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. … Read more
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 … Read more
FRIEDRICH (Fridyes in Hungarian) LOTHAR WEISS, better known as Fred Weiss, was born in Miskolc in Hungary on May 23rd 1921. He lived most of his adult life in Glasgow, Scotland and epitomised the ideal of how a poor young refugee could make good by hard work and strong will. His mother, Irma Eisner, was … Read more
INT: Did you like Scotland? ED: Yes, I think so. They were more open, you know. I worked in a school in Scotland, in East Kilbride. That came after, really, Sandhurst wasn’t it? And they were very, very nice, you know. The headmaster was nice, a retired army officer, sergeant major, so the school was … Read more
INT: Did you find it easy to integrate into Scottish society, or did you feel different? ED: Jewish society or anything? INT: Jewish and the wider society. ED: Well, the wider society, I went back to work when we had another… INT2: You had a son in between all that. ED: A son in between, … Read more
INT: Yeah, and he got a job in Scotland in what year? ED: Well David was still doing his apprenticeship but to have an Honours degree wasn’t enough to be a chartered engineer, so there was a big concern, an electrical factory, the Brush [Electrical Engineering Company], so he was doing it there, and I … Read more
INT: We haven’t heard about your husband, how did you meet him? ED: Well, that’s a long story, isn’t it? [Laughter]. ED: Well, while I was in Israel on my first visit, I was staying with my mum and dad, obviously, but my brother got married and his wife was five months’ pregnant and they … Read more
INT: So you must, you were in Britain… INT: They were in Israel, building the, when did you see them again? ED: 1953. INT: So, you studied? ED: I finished my study, then I was teaching. INT: Oh you were a teacher? ED: I was teaching. INT: In London? ED: In London, I was teaching … Read more
INT: So your family were in Israel, they’re building a life up. So, were they with other Iraqis? Were they a community in Iraq? ED: Well yes, as I was saying, they were all told to leave and take 50 [pounds]. No matter what you had, house or anything. And when I was in Israel, … Read more
So the regent and his family were killed by that coup [in 1958] by them [by the Revolutionists], because there was a coup in the government at that time. So, from a kingdom, that was done away, literally done away, killed all of them, and they established the republic and, from then on, it became … Read more