. I wanted an explanation- but he was one of the people with too much common sense. He said, “I am one of those unfortunate people who get ideas and when I bring them before my officials I cannot succeed.”

After having had four hours of needlework we went bathing down to the beach-it was lovely, striking against the waves – which were not very big-then looking in the sun which was not too bad, just nice. I started reading, ‘The Song of the Valley’ (Sholem Asch’s 1939 novel). It ought to interest me how the first settler came to K….K.. I am afraid I have lost some of my Jewish interests lately- I don’t know if living away from home makes any difference to that. After dinner I started my essay on laundry work and I feel quite relieved now that I finished it.

21st June 1942Torbuk, Bardia etc have fallen again. This is just being announced on the wireless- that is why I am so interested-otherwise politics do not mean much to me, except for special events-It is just about 2 years since the fall of France –I was interned then. June 21st 1941, Hitler attacked Russia.

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Excerpts from Lore’s ‘certificate of Registration’ issued by the British Government to individuals defined as ‘aliens’ under the Aliens Order of 1920

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(Torbruk and Bardia were in North Africa- the Germans had just re-captured them from the allies).

The whole atmosphere reminds me of the camp (Isle of Man)-Burning sun and crowded beach- except that it was full of women and now it is full of men and mixed around . A group of showgirls have been lying near us this afternoon, most common objects-my idea of going onto the stage have been blown away a long time ago. I swam quite half a mile this morning and as much this afternoon. Talking about being burnt- I am all a glow- cooking from inside… Talking about food, last night our landlady who had some more visitors said it may be an advantage to us as we would get better meals but then she said something like, ‘ I could be a Jew the way I talk’, I am sorry to say that I cannot exactly quote the words she used’ . But the food here could not be any better-Excellent for wartime……I have just been thinking how Joan used to scratch her marg. and worry about their ration for two and here I am having hotel food.

June 22nd 1942

A day of needlework, shopping, spending money, one letter from (?), Mum and one from Daddy. A second evidence of our landlady’s anti-Semitism. This is the third time she mentions Jews in this manner, if she knew I was Jewish- I am sure she would refuse to keep me any longer. Still I am quite proud of it. Perhaps the book by Scholem Asch has reminded me again that I am a Jew- I had thought of it for a long time. I would like to discuss it with T, who gave it to me, ie if he writes to me.

I enjoyed my swim today. This afternoon we went to Lockington(?), a lovely little village surrounded by a huge cultivated ‘wild’ park with pools and ducks which reminded me of Nauheim.

June 29th 1942

What a horrid desperate day it has been. I started off so energetically going down the beach at 8.45 this morning. There was not a soul except the seagulls and empty deckchairs. The sun was brilliant and I tried to read with some success, after a successful swim. I felt so much better. What a difference a bit of exercise makes. It was getting cloudier and cloudier- I had just comfortably finished my murder story, where to my annoyance the murderer turned out to be the Jew- then I had to go back……….

July 1st 1942

Two years ago today I came back from the internment camp.

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July 13th 1942(After failing her practical exams but doing well in Zoology and Botany, Lore returned to Waddesdon.)

Home again- what a life.. what am I going to do-University life is finished for good…….next thing is the forces- what if they don’t accept me?…. Daddie is of the opinion we have to help the war activity or England will turn against us afterwards…

Monday July 29th

I have not been writing in this book for a considerable length of time, perhaps I feel happy in spite of having to join the ATS and having to work hard all day in the gardens , dumb and dull work mostly the same, from planting lettuce, picking up potatoes, picking fruit, pulling out carrots, cauliflower stumps, weeding all by myself in a potato field, clearing out stables.. get the same everyday, quite nice company, if it’s the girls, less pleasant is working with the men, accept for Mr Wise and the dullest is being by myself. At the end of the week I am expecting .. with the recruiting officer-I am hoping to get a job in PT but I doubt it. (The Rothschilds owned a manor house and large estate in Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire. Much of the estate would have been given over to growing food for the war effort. PT was physical training.)

After 4 monotonous weeks in the gardens I am hoping to go camping with the Habonim for a week. There is a boy from….(?) who comes every week to talk on Zionism. He made an impression on me first time I saw him carrying water cans in the garden. He made me think that he is probably very enthusiastic and energetic and that everybody can be like that to make life worth living….It seems very queer and silly to me that I can ever have doubted it, feeling as normal and ordinary now I must have been going bonkers.. Now I am independent, earning my won money, it sounds great but I get about £2.80s a week, 15shillings of which I have to pay home- but army pay is less..

