Life During the War

Photos left to right and top to bottom

The Children at Newlands 1939
Mr. Epstein with his daughter Denise and me 1942

My Father, Herbert Samuel
My Grandmother Selma Nussbaum

I lived with the Epstein family from January until September 1939, the outbreak of war. During this time Mr. Epstein hired my Mother as a general maid, allowing her to leave Germany and escape the Holocaust. I clearly remember eating dinner with the family in the dining room while my Mother ate in the kitchen.

July 1939 my aunt Hilde, her husband Arthur and son Hanns left Dresden for Shanghai, China where they spent the war years. After the war they immigrated to the U.S. and settled in New Jersey. My Uncle Arthur died in 1950, his death hastened by the terrible conditions in Shanghai.

On 1 September 1939 I was evacuated from London to Guildford in Surrey. Approximately 3½ million British children were evacuated from London and other large cities to the countryside to escape the expected bombing by the German airforce. Mrs. St. Loe Strachey, who lived alone in a large manor house at Newlands Corner on the outskirts of Guildford, took me in with seven other children. We four boys and four girls spent the rest of the war with Mrs. Strachey. Very early on she hired my mother as a sort of governess to help look after the children.

In Dresden my father was moved to several “Jew Houses” including
48 Schumanstrasse and eventually to the Judenlager Hellerberg (camp) and in 1943 was sent to Auschwitz, where, at age 49 he died.

On 25 August 1942, my Grandmother, Selma Nussbaum was #232 on the 5th Dresden transport to Theresienstadt where she died 29 December 1942.

Life in Dresden before the War

Original photo is marked “November 1935”. I’m front row, second from right. My cousin Hanns is behind second boy from left. My Mother always said, “Of the eight children, you, Hanns and one other boy are the only ones that survived.”

I remember first living with my Mother and Father in a large block of flats in Dresden. I remember there were other Jewish children there and we all played together. Some time later my parents and I moved to Henzestrasse 15, a three-story villa that my grandfather had built. I remember that my parents and I lived on one floor, my mother’s sister Hilde, her husband Arthur and their son Hanns (my cousin) lived on another floor and my Grandmother Selma Nussbaum, by then a widow, on another floor.

On 6 January 1939 I was sent alone to England by airplane (Q. from where; Berlin, Dresden?) under the auspices of the Kindertransports. My sponsor in England was Mr. Samuel Epstein (his memory is a blessing) of Albert Drive, Southfields, London SW. He picked my name from a list because his first name was the same as my family name and his son Peter’s middle name was Ralph.

I arrived at Croydon Airport with a sign round my neck “Ralph Samuel to be picked up by Mr. Epstein”.

INTRODUCTION

I was born in Dresden, Germany in 1931 and in 1939 was sent alone on a Kindertransport to England to escape the Holocaust. I was educated in England including the University of London, School of Economics and at age 27 immigrated to the United States. I completed some postgraduate studies at City College of New York and worked as a Land Economist in Washington, D.C. I was responsible for original field research for economic studies for shopping centers and feasibility studies for urban renewal projects throughout the US. In 1961 I moved to California and settled in Oakland where I became a real estate appraiser and land acquisition specialist working for several cities and redevelopment agencies. After 25 years in public agency real estate including 7 years in the Real Estate Services Department of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) I retired.

Since retirement I have been speaking about the Holocaust at Bay Area schools. I regularly speak to public and parochial schools, to single classes and general assemblies of 250 kids plus teacher training groups as well as adult groups. Since 1997 I have spoken to more than about 2500 children, more than 500 adults and have introduced the documentary movie ”Into the Arms of Strangers; stories of the Kindertransports” several times including Q & A sessions.