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You are here: Home / Archives for Henry Wuga

Henry Wuga

Henry Wuga – June 1940 The Fun And Normal Life Come To An Abrupt End

The refugee committee informed me that I need to go to the high court in Edinburgh. A lawyer from the committee accompanied me to the high court but he was not allowed into the hearing. At the High court in Edinburgh I was convicted of “Corresponding with the Enemy” a very serious offence during wartime. My letters to my parents were sent to my uncle Salo Würzburger in Brussels which in 1940 was a neutral country. Uncle Salo then forwarded the letters on to Germany. The answer came back by the same route and the letters were intercepted by the censor.

The Judge, Sir John Strachan made me A Dangerous Enemy Alien Category A. I was arrested, I was just 16y (a juvenile). I was shocked but not frightened.

Two Detectives escorted me to Waverly Station, put me in a locked compartment on the Glasgow train, all alone. Collected at Queen’s Street Glasgow by 2 policemen and taken home to Hurwichs. Allowed 1 phone call and packed the minimum of clothing in a holdall.  Next stop Police Headquarters. The Sargent said: “Cannie tak the Laddie. He’s under 17, not allowed in a cell”. A civilised country!  A stressful day but I was well treated by the policemen. They panicked, what to do with this Dangerous ‘Cat. A’ boy?

A Remand Home for Juvenile offenders, was the answer. Boys of 13/15y waiting to go to court the next day for stealing and other offences. I was greeted by these boys: “What did ye dae?” As I “didnae dae onythin” I lost their esteem. My cigarettes were deposited in the Governor’s office. He was kind and meant well, giving me permission to smoke in his office. I knew better. I would have been ridiculed. A most stressful day. Did I sleep well for the two nights I was there? I can’t remember!

I was transferred to Maryhill Barrack’s, a large military base in Glasgow now a prisoner of war camp. Rudolf Hess was held there after his “peace” flight.

Shared a Cement Air raid Shelter with 21 captured German Merchant Sailors. Here I was once again in a hostile environment. Jewish, German and Category A. There were anti-Semitic remarks, however some senior ranking officers protected me. A stressful time, as prisoners we were confined with nothing to relieve the feeling of imprisonment.

Two weeks later the journey continued by bus to Donaldson school in Edinburgh, a large former Deaf School at Corstorphine, now an internment camp. I was once again with the same German sailors, fortunately I did not have to share their dormitory.

The war was going badly after the Dunkirk evacuation. Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Banged the Cabinet Table “Collar the Lot” was the phrase he used. The internment of enemy aliens, German and Italian, even the “friendly Continental Jewish refugees” began. Churchill was driven to that by the relentless virulent anti foreigner’s campaign by the tabloid press, The Mail, Express & Sun. “Expel the foreigners, lock them up etc.”

An unnecessary decision, we came here to flee from the Nazis and to help defeat them.

At Donaldson’s the commandant asked “Is there anyone here who can cook?”  I put my hand up, “yes, I can cook!”. My apprenticeship in Baden Baden in 1938 made me confident.

Thinking back, the temerity of youth made me volunteer. “Within 72 hours 170 internees will arrive, you need to prepare meals” The army provided the rations and I found myself

in charge of the kitchen with a staff of 12 German sailors in this large institutional kitchen,

and we cooked. One sailor called me “ein dreckiger Jude” a dirty Jew. Another knocked him out. British Corporal was assigned to keep things normal. We worked hard for 10 days.

General Internment had been ordered and amongst the arrivals of the men was my cousin Gustav Würzburger and my future father in law Ascher Wolff.

It is now July and while at Donaldson’s we fortunately missed being sent to Canada on the SS Arandora Star, which was tragically torpedoed off Ireland with the loss of hundreds of lives of Internees.

Time to move on again by train to York Racecourse. Corporal produced a list of rations for the train: Oatmeal potatoes, beans etc. I pointed out that we will not have any cooking facilities,

“We need bread and corned beef.” I was not afraid to speak up again, I spoke the truth.

We were quartered below the stands of the race course. Very basic cold and damp.  Now separated from the German sailors, just mostly German Jewish Refugees.  Only a few days there. I remember lectures on hygiene, no doubt they had concerns about homosexuality.  A boring time, constant roll calls to check the number of prisoners.

The minute you became familiar with the new camp and fellow internees, it was time to move on.

Now August and on to camp No 5. Warth Mills near Bury Lancashire, on old cotton mill. It turned out to be the most horrendous experience of all the camps.  2000 men crammed into the filthy oily floors of this disused mill. On arrival we were strip searched, I remember joining the long queue to be searched. I lost most of my personal belongings, fountain pen, pocket knife, wrist watch, never to be seen again. A fairly rough going over by the soldiers.

It was intimidating and frightening we were just the German Enemy!

Given a hessian sack to fill with straw. That was your bed, now find a place on the floor to sleep. Overcrowding sparked a tense situation that led to sickness. Injuries from falling overhead transmissions, a dangerous time. Basic toilet facilities consisted of 60 buckets in a yard and 18 water taps for 2000 men. At night crossing the yard the guards would       shout:

“Halt or I Shoot”. I recall one man so upset that he pulled open his shirt and said “SHOOT”

Someone described it as “Hell on Earth” You can imagine the in adequacy of the food.

The eating area was called Starvation Hall. There were many Doctors amongst the Internees, they were afraid of an epidemic occurring in these dangerous conditions.

On a lighter note, unbelievably the only item that was plentiful was Carnation Milk in tins for your porridge, so sweet and sickly, that I have not touched it since.

It was a very hard 2 weeks at Warth Mills, tense and dangerous, Soldiers with guns and bayonets.  The officers and men were eventually court martialled for the unnecessarily brutal treatment of the Internees. It is a sad reflection on the Government’s panicky handling of the Internment of Aliens. They knew who we were and why we sought asylum in the UK. to escape the Nazi persecution of Jews.

