WE WERE LUCKY
An autobiography by Hilde Gerrard neé Weissenberg, born 1907 FLIGHT INTO HIDINGThe time came when we had to leave our home - there was no chance to sell anything. Even very good pieces of furniture, everything had to be left behind, because 40,000 people had to leave at the same time. We were very glad and even grateful if our neighbours accepted the furniture we offered them, because this time we could not take it with us. We just took some of our belongings and a few valuables, wherever we had a chance to go. Until we got any permit, we had to hide. Carlo and Dusca, friends of Bobi, who was our very good friend, lived in Bergamo and they asked us to come and stay with them. So we were hiding in Bergamo until the British entry papers arrived. Our parents were still in Germany. Entry into Great Britain was only possible if one could prove that one had a certain amount of capital, which we had no more. The other possibility was to accept a domestic job, for which the future employer had to make an application for entry to the Home Office. The report of our plight came through the P E N Club to England. We needed a domestic post and the authors belonging to the club looked round and found us one as a "married couple". Gerhard was to become a cook and I a parlourmaid. The position was in the South of England in a large country house, with a family of four and a staff of five. We were not, however, allowed, to bring our children with us, so the search started to find a home for them.
We had an offer for the twins' complete adoption but we hoped that we would find somewhere for them to go so that we could be together again as soon as circumstances allowed. The writer and broadcaster Gerald Bullett and his wife Rosalind offered their home to the twins. It was a most generous offer, as the children were only two years old and the peace of a writer's house would probably be disturbed by two babies. We were to provide a children's help to look after them during the day, which we were very glad to do.
As we had no guarantor for the children, we were very anxious as to what the immigration officer would do. We did not want to think so far and left it to chance, hoping they might get in with us without being separated. We had to wait now for the British papers from the Home Office and to be called to the British consulate in Milan, where the interviewing of applicants took place.
We heard that the Consul was very critical of friends of ours, who had clean and unspoiled hands, questioning their ability to do housework. After that tip-off we scraped carrots and peeled potatoes and after a few days our hands were ingrained with dirt and we had no difficulties on that score.
To gain experience for his English job Gerhard trained, in an Italian kitchen under a Hungarian cook, to cater for a large household. He learned all sides of cooking and baking for several months and I went into a laundry to learn the finishing touches to ironing shirts. There I learned, to my greatest surprise, that the English people smell of sheep and years later I remembered the remark when I washed the good pure wool and realised that the laundry girls took the smell of the wet wool as that of the people.