Under Hitler's Nose: Fugitive Jews in Wartime Berlin

Guest Blog post by Vera Litvin

A varied audience turned up to listen to historian Roger Moorhouse discuss “Fugitive Jews in Wartime Berlin” this Tuesday: from regulars to the centre to media students from Belfast. We were all united by one thing: with our comfortable lives in which food, accommodation and legal status are taken for granted it wasn’t easy for us to imagine life as a “non-person” in Nazi Berlin. However, Roger Moorhouse’s engaging and vivid lecturing style quickly drew us into the underground world of Jews who decided to destroy their papers, leave behind their identity and hide in Berlin from 1935 onwards in order to escape deportation to the camps. 

These Jews were known as the “taucher”, literally “divers”, who dove beneath the respectable surface of society and lived on its margins. There were 10-11 thousand “taucher”, of which 1400 survived the war. This means that roughly 1 out of 8 of Jews hiding in Berlin survived, quite a remarkable statistic considering the hardships they had to endure. Going underground was to commit yourself to a life of lying, cheating and stealing. As a “non-person” without documents you were not eligible for any food rations and always in danger of denunciation and being caught by the Gestapo.

Roger expanded on all aspects of the lives of these hidden Jews, from using peroxide to dye their hair an “Aryan” blonde, to the tough decision to become “illegal” in the first place when previously they had been law-abiding citizens. There are many stories of the kindness of German Berliners in helping “taucher”, ranging from those who provided a few nights’ shelter to those who provided documents, allowing Jews to assume new German identities.

Roger Moorhouse

Despite the mental strains, isolation and exhaustion that life an illegal Jew in Berlin must have carried, there are also positive moments in Roger Moorhouse’s account. “I thought our life was a great adventure…it was great fun” remembers one young illegal Jew. Some Jews, like Larry Orbach, who lied and cheated his way across Berlin and later wrote an uplifting memoir about it, found great freedom in a life lived outside the norms of a repressive society. Ultimately, this is a fascinating story of courage, audacity, inventiveness and sheer will to survive on the part of “taucher” and bravery and kindness on the part of those who helped them. 

Other events not to miss at the LJCC: Rex Bloomstein: The Director’s Cut – Confronting the Holocaust at 7.30pm on Thursday 24 November

Book Launch: Fleeing From the Fuhrer at 7.30pm on Monday 5 December

Survivors Speak: Freddie Knoller at 7.30pm on Thursday 8 December

Roger Moorhouse’s book Berlin at War is available here

How do we judge success?

The way we view ourselves is too often affected by how society views us.

Compare the man who lives in a big house, has a well paid job in the city, drives an expensive car, goes on exotic holidays and spends lots of money on leisure activities with another man of the same age, who lives in a two bed roomed flat on the fifth floor of a tower block. He catches the train to work, as he doesn’t have a car, hasn’t been on holiday for years and rarely goes out because he can’t afford it. Who would society initially regard as the most successful?

Sadly, many people judge success solely on what we possess and how much money we earn.  Lower income earners can be made to feel inferior. The very term High Net Worth Individual, suggests that society puts value on prosperity.

However, what of the man in the flat? Perhaps he is a dedicated youth worker, who spends his life helping troubled teenagers to turn their lives around, mentoring them and putting them on the right path. Despite low pay, he finds his job rewarding and fulfilling. He is happy. He has a loving wife and a child on the way. The man who lives in a big house, might work in the city as a bond dealer but find his job unfulfilling, has a failed marriage and is continually looking for satisfaction in the things he can afford to buy. Who should we now consider to be the most successful?

Of course these are extreme examples, tailored to make a point. I’m not suggesting that all bond dealers or wealthy people are unhappy and unfulfilled, nor indeed vice versa, but the point is why doesn’t society judge success on what we do and how we approach life, rather than what we own? And even more importantly, when will we judge our own success on what we do rather than what we own?

We all want to live comfortable lives without financial worries, but that should not mean that we have to sacrifice our personal fulfilment to achieve monetary success.

Saul Djanogly is an interesting case in this respect. He started his career working on the floor of the London Stock Exchange in 1982. He has since practised as a private client stockbroker and investment manager and now runs his own Wealth Management business with a special focus on Values Based Financial Planning. Unusually, he previously trained as a Rabbi and holds a degree in Jewish Studies from London University. So how does he balance his ethical training with commercial success apply these principles to his commercial life?

His answer is simple and does not just apply in business but in life generally. “I am not what I have, but what I give to others.  If I give value in business to my customers and colleagues, then I am successful. Equally, if I give value in business, the money will follow.’

Come and hear Saul Djanogly talk at the LJCC on Thursday December 1^st on the Kabbala of Money.

Four Extraordinary War Heroes at the LJCC

Guest Blog post by Vera Litvin

Yesterday, one day before Remembrance Day, LJCC students had the honour of meeting four very special WWII veterans. They had come to the LJCC to participate in Dr Helen Fry’s “Churchill’s German Army” course. What is it that makes Willy Field, Bill Howard, Geoffrey Perry and Harry Rossney so extraordinary? What makes their story different from that of any other British soldier who fought the Germans? It is the fact that all four men were born in Germany and Austria and fled to Britain to seek refuge from Nazi persecution.

Willy, Bill, Geoffrey and Harry belonged to 10,000 German and Austrian refugees who chose to fight for Britain during the War. Their service was not at first encouraged, and was in fact actively prevented as most of the refugees were interred, and in Willy Field’s case, even deported to Australia in hideous conditions on the infamous “Dunera” vessel. Despite this, there was a burning feeling among these men that this was their War. “The People we were fighting were out to eradicate me” says Bill Howard. “The very simple fact was that the Nazis had to be defeated” adds Harry Rossney, “Coming to England saved my life. I wanted to say thank you”. At first, the only way of showing their commitment to a country in which they were still considered “friendly enemy aliens” was to volunteer for the non-combatant Pioneer Corps.

It was only later on in the War that these men were allowed to enter fighting units. They did this and many saw active service, like Willy Field who fought for 11 months on the frontline and participated in the D-day landing, or Bill Howard who used his German language skills to do top secret work for the Royal Navy. Geoffrey Perry had the distinction of being the man to shoot and arrest the traitor and Nazi propagandist William Joyce, known