Time to move again to Hyton Liverpool on our way to the Isle of Man. How do you create a camp quickly? Hyton was an unfinished housing scheme, simply enclose with barbed wire  and hey Presto you have a camp. We only stayed 2 days.  At Liverpool we embarked for the IoM where many camps were ready. Simply whole sections of Hotels and Boarding houses surrounded by barbed wire, in Douglas ,Ramsay, Peel and Port Erin (women).

A smooth 3hour crossing of the Irish Sea. Our destination was Peveril Camp Peel on the West Coast of the island.

Walked from the harbour to the railway station, a narrow gage small train took us to Peel, about 80 internees. Peveril Camp consisted of the last 8 hotels at the end of the promenade, overlooking PEEL BAY and Castle. This looked very promising,

Reasonable accommodation, double rooms. House No 6, 12 rooms on 3 storeys.

24 Internees age groups 25 to 60 plus. Mostly German Jewish refugees and some political German detainees. I was the only CHILD aged 16 detained by MI5 !!

Knowing we were here for the long term, you settled down and made friends. Food was reasonable, no shortages.

Business people, teachers’ doctors galore, University professors and also “ordinary” Jewish refugees, all missing their dear ones let in the UK. It did not take long to establish discussion groups, theatre and music debating groups. We all had time on our hands. Interrupted careers, no income, one letter a week, everybody had family torn apart.

For me it was a great learning experience like a look into adult life and a whole new education. No Newspapers allowed, we followed the course of the war by radio when permitted. The authorities began to understand we were not “Enemy Aliens” but a well educated

Refugees from the Nazis and are anxious to help the war effort towards victory. We organised the postal system, we hated the disruption of the constant ROLL Calls and found a better system which the camp commander accepted. We refused to go for walks or swimming accompanied by soldiers with guns and bayonets, they began to understand, we were not going to escape, Things settled down to mutual cooperation.

Professor Hans Gal, who had lived Edinburgh, published his daily diaries in German and English, from a camp in Douglas, a really special insight, worth reading.

To combat illness, we were divided into groups by our doctors, to test different foods or medicines. It WORKED.

Many men played Chess, but with their backs to the chess board, given 10 seconds to call out the next move. Quite a challenge !! Many musical instruments arrived from their homes in UK and Music and Theatre flourished . Cabarets, Shows also for the Officers. We were taken to Douglas to see the Charlie Chaplin Film : The Great Dictator, making fun of Hitler. Life went on. Several people were released for hardship or medical reasons. We all hoped to get home soon.

We were allowed a weekly letter. My letter was used to complain to the authorities. It was sent to the liberal Manchester Guardian and Eleanor Rathbone MP(known as MP for the refugees). We  argued that we should be released to help with the war effort and defeat the Nazis. This exposure got our comments mentioned at Prime Ministers Question Time.  In spite of being behind barbed wire it gave us a feeling of living in democratic country.

I was called to several Tribunals to be reassessed. Did I really correspond with the enemy?

I got a new roommate, a German officer a Metallurgist working at the British Aluminium Co.

in Fort William. He turned out to be an MI5 Agent. He spoke Perfect German and Oxford English. He gave lectures in metallurgy, to fool us of his identity.

He tried to get me drunk and searched for information, which I did not have or know.

An unpleasant episode. But his report must have convinced them that I was CLEAN.

Which eventually led to my release. In 2008 I received a document through Freedom of Information from MOD that they did think I was a spy.

Many more boring months went by. Met many interesting people and made good friends. A Yorkshire man who had no German connections wondered why he was interned. It turned out his grandfather was German and had never become British. Poor man found it difficult to take. However, he taught me about Tabaco. Gather certain leaves, cure them with Salpeter, put them in a sardine tin place under 1 leg of your bed and the pressure will make solid Tabaco. You learned a lot about making do.

I was transferred to Ramsay Camp for just 2 days to be released. The commandant told me: “I cannot keep you a day longer as you are under the age for internment” which was 18.

Such is the bureaucracy of wartime. The journey home was frightening. All ALONE after being in a friendly community for 10 long months. Had vouchers for Boat and Train, But which Boat? Where to find train to Glasgow in Liverpool station? Remember it is wartime, who do I ask?

A warm welcome from Mrs. Hurwich. I have come HOME.

What Now?  I found a job as apprentice Chef at the Corn Exchange restaurant.

Found the Refugee Club with lots of young people, “The House on the Hill in Sauchiehall Street “Where I met Ingrid. As they say “The Rest Is History”.

Henry Wuga – Personal Diary

My first 23 months in the United Kingdom May 1939 to April 1941

An incredible experience for a German Jewish Refugee Boy aged 15 to 17 years

May 1939

Arrived by Kindertransport train at Liverpool Street Station London

Next day by Royal Scott train from Euston to Glasgow

Welcomed by Mrs. E. Hurwich, my Guarantor

June 1939

At Queen’s Park School, Summer Holiday in Kirkcudbright with Sassoon Family

September outbreak of War

Evacuated with school to Perthshire

March 1940

Back in Glasgow at Mrs Hurwich

June 1940

At High Court in Edinburgh found guilty of “Corresponding with the Enemy” Arrested as Dangerous Enemy Alien Category A

Interned in 7 different Internment Camps finally on the Isle of Man

April 1941

Released as “Friendly Enemy Alien due to Religious Persecution Category C” Nothing untoward found by MI 5.

Returned to Glasgow to my Guarantor Mrs. E. Hurwich

Now 17 years old

From the time of leaving Nürnberg by Kindertransport train on the 2nd May 1939 to arriving

in Glasgow on the 5th May, 3 traumatic days have elapsed.