We had an excellent discussion on the night ..(?) about the Jewish problem. I hope he has not influenced me too much with his talk, although it is only to the good. I am too easily influenced by other people. I am looking forward to next time, because it is so dumb and dull in the evenings.. weeding all day makes you think and when I think I want to write it down.. Now for the day in London…ATS-what an awful word..

First of all I left a pair off gloves on the bus before the interview -coming up I addressed somebody else by the name of the person I had an appointment with. I stammered and staggered and he knew nothing about it, but it was only for a minute until the secretary rescued me but the Commander Glen, quite friendly but she disappointed me to tears I am afraid to say. I feel an awful fool afterwards, a friend of Mrs Rothschilds and seeing me cry, but still there was no PT, nothing but a place of a cook or jobs like charwoman open for me and knowing that I had to say yes did not make it too easy. ‘Had I tried the WAAF?’ ‘No, I did not know that they would take non-friendly aliens, such as I am cursed to be.’

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WAAF recruiting office-the whole atmosphere was different and I felt more confident-Now what sort of job was I fit for, if physically very fit -balloon operator but no thank you- they told me I would use fluent German- but afterwards it was stated to be a mistake. Too dangerous. Then there was meteorology- but that was the thing I want and I am hoping to get.

The first time, I remember having read this..

‘Your night is not daylight, I know itIt is some meteor that the sun exhalesTo be to thee this night a torchbearer’

But Shakespeare will not have much to do with modern meteorology.

Sept 3rd 1942

Three years of war-I won’t look back…but events of great importance for my personal life have happened in the past three weeks which have reformed my attitude towards life that I feel it necessary to put down.

Having returned from the Habonim camp I think they have now convinced me to the one aim in Jewish life-Zionism and Palestine. Having been refused to the WAAF. I am determined that I want to go on Hachscharah- the greatest objection are naturally my parents and mummy regarding it as the last straw and her mind being pre-occupied by former M…(?) which are supposed to have happened and given the Kibbutzim a bad name, it will be a difficult task to convince her, though I am working hard at it, sending out delegate etc after having had a conference with P. and H.. last time 2 days ago in London. (Habonim was a Jewish sports group with Zionist interests. Hachschara was pre-kibbutz training, ready for immigration to Israel.)

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Left: Lore’s Hannukah booklet 1941. Above ‘The Cedars’, Waddesdon.

We had an absolute splendid time during the camp which made me feel very much happier-we had real people, boys and girls that share the same fate-speak the same language without hesitation, have the same interests and ideas- play and work together, gave me a feeling of self satisfaction extinguishing all inferiority complexes which are quite unnecessary here –as a matter of fact I became quite popular which would be unusual if amongst English people.

It is true we had a bit of a wild life which was the fun of the holiday-late night and never to bed before 2-childish games and fights , climbing trees, sport, swimming hitch hiking on boiling hot days for excursions-discussions…. and singing all the time. Especially meeting new people who are of the greatest attractions-unfortunately there were people whom I would have liked to have known better but I did not get a chance. One was P. who is most peculiar, very quiet and restrained and then silly like a child. He ran away from home as his parents would not let him go to H.. He is terrible idealistic and would end up giving everything up –personal affairs and all for his ideas and aim….

On the whole I am convinced we all behaved well and natural but the fun is over now and I am seriously thinking to fight my way through. It is still doubtful I shall succeed- I am standing before a very great problem, either my parents or the big idea represented by me, one has to give in. It is about time now that I should be able to what I want, know it and be responsible too.

18th September 1942 Newport Pagnell

21st September Yom Kippur. (The diary finishes) (1942).

Lore and Helga’s father died in October 1942 in England. Helga writes: “Hugo had never recovered his health after his appalling treatment in the Buchenwald concentration camp.”

Helga has recently told me of here recollections of her father’s character. As well as his academic skills and practical abilities he was a good, powerful singer and enjoyed a ready sense of humour. His favourite magazine in England was ‘Titbits’. He was; “an affectionate, generous father”. Helga, recalls that he was also generous to relatives who often asked for loans and was tolerant of house guests, (often relatives) who had come to live with them and were, ‘sometimes argumentative’.

