Lore Gordon (1923 - 2020) From Wuppertal, Germany to Bromley, England

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D52SiBiduBo

Mum was British through and through, but her origins weren't. The video is of her original home city in Wuppertal in Germany - and specifically of the iconic suspension railway/monorail/floating tram Wuppertaler Schwebebahn which runs over the river Wupper, and roads. It was established in 1901.

I'm not going to say much, as luckily Mum did an interview at the Imperial War Museum (IWM), London in 2007 which produced a 90 minute audio only recording, divided into 3 reels. You can hear it via Mum's Guardian newspaper obituary (https://www.theguardian.com/…/tributes-paid-to-woman-who-es…), published last week. In addition the IWM has a photo of her rucksack that she carried on the journey from Germany, that is mentioned in the interview - here under her maiden name Lore Heimann. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30083397

Art School and internment on the Isle of Man: From the audio interview, Reel 2, Mum says:"Now, I made one friend at the Art School (https://staringoutofthewindowdaydreaming.blogspot.com/searc…), also a refugee girl whose my 'twin' - we share a birthday - she lives in America now. She's as little as I am big, and we have the same date of birth and everything ... "

The new friend was Bertel, and she grew up in Leipzig, and travelled on a Kindertransport. Both Mum and Bertel were interned on the Isle of Man.

At the end of the war Bertel signed on with the US army as a translator and got back to Germany but not Leipzig since it was in the eastern zone. She met her husband there. He went home in 1946 and Bertel got to the US in February of 1947. Mum and Bertel remained friends all their lives. (Thanks to Bertel's daughter Alice Hertz Marable for helping with this story).

My son Joe (Mum's grandson) takes up this much later story! Joe knew her as 'Oma' - German for grandmother."I was a teacher at Townley Grammar School, Bexleyheath, England, and sometime around 10/11 years ago Oma came to talk, to the whole of Year 10 about her personal experiences of living through the Holocaust and coming to England via the Kindertransport.

She talked without notes for an hour and then responded to student questions for another hour. The talks were organised jointly by the Religious Studies and History departments; however, many teachers from across the school also chose to attend. Oma was a fantastic public speaker, who really connected on a personal level with the girls – who were around the age she had been when she’d taken the Kindertransport – as she leapt from story to story. The girls were in awe of her positivity, compassion, resilience, and wisdom. Here are some examples of Lore’s responses to questions" -

“How important is the Holocaust in your life?”
“I suppose it changed my life completely. I try to live my life from day to day. I don’t feel sorry for myself or anything like that.”

“Did you know how bad it was going to get?”
“No, I didn’t. I don’t think people could imagine.”

“Were you scared on the Kindertransport train?”
“I think that I was apprehensive but not stressed or scared. You’re very resilient when you’re 16. Life is still an adventure, isn’t it?”

“What was it like when your classmates did things like Hitler salutes?”
“Well, assemblies always ended with a Hitler salute and I was determined not to do one. But you know what it’s like, everybody wants to be like their friends, don’t they? But I wouldn’t. I refused. To this day I will not stop a bus with my right hand.”

“How can you be so positive when you’ve seen what you’ve seen?”
“I had a very happy childhood. I had a wonderful family. And somehow you make it through … I have a friend who suffered in Auschwitz. She said, ‘The things we experienced: for character-building there is no equal.’ It hardens you. I was lucky."

“What were your experiences of going to a school in England? Did you experience anti-Semitism or people treating you differently because you were German?”
“No. I attended a school as a visitor and the girls were lovely. They taught me the Lambeth walk, because that was all the rage. They were so kind and lovely.”

“What did you do when you heard the war ended?”
“My husband and I danced all the way down the Mall to Buckingham Palace!”

“Did you go back to live in Germany?”
“It never occurred to me to go back, because I was happy here and people were kind.”

“What can we learn about ourselves as human beings from the Holocaust?”
“I think basically to respect each other, to be helpful and kind, I think… To avoid aggressiveness.”

“Do you think it’s important we keep learning about the Holocaust?”
“Oh I do, I think it’s very important, even just as a warning that things like that must not happen again.”