With tearful emotion you say Goodbye to your parents, will we ever see each other again?

The Train journey was horrendous. Young children 6 to 9, who had never been separated from their Mutti and Papi before, were crying, no howling is a better description.

We all had a label round our neck, name and age. Allowed one small item of luggage.

Many hours later we crossed into Holland. The Nazi guards had left and the atmosphere and the mood changed. Even the youngest child felt the difference, we were in free country.

At the first station, Dutch Ladies calmed the tension with Hot Chocolate, White Bread Sandwiches and Red Apples. An oppressive weight lifted from our shoulders. Another few hours to reach Hook and the overnight Chanel crossing to Harwich. How many of us had ever been on a Boat before? We have finally arrived in England, Hurrah!

Train to Liverpool Street Station, 170 exhausted children after a 36hour journey, awaiting

being collected by their Guarantors, Friends or people willing to take a Refugee Child.

Kind people took children, but it was a bit of a “Cattle Market” siblings were separated not to see each other till WHEN? However, we are now in a country willing to admit us and be saved from the Nazi Terror.

A night in a hostel with 2 others, destination GLASGOW. In the morning from Euston Station London to Glasgow Central, 6 hours on the famous Royal Scott an amazing journey.  I had used trains a lot in Germany- all wooden seats. Comfortable soft upholstered seats on this luxurious train. Taken to the Dining Car, Lunch with Silver Service and waiters wearing white gloves, we were spellbound.

Grete Gummers, my mother’s cousin, awaited me at Platform 1 Glasgow Central and took me to my Guarantor Mrs. Etta Hurwich at 169 Queen’s Drive, a Front Door Flat in a typical Glasgow tenement. A very kind welcome by this kind and amazing Lady, herself an immigrant from Latvia in the 1890’s. Her family had grown up, son Simon still lived at home.

A comfortable home, my downstairs room, bright, comfy but OH the tightly tucked in blankets, no downies!!

How do you settle in? Sparse English to communicate, different food and meal times tea with milk, tinned pineapple, chopped fried fish. What impressions did Glasgow make?  A large grey city, parks, tramcars well stocked shops and friendly people. I was immediately enrolled at Queen’s Park School to learn English. As the only foreign boy I was made welcome. Given the nickname “57” as in “Heinz Baked Beans”

Mrs. Hurwich and son Simon managed an Upholstery Factory, A maid looked after the household. I was no longer to wear shorts and I was kitted out with suits. You go along with the local customs. I felt comfortable as part of a friendly family and meeting daughter Bessie, husband Frank and granddaughter Barbara and friends.

Letters to Mum and Dad in Nürnberg flowed regularly. Having left home at 14 to work as an apprentice chef in a hotel in Baden Baden, helped me not to feel homesick.

July 1939 Summer holidays, invited by the Sassoon family, David and Vera in Kirkcudbright. I spent many weeks with sons Joey and Jackie at their basic beach house on the Solway Firth. No electricity, water from a well at LOW tide only, cooking on a Primus stove. An idyllic seaside existence. My first time on a beach, swimming, sailing and learning about tides (40 foot in the Solway Firth) recedes for over a mile and returns like an express train. Dangerous quick sands and Jellyfish stings. How lucky to have such a blissful time in Southern Scotland, beaches, games, cricket, rounders, mountains countryside Belted Galloway Cattle, Rabbits and other wildlife. An unforgettable time, completely new experiences with a family who remain lifelong friends.

The clouds darkened on my return to Glasgow. War was declared in September 1939.A sombre time, preparations for “blackout curtains, air raid sirens, police checks on Aliens, an insecure time.  How can I be in touch with my parents? No mail, no telephone, all connection with Germany ceased immediately. My uncle Sallo Würzburger lived in Brussels, Belgium, still neutral. Letters to my parents went via Brussels to Nürnberg and came back by the same route. At least we were in touch.

 

Back at school, in October the government decided to evacuate all children from towns to the country in case of air attacks. I went by train to Perthshire, billeted at a friendly family farm at Guildtown and attended the village school by bike.  The large farm was another new experience. Horses, Cattle, Barley, Potatoes (Tattie Howking) Hay making. I enjoyed helping everywhere. The only signs of War were the pilots training at a local airport.

Plentiful good farm food, pheasant, chicken, eggs, milk and cream. No shortages. I became fascinated with horses, formed a particular friendship with “Clyde” groomed and fed him but was not allowed to leave his stable if he decided not to let me out.

Some weeks later transferred to Perth Academy. They did not like my English and I went to Balhousie Boy’s School, a Junior Secondary. How fortunate was that, as the Headmaster Mr Borthwick took me under his wing and nurtured me. I had an inspiring 6 months there, was allowed to use both languages for exams. The highlight was studying Shakespeare’s Macbeth, this bloodthirsty history of a Scottish King. I was fascinated, a completely new experience. I can still recite whole passages, it had such an impact on me. ‘Double double toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble” the witches “Here’s the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”. Tragic Lady Macbeth.

“Out out brief candle, life’s but a walking shadow”. It just enthralled me.

Decades later with daughters and grandchildren on the way to skiing in Aviemore, when passing Birnam, they had to quote Macbeth: “When Birnam wood moves on to Dunsinane”

What a demanding father!!

November 1939, transferred to Rossie House, Forgandenny a sort of boarding school.

30 Glaswegian boys and girls. A beautiful house in a large estate. A village post office for sweets and treats and of course there were GIRLS! exciting. A happy stay. We were well looked after.