The following testimonial I believe is a fitting epitaph to him. It was written by his employers at the children’s home, on his release from Buchenwald and prior to emigrating to England:

The Assistant Master Mr Steinhardt was responsible for the leadership of the Flersheim Sichel Stiftung from October 1937 to March 1939. The Home had the task of educating gifted children from needy backgrounds to become competent adults, ready to enter the world of employment. In the first place, Mr Steinhardt had to assess the intellectual abilities and characters of his students, to educate them and to supervise their progress in school. He also gave guidance to the ancillary teaching staff and negotiated with welfare authorities and other organisations. The greater the extent of his responsibilities,

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the more demanding they became. He carried out his duties with all the seriousness and conscientiousness commensurate with his personality.During his tenure the Home was filled to capacity, the number of students rising to thirty-three from different backgrounds and of varying ages, who had to learn to live in harmony with each other. Mr Steinhardt achieved this by diligently creating a community, which offered a cheerful atmosphere at all times, both at work and play.He is an excellent judge of character and teacher, calm, unbiased and resolute. In the selection of these young people, he has shown his accurate psychological understanding for each and every one of his students. He is a sociable and sensitive person, who sympathised with the misfortunes suffered by some of them. He is also a man with a good sense of humour and youthfulness and readily joins in with play and festivities. Obviously, as a talented philologist he stimulates his students in their academic performance. His relationship with parents and the Board of Governors was always excellent. Owing to his peace loving nature he encountered no problems of any kind in this respect. He has a strong work ethic and knew how to deal efficiently with the many queries. The most difficult transfer of the entire Home to England was accomplished calmly and with great assurance by Mr Steinhardt within a matter of days. He was ably assisted by his wife in all his actions, she will receive her own testimonial. We thank Mr Steinhardt for his services, which were performed under the most difficult conditions and we wish him and all his family the very best for the future.

Dr Albert Hirsch, Chairman of the Flersheim Sichel Stiftung, Frankfurt 1939.

Helga says, “He, never spoke to his family about his horrendous treatment in Buchenwald Camp because inmates had been sworn to secrecy. (He) was probably worried about repercussions on those left behind”.

Lilly had to carry on as well as she could on her own, with two daughters and the boys to look after. Reading the boys accounts, it is obvious that they had enough to cope with during this period. As well as the anxiety and in many cases grief over families, they had find direction in their own lives. Bernd Katz remarks about the Steinhardts, in his account: ‘We did not appreciate their efforts at the time . In retrospect…it could not have been easy to raise thirty boys, most of them in their teens, in a new and strange country.’ Some of the boys were really happy in Waddesdon. Bernd Katz comments: ‘Jack enjoyed his time at Waddesdon among friends who accepted him even though he was Jewish. His parents were very happy there as well in spite of the fact that they lived in a tiny space in an attic.’ (1)However, not all the boys were happy. The Rothschilds helped with George who had a breakdown and Ted Freuhdenthal says that in 1943, ‘ I had problems with Mrs Steinhardt…It was a dispute over food and money and I was asked to leave the Cedars.’ (1)He went to live in Aylesbury. Most of the boys were successful in life, perhaps reflecting the thoughts of one of the boys Otto Decker who eventually went to Puerto Rico where he owned an engineering company “ I think our experience made us more determined and more ambitious to succeed in life, to justify why we survived when so many died.” (3)

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Hans Hellman (Jack) in British forces uniform 1940.

After the war Lilly returned to Germany to find out information about relatives and to investigate compensation for their losses. I remember my mother saying that Lilly returned from the destruction in Germany to say, “She now even felt sorry for the German people”.

After her father’s death, Lore seems to have abandoned thoughts of Zionism and migration to Israel. She waited forty years or so, before visiting Israel, going on holiday there after her retirement.

As everyone was expected to do war work, in February 1943 Lore took up a training course with the Ministry of Supply and started work in Cambridge as a lab technician. It was here that she met Ken Godden whom she married in 1946. I remember asking my mother what Lilly thought of her marrying a non-Jew. Lore told me that she was not keen to start with but later came round, being impressed with Ken, my father and pleased that Lore now had, ‘someone to look after her’ She went to Bolton and worked in a Girl’s Hostel before her marriage. She later trained as a teacher at St. Katherine’s Training College which was evacuated from Liverpool to the Lake District. Helga went to Manchester University to study languages, following Ken and Lore who were now living in rented accommodation in the city.