I befriended the estate Game Keeper Mr. Mc Candlish. We had a Pack of Foxhounds and he taught me Fly Fishing for Salmon on the river Earn.  For a boy of 16 these were thrilling new experiences. To school in Perth by Bus, Train or Bike. Stopped at an Army checkpoint to show our Identity Cards, on the lookout for spies.  My card showed “Nationality German”

The young soldier panicked Alarm! Here is a German. His card proves it- just what they had been briefed to look out for. He called the Corporal who called the Sargent who sent for an Officer. “Let the Laddie go to school” he decided. End of incident.

In spite of the War not going well, we were sheltered and safe. On Sundays when the kids were at church, I was allowed to bake cakes for afternoon tea in the kitchen. Cooking and baking must be in my genes. I made several good friends at Rossie House, one was another Jewish boy Max Barlaski. Never any hint of Antisemitism or anti German feeling.

1940 a New Year dawns.

No news from my parents, just hope they are well.

February, my 16th birthday, Perthshire becomes a Protected Area, even Friendly Enemy Aliens have to leave. Back home to Glasgow to the Hurwich Household. No possibility to return to school. Bought a bicycle for 15 shillings and explored the Clyde coastline. I love the outdoors. Misread the map and had an extra 30 miles cycling to reach home. The Hurwich family are members of Queen’s Park Synagogue where I join them for the Jewish Festivals. At weekends, Simon and a friend kindly “schlepped” me to walk round 18 holes to Barassie Golf Links followed by High Tea at Ferari’s No 10, a superb restaurant.  How kind to be taken.

Glasgow middle class life style I am learning!!

Henry Wuga – Video Interview

Henry Wuga – Reflection On Life

Henry tells of his love for skiing and his commitment to helping disabled people learn to ski. He feels completely at home in Glasgow and is very satisfied with his life there.

INT: Yeah, such is life. Henry can I ask you about something you haven’t mentioned but I know is the love of your life – your skiing?

H.W: Yes, well, I have, let me put it that way. I have skied since the age of eleven or twelve and then of course I came here and then war broke out and things were difficult but I’ve always skied.

Funnily enough, I will show you something in a minute. Because you mentioned skiing I’ll show you afterwards. So I’ve always skied. I want to show you a picture, it must be 1949 – there, I was married ’44, ’49, ’47, even during the war. There’s snow, it was snowing so I said ‘Ingrid we need to go skiing’

You know what, I had nothing. We went to a shop, we hired skis, we hired, gear we had, we hired skis. We skied in Linn Park and people looked at us, you know.

‘Can we take a photo?’- wait until you see the photographs, they’re funny. So we’ve always skied, this is, I mean winter to me is important.

INT: You and Ingrid?

H.W: Yes, oh yes and eventually I, in Aviemore, (we used to go to Aviemore to Grantown on Spey in New Year time with the children) and eventually I saw a ski bike or a skibob in a shop and I said ‘what’s this?’ and I tried it out on the [snowy] golf course and I liked it and I used it extensively here and then I went abroad with this ski bike. I didn’t know abroad there were other people and then I didn’t know there was British Skibob Association, which I’d joined

INT: A skibob is that?

H.W: A Skibob Association yes and eventually I (about twenty five/thirty years ago) I then got in touch with… through skiing, you know, you get to know people.

I’ve skied with the blind, I’ve skied with this and I got to know, British Limbless Ex-Serviceman Association and I’ve been with [them], I’m associate with them for thirty years now. I became their chief instructor

INT: Of skiing?

H.W: And we had these amputees and we go every year, we still go. We’re going next year

INT: Where to?

H.W: We have a place. We go to the Öetztal in Austria with a group of amputees every winter this is my life.

I mean this is, and then not only that, all my family ski. All the grandchildren ski, all the children ski, well, I’ve only two daughters and two sons-in-law and four grandsons and we’ve been going skiing for over thirty years as a family every winter. Alright, somebody, now and again somebody drops out because of exams but we go, late, between England and Scotland to get university and school dates together is very difficult for eleven people. But we have gone as a family for [over 35 years]

INT: Where do you go to?

H.W: Where do we go now? [For] the past 18 years we’ve gone to Verbier in Switzerland

INT: Yes

H.W: Every year, this is absolutely

INT: Am I right, have you been awarded the MBE was it, for your service

H.W: Yes, I’ve been awarded the MBE for, for sport for disabled people

INT: Yes

H.W: So that, that gives me greatest pleasure

INT: Yes

H.W: To be, to get an MBE for something you, you have done yourself.

Not, there’s also such a thing as the OBE you know but what people say ‘it’s a higher grade’ but it’s, it’s very rude to say that. The MBE is my own business and OBE is other people’s bloody business! You get kicked upstairs.

No, I’m very, I’m very proud of that because that’s something, you know, you’ve done yourself and I appreciate it

INT: So the question here is, if you look back now on your time in Scotland what are the highs that stand out for you?

H.W: Well the high is to establish yourself here and have a family and be together with a family and I had a good career here, certainly the Jewish community helped.

The catering was successful and not only that, it’s, I’m fairly happy here; it’s a nice place to be. I find I’ve, Glasgow’s a good place to be. You are near mountains and the sea and people are kind and people say to you ‘When you retire where you going to move to? To Spain? Or to Malta?’

I said ‘No’ I said ‘I’m sorry, I live here, I belong here, my family’s here. I go to these places certainly but I belong here and I’m perfectly happy here’ No desire to go anywhere else

INT: Are there any lows?

H.W: Yes, well there are bound to be, yes. Obviously

INT: Work, family, community?

H.W: Oh, aye. Well not so many family lows, no. But one just shows you what can happen to you. When I was in the Beresford Hotel we got a huge consignment of salami in or something and nobody wanted it and everybody was given one, well take one home, yes.

Nevertheless, I took one, whatever. But ‘You stole something’, yes. I got the sack.

Yeah, well, fine. Well, I wouldn’t, there was no charge or anything like that but you, you were sacked immediately so that, you have to be careful; these things can happen

INT: Yes

H.W: Yes

INT: Although they’d invited you to take; had others taken it?

H.W: Yes, others had taken it

INT: And they weren’t sacked?

H.W: Yes, so yes we were all sacked

INT: Oh I see

H.W: Yes, oh yes. Yes that was, that taught me – be careful, yes

INT: Yes

H.W: Be very careful what you, what you do. You can easily, you can easily fall into problems. But there weren’t, I can’t say, there weren’t many lows

INT: Thank you very much Henry that was excellent

H.W: Pleasure

INT: Thank you very much

H.W: Thank you

Henry Wuga – Settling In

In this section Henry explains how he trained as a chef and finally set up a successful catering business. He talks of the political, musical and other interests pursued by the Jewish refugee community in Glasgow. He describes how orthodox religious rules in Glasgow caused him some problems as a caterer.

INT: Yes. So when was it you were released from internment then? What year was that?

H.W: Internment, must have been 1941

INT: 1941

H.W: Yes

INT: And by then you were aged what?

H.W: Sixteen and a half

INT: Sixteen and a half, so you went back to Mrs Harwich?

H.W: I went back to Mrs Harwich and then we decided what I should do. I was offered, I could have gone to study, I could have gone into their upholstery business but I decided to go back into catering and I, I found a job in John Smith and Company; the Grosvenor in the Corn Exchange. Big Glasgow catering company and I worked; I worked in the Corn Exchange Restaurant under Chef Hausdorfer in the Rogano and in various places.

Eventually I went to the Beresford Hotel. While I was in the Beresford Hotel I started off as a, obviously, as a chef de partie and I became sous chef and eventually in the Grand Hotel I became head chef; I was in charge of The Grand. The Grand Hotel in Sauchiehall Street which is that 1930’s building, you know it’s now student residence. There’s modern this, you know

INT: Yes

H.W: Opposite Elmbank Street, you know

INT: Yes

H.W: That was the Beresford not Grand sorry, Beresford Hotel. Then I went on from the Beresford Hotel to the Grand Hotel which was at Charing Cross; it is now a motorway. That was the big Grand Hotel; belonged to the co-operative. I became chef de partie there, I became head chef there (chef de cuisine.) my whole career was there and eventually I left there and went to France

INT: When was that?

H.W: 1953, I went to France and worked for a few months in France by which time I was married and then I came back here and then I went back to the Grand Hotel. But after that I went out of the Grand Hotel; I did other things.

So that’s quite an interesting period. I, you know catering in these days; when I started it was war time and rationing was fairly strict. You could buy so much fish and when it was finished it was finished – there was a limited supply. Nevertheless there was only a price restriction in, in Great Britain. There was only a price restriction. You could not charge more than five shillings for a meal. You didn’t need coupons like in other countries, [You did not need your ration book] You could go to a restaurant. This country was quite different from other countries. You could go to a restaurant during the war here if you had the money and if there was enough food. It didn’t, it had nothing to do with your rationing. is another story, it’s fate.

We all wanted to do something. I wanted to join the Merchant Navy. I wanted in the Isle of Man in the internment camp we were given, if you wanted early release, you were given the chance to join the Pioneer Corps.

Well, the Pioneer Corps was the lowest of the low. We wanted to fight, we wanted to fight Hitler with something better than the Pioneer Corps; so I didn’t join the Pioneer Corps, I was released.

When I came to Glasgow I went to the Labour Exchange in these days known as the ‘Broo’ in Waterloo Street.

INT: Still

H.W: Still the Broo I wanted to join the Navy (I didn’t get [in]). I wrote letters to my MP (didn’t get). I wanted to go to Hillington, you know to make munitions, whatever. In the Labour Exchange at Waterloo Street sits this young boy, I don’t think he was a year older than I was and he looked at me and he said ‘Specky’ (He called me ‘specky’) ‘Specky’ he said ‘You’ll go naewhere, we also need people to cook for the public’

Now, this seventeen year old clerk in the Labour Exchange, any application I made he tore it up and threw it in the bin. Incredible. So I spent the war here in Glasgow in, cooking for the public so to speak and in the Grand Hotel eventually I was responsible for starting kosher catering.

INT: At the Grand Hotel?

H.W: Yeah, the Grand Hotel

INT: Yes. And then you started up your own catering business?

H.W: Yes, yes I first went into business with somebody else with pet foods and birdcages (that didn’t work out) and then I started up my own catering business

INT: When was that?

H.W: That must have been, let me see, 1960, yes, ’62, something like that. So that was quite successful

INT: I’m sure you catered for my Bar Mitzvah

H.W: Yes I did. Oh yes definitely

INT: That was 1961

H.W: Well, there you are. Yeah, you were one of the first. Your mother

INT: Was I one of the first? Yes

H.W: I remember your mother lived in, in the West End

INT: Gardiner Street

H.W: A steep street, I remember that

INT: Yes that’s right. A hill

H.W: I remember that very well

INT: That was between 1960 and ’61

H.W: Yes, that’s right, there you are

INT: So yes you catered my Bar Mitzvah

H.W: Yes that was at the beginning, yes

INT: Yes, that’s good. And how long were you a kosher caterer in Glasgow?

H.W: Until 1990

INT: Until 1990?

H.W: Yes, 1990 that’s right

INT: And what can you say about your experiences as a kosher caterer?

H.W: Experiences, my experiences as a kosher caterer were very interesting, you know. People say – how can you do that? Very simple, of course, if you have to earn a living you can do that. It was interesting in the respect that you got to know a lot of people and you got to know people, you know, you are doing a function for them. You had to go discuss the menu. It spread by word of mouth; it moved very, very quickly because obviously what we did was the right thing at the time. It boomed very quickly and it, I didn’t have to do any advertising. Within two years it absolutely, it grew out of all proportion because we tried to get away from chopped liver and chicken soup; we tried to broaden things out, you know.

Obviously I had different background because people, let’s face it, in these days here, they were extremely blinkered, absolutely blinkered. I mean anything out of a can, you know it didn’t…. It might not be kosher you know I mean, I remember the supervisor went to me

‘You can’t give mayonnaise’

I said ‘What do you mean I can’t give mayonnaise?’

‘But it’s white in colour’

I said ‘It has nothing to do, it’s not made with cream or milk’ you follow?

INT: Yes

H.W: They had no knowledge that mayonnaise is made from eggs; but people had no knowledge. They were rather inhibited. So we broadened that out.

We also, but interesting experiences obviously. Most things, with most people I had very good relations. It went very well, people paid their bills, one or two didn’t pay their bills. At the very beginning somebody didn’t pay their bill so I took them to court. I was told you don’t do that. I said, well, I said ‘Watch me’ I’m not, I mean…

It established, after that I had no trouble. No trouble whatsoever. People are people, look at it, I mean

INT: You say you were bringing in more continental styles of catering to Glasgow?

H.W: Yes. Yes, oh yes. For example this is how somebody said to me ‘Look, can you not do something like prawn cocktail?’ So we used salmon, you follow?

People, you know. Other people, then people came back from abroad – ‘Could we have crudites on the table?’

Ok. Half, half of them go ‘Henry, what is this? Have you no time to cook the vegetables?’

You know, it grew and people grew with it and people began to learn. But at the beginning it was very, very restrictive, very restrictive

INT: So you were educating?

H.W: Well in a way yes

INT: The community

H.W: Well, we brought in different things and that’s how, that’s how it is.

INT: How did you meet your wife Ingrid?

H.W: How did I meet my wife Ingrid. When we came to Glasgow (Ingrid came to Glasgow later). When we arrived in Glasgow I was with a Jewish family, most people were with Jewish families but some weren’t. But when you are young and you are refugee and you have a problem with language etc, first of all you try and get together.

So there was the refugee centre, the House on the Hill in Sauchiehall Street which was a most important place. We were very active there, yes. There were discussions, there were theatre groups. Most people, of course we were the young ones. We had a choir and we were very politically active, of course, that was very much so. Very left wing (as it was in these days) we marched on the 1st of May, we fought, we performed all over Scotland. In the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, in Aberdeen for Mrs Churchill’s Aid to Russia Fund to raise money for a second front or whatever.

It was also very, very left wing… very big communist influence as well, there was no question about it.

I mean I wrote pamphlets with Heini Prais and it was an amazing, amazing group of people. Fairly, fairly intelligent, some of them very clever, very high powered. Very politically active. My Ingrid’s father wasn’t keen. He said ‘You shouldn’t get involved in that’

Well, yes you see, now when you are older, you look back on this and of course you get involved in that. But there is such a thing as MI5, let’s face it. You know, you might be sent back if, if you, if you misbehave. But we were very politically active and this is where I met Ingrid. It was on a Sunday we went rambles, I mean remember, none of us had money, most of us had no jobs (we were still studying or whatever).

On a Sunday we went out on walks with the number 4 tram to, to Clarkston and Croftfoot and up in the hills. But we all, well you brought a sandwich or something but as we were very egalitarian you weren’t allowed to eat your own sandwich because you had money and others didn’t so they were thrown in the middle and you took lucky dip. This is, this is how things were. There you are.

This is where I met Ingrid and met lots of people who we were very friendly with and stayed friendly. How did we integrate into the larger community? Well, that also came later. I mean we joined the Music Society and people ask us ‘When you come like that, you can be accused of being clannish – you stick to yourself’

Well alright you do. As a group of refugees, the foreigners in a country, of course you stick to yourselves. If you don’t want us to stick together you have to invite us we can’t knock on your door ‘Let me in’. You have to do it, it has to come from the other side. It, it takes a long time but it did come and we became very integrated obviously. But, you know people said ‘You’re clannish, you all stick together’ and I always said to them, I said ‘Look. Scots emigrate to Canada, what’s the first thing they do? They join a Caledonian Society’

I mean this is, that’s how it is, yes. And then of course they come back home on holiday. We had none, this home for us did not exist.

While I was in that refugee centre there was something called ‘Free German Youth’. It sounds terrible but the Freie Deutsche Jugend was this left wing push; people going back to Germany trying to rebuild after the war. Well we never, ninety percent of us did not have this intention; ten percent did. Well obviously some people went back to help re-establish a new country. When I was in Berlin at the Jewish museum the other day, last year, it produced a booklet written by a chap who came to interview me once, years ago and when I see my name there – “Heinz Wuga”, I was the, the Gauleiter so to speak for Scotland. I mean it, you know, if MI5 gets hold of this, of this kind of thing you are not allowed you get expelled.

So it was quite tremendous what went on but none of us, I mean, from all the people we knew here I think only four or five went back to Germany, to, to Austria or Czechoslovakia to rebuild democratic systems.

Fine, but we had no intention of doing that.

It took me, 1945, it took me until 1947 to bring my mother to Glasgow. The amount of affidavits you needed and I mean and you had to sign that she would not fall on the public purse etc. But eventually she did come here, safe and alive. She came here. She hated Glasgow, even though I was her only child she absolutely hated Glasgow.

What she didn’t like either, that I was married. You see, one son, this little boy and all of a sudden he’s a married man. Now, she liked Ingrid as a person, not as a wife. So, well true. But she was my mum, I mean a wonderful woman, my mother nevertheless.

She, I mean, I tell this quite openly, she never said a bad thing about Ingrid. She really, she respected Ingrid but not as a wife. So after two years my mother left Glasgow to live with her sister in Brooklyn, would you believe that? Absolutely, so much so and she was a very tough lady. In Brooklyn, she started working in restaurants and hotels.

She made a life for herself; she lived there for over twenty-five years. She even got a social security number and a pension; she became an American citizen, a very proud American citizen. She said ‘In the United States nobody asks me where do you come from, they ask what can you do?’

She has a point, you see here a woman in her fifties/sixties trying to get a job in Glasgow is fairly impossible. She worked for another refugee people making stuffed animals but she hated it and she went to America. Every year we with our children, we went to America one year and she came here the next year so we had constant contact.

Then eventually when her sister passed away she came to stay with us in, in Pollokshields and she passed away here in Glasgow aged 89 so… tough but she did it.

INT: What would you say was the attitude of the Scottish people to Jewish people when you were here?

H.W: The general Scottish public I don’t think I ever (apart from the odd anti-Semitic remark) I never had any problems. I think only once in the street was I accosted and possibly not because I was Jewish, possibly because I was foreign.

But I must say, people on the whole, I mean, Glasgow’s a tough city I know that, criminal city etc but really I had no problem, I had no problem with that whatsoever.

INT: What about your involvement in the Jewish community in Glasgow?

H.W: Right, the people I stayed with were a Jewish family; they took me to, they took me to Queens Park Synagogue. I became a member of Queens Park Synagogue with the family and when, when we moved and when I got married we moved to Pollokshields we then went to Pollokshields Synagogue; which doesn’t exist any longer. We got married in Pollokshields Synagogue and we, we had lots of friends, Jewish friends obviously in the Music Society, the Literature Society.

And Ingrid was a dressmaker in these days and got to know other people and eventually we, when Pollokshields Synagogue dissolved I went back to Queens Park and when Queens Park Synagogue dissolved I finally went to the Reform Synagogue which I feel very happy with. I could never have done that while I was a kosher caterer, you can imagine there were pressures, you know, there were certain, obviously there were pressures. But that I feel quite at home there, but I felt quite at home in Queens Park.

INT: Why did you decide to move to the Reform synagogue?

H.W: Because…why did I decide to move to the Reform? My background, my German-Jewish background is much more liberal; not as orthodox as the general community was here. Yes. So that really was not, was not a step away; this, this would eventually happen. I could not do that while I worked, the Beth Din wouldn’t have given me a license as a kosher caterer because I didn’t… I don’t want to go into the religious problems but there are lots of (as you can imagine) we had lots of problems with the Beth Din.

When I, first of all, when I applied for a licence. You know, I started catering, I started kosher catering no problem then all of a sudden people

‘But we have a Bar Mitzvah, if, we would like you to do the Bat Mitzvah but if you do the Bar Mitzvah the Rabbi won’t come’

Why? Well…this is how it was. That’s how it is. So I say to myself I better get a kosher licence otherwise I’ll not go anywhere. Rabbi Gottlieb. I don’t know if you remember Rabbi Gottlieb?

INT: Yes

H.W: Remember Rabbi Gottlieb?

INT: Yes, very strict

H.W: Well very strict but, well he was very strict but nevertheless he had a… he said to me, he said, well, ‘You want to apply for a licence?’ He said

‘I’m not sure. We have a, should you really do that? We have enough kosher caterers here’

I said ‘But I would like to apply for a licence’

‘Well…’

I said ‘Look, I’m not asking you for business advice I’m asking you I would like a licence’

And eventually he gave it. He said to me ‘Well we don’t expect you to lie flat on the ground on Tisha B’Av in the Synagogue but you have to, you have to conform to certain things’

So I got a licence and then Rabbi Gottlieb passed away then different kinds of Beth Din, then there were always problems, there were always problems with the Beth Din and some people extremely strict. For example, to give you an idea, obviously dishes meat, milk we know about that. Then we had a supervisor Reverend Balanow who became an extremely good friend of mine, I miss him very much he was a very nice man but he was very strict.

INT: He married Claire and myself

H.W: Did he? He was very strict, he was bound to be. He is a supervisor, he’s got to…

But he had, he had a little sense of humour and a little outgoing. So when things happened he would, he would put them right. On the other hand you get new dishes all of a sudden some frummer from the Kollel ‘New dishes? New dishes have to go to the mikveh. Have your dishes ever been to the mikveh’

I said ‘No they haven’t’

‘You better take your dishes to the mikveh’

I mean, we’re taking about thousands of pieces, so you know what I did?

I said ‘here are the keys, you can come to my house and take them’

I never heard anymore. But you had to, but I alright… I can understand it but they get carried away, they get absolutely carried away

INT: Absolutely

H.W: So but we established a good relationship, yes, and may I say, you remember Rabbi Rosen?

INT: Yes

H.W: Right

INT: I do, yes, a very friendly man

H.W: Now I met him the other day. I met him two years ago; we were going up north and where do I meet him – in Glenfinnan

I said ‘What are you doing here?’

He was here to examine the salmon, you know for… Pesach

He said to me when I left, when I left catering, he said to me ‘You’re going out with a good name’ which was a very nice thing to say, yes?

INT: Yes

H.W: That I appreciated, yes that I appreciated. We had, look we had things, we had… with certain debts somebody wouldn’t pay his bill, a very big bill so you can, what can you do? You eventually have to take them to court. Nothing happened. Nothing happened, he wouldn’t, he was fined but it didn’t matter.

Two years later the same man phones me up he said ‘I’ve got another daughter getting married – would you do it?’