Lore and Ken had two children, Joseph and myself, Jeremy and they continued to live in the North of England. Sometime in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s Helga married Tom Brown a college lecturer and had 6 children Karen, Jeanette, David, Jonathan, Andrew and Jaqueline and lived in Liverpool and various parts of the south and midlands of England. Helga and Lore both worked as teachers. Lore worked in Secondary and Primary schools and with excluded children. Helga trained in Leicester in 1950 and spent 10 years teaching at a training centre for children with Cerebral Palsy and two years teaching English as a Second Language. Lilly moved to a smaller house in Waddesdon when the boys and her daughters had all left. She continued to find great satisfaction in offering

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Otto (left) and Rolf Decker. The Cedars 1939.

hospitality to her family and her “boys”, who were now spread all over the world. She died in 1980 and was buried in Bushey cemetery near Watford. (Hugo is buried in Willesden Jewish Cemetery in London.). Helga now continues the tradition of keeping in touch with everyone including many children and grandchildren.

In 1981 Bernd Katz recalls doing some survey work at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. He was doing business with a contractor on site:

I gave him my card, he looked at it and said, ‘Where are you from?’

I answered ‘Queens’.

He said, ‘No before that’.

I said, ‘Frankfurt’

His next words gave me goose bumps, ‘Floersheim Sichel Stiftung?’

I said, ‘Yes, how did you know?’ I looked at his business card again; it gave his name as Jack Helman. He then told me that it originally had been Hans Hellman

The result was a reunion in America and then eventually one in July 28th 1983 at Waddesdon Manor in England. (1). Most of the boys had not seen each other for over 40 years. Mrs de Rothschild, then 89 years old welcomed 15 of the boys and Lore and Helga to a lively meal at the Manor (which was now owned by the National Trust). They also revisited the Cedars which is now a private house.

In 1993 the remaining Cedar Boys and Girls unveiled a plaque dedicated to Lord and Lady Rothschild. The wording reads; “This plaque is dedicated to the revered memory of Mr and Mrs de Rothschild by the Cedar Boys and Girls in gratitude for sanctuary at a time of conflict, 1939”. Rabbi Malcolm Weisman gave a speech in which he said, “It is no exageration to say that the Cedar Boys and Girls owed their lives to the Rothschilds.” (4)

..

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.

Reunion in 1983. (New York Times Article.) Helga front left, Lore front middle, Uri Sella front right

Lore’s great passion became studying and practising art , and voluntary work, including working with Vietnamese refugees. She died in November 1991 aged 67. Ken and Lore had retired to the countryside of the North Staffordshire Moorlands.. (As is the Jewish custom, a tree was planted in Israel to remember her by. This was arranged by one of her American relatives.) She is buried in the parish graveyard in the village of Ipstones, surrounded by the peaceful hills of the English Peak District.

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“The Circle” by Lore Godden nee Steinhardt.

Bibliography and Refere

(1)Unpublished accounts about the Cedar Boys by Bernd Katz and also Helga Brown

(2) Into The Arms of Strangers- Stories of the Kindertransport- Jonathan Harris and Deborah Oppenheimer

(3) New York Times: July 28th 1983

(4)The Cedar Boys by Helga Brown (Nee Steinhardt). (Unpublished).

(5) Geoffrey Hartman, ‘The Longest Shadow’ Palgrave Macmillan. 2002, reproduced with permission

‘Hugo Steinhardt’, Butzbacher Geschischts-Blatter 5.11.98 Werner Wagner

Unpublished diary 1942- Lore Steinhardt. (With permission of Ken Godden).

‘Vor den Nazis Gerettet’- chapter on the Cedar Boys by Christine Lenger, Judischen Museum, Frankfurt am Main.

‘Judische Landleben in Windecken, Ostheim, und Heldenbergen’, by Monica Kingreen.

‘Letters to Aunty Fori’ Martin Gilbert

‘Nazi Germany and the Jews’ 1933-1939 Saul Friedlander

Stories of an exhibition- 2 Millenia of German Jewish History- Jewish Museum , Berlin.

(6)Further Reading: The numerous books and articles written by

Charlotte Guthman Opfermann. She writes about herself and her friends

who could not escape from Germany. Her work includes extremely

harrowing accounts of Theresienstadt.

(“The Art of Darkness”; University Trace Press.

(“Stationen”, Foerderkreis Aktives Museum, Wiesbaden)

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Jews at Prayer, by Lore Godden (Nee steinhardt

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