I said ‘I will do it if you pay beforehand’

Apparently the man was a gambler. When he had it he was a big boy when he lost he went, he didn’t communicate you know, this is human nature. This is human nature and another man, I mean really I had hardly any debts, another man (he also had business troubles), he went away – he owed me a few hundred pounds. Not a big deal. Two years later he comes to a function here, he says ‘Henry I owe you something, puts out an envelope. You know, these are tales, it’s quite funny

INT: I won’t ask for names

H.W: No, no I won’t give you names. This is, this is, I mean this is, such is life

Henry Wuga – Immigration

Henry describes how the Kindertransport system enabled him to leave Germany and come to Britain. He was initially looked after by relatives of his mother who lived in Glasgow. These relatives and other Jewish families helped him to settle in.

I came to Glasgow on Kindertransport. My mother asked the committee [who] found a place for me on the Kindertransport but we had a connection in Glasgow.

In Glasgow my mother’s cousin, Mrs Gummers, Gummers the dentist; they emigrated to Glasgow from Germany so my mother asked Greta Gummers could she find a place for me and then the committee in Glasgow, the Ladies Committee – Mrs Thora Wolffson and Mrs Thelma Mann found me a place and I came by Kindertransport to Glasgow.

INT: Can you tell us about the, your experiences when you were coming to Glasgow? Coming on the Kindertransport?

H.W: Yes well it’s traumatic to start with. You’re taken to the station, you wave goodbye to your parents, you have no idea whether you will ever see them again. It was quite traumatic really. On the other hand, may I tell you being a boy, and being somewhat adventurous I was always interested in travel and where to go and what to do.

I fully understood, coming from Nurnberg, I meanI was politically aware of what, why and where and how. I said to my mother ‘Why must I go with this train straight into London and then into Glasgow? Why can’t I take a train via Paris and stay with my cousin for a week?’

It wasn’t, it wasn’t like that but you understand?

INT: Yes

H.W: In any case, we, you’re in the train with all these other children – some very young, some very traumatised, crying whatever. When we crossed the German frontier things became easier.

The German soldiers left the train. We were in Holland and you were – everybody will tell you from the Kindertransport – in Holland, whenever the train stopped at the station there were groups of women, Dutch women, with chocolate and apples and sandwiches – it was really quite amazing. Hoek van Holland, overnight in the boat. The first time I crossed the channel – the first time I’d seen the sea – mind you – it was night time.

I arrived in Harwich the next morning, again onto a train, taken to Liverpool Street Station, underground, a huge waiting room, I mean down below. A black hole, there must have been about two hundred children in it.

All the paraphernalia of the committees and children being collected and myself and another two children were kept there. We were sitting there for hours. Everybody was collected; we were not. We were going on to Glasgow the next day so we stayed in London overnight at some Hostel. So you’re sitting there for hours, it was quite, quite horrendous. But next day we left, we left for Glasgow.

We were taken to Euston Station by the Flying Scotsman, never having been in a compartment with upholstery before. I mean in Germany we travelled third class in wooden benches. It was quite interesting and we were taken to the dining car and we had waiters.

I mean the waiter had white gloves [and there were] silver teapots and I remember that little girl wouldn’t take this or that, she wanted hot chocolate – well, she got hot chocolate so that was quite an experience coming here, quite a… Arriving in Glasgow of course I was collected by my second cousin and taken to my new lodgings.

INT: And what, who did you lodge with?

H.W: The, the lady that took me in was a Mrs Eta Harwich. She lived in Queens Drive; 169 Queens Drive. The lady must have been in her mid sixties; her children were all grown up, obviously no longer in Glasgow.

One daughter was in Glasgow, her son who ran the factory (she still had an upholstery factory) he was still at home and they took me in. She was a wonderful lady, very, very intellectual lady, I must say. She took me to the theatre, she took me to music and she made me feel very much at home.

It was very, very interesting; very kind people.

INT: But it must have been traumatic for you Henry?

H.W: It is. The language is different, the food is different – everything is different, but well you just have to cope with it. It was traumatic but, I mean, I did manage to get through it. Some of the younger ones found it rather difficult

INT: What age were you when you arrived in Glasgow?

H.W: Fifteen and a half

INT: Fifteen and a half and what, did you go to school then?

H.W: Yes. Well, the first thing that happened, Mrs Harwich had grandchildren and friends in the West End and I met with them; I was taken there obviously. The Sassoons of Kirkcudbright, the family Sassoon. David Sassoon and his wife Vera lived in Kirkcudbright with two sons. They invited me on holiday. So I came here, I was taken in, Mrs Harwich insisted that I should go to school, which was, I went to Queens Park School – only for a few weeks because then the holidays intervened. Yes, the summer holidays. And then I went to the Sassoon’s for four weeks.

INT: Was that a relative of Siegfried?

H.W: Exactly, a relative of Siegfried, a brother of Siegfried, yes, oh yes, a brother of Siegfried – David Sassoon a painter, who moved to Kirkcudbright with his wife and two sons. He didn’t have anything to do with the banking and the horseracing.

He moved to Kirkcudbright his son still lives in Kirkcudbright (he’s Joey Sassoon, still a very good friend of mine).

That was interesting; they had a huge house in Kirkcudbright – lovely. Carpets and paintings and whatnot but we lived on Carrick Shore in a hut, no electricity, no water, tilley lamps, I mean that’s how it was. My first connection with the sea, now I don’t know if you know the Solway Firth?

INT: Yes

H.W: The tide goes out for three miles so, you be careful you’re not caught by the tide. It was very interesting for me; wonderful time to be had with another friend, we stayed with them for three weeks, and I’ve been friendly with them ever since.

When we came back to Glasgow I went back to school.

INT: Yes

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Links to Other Testimonies by Henry Wuga

Life Before The War
Life During The War
Immigration
Settling In
Reflection On Life
Video Interview
Personal Diary
June 1940 The Fun And Normal Life Come To An Abrupt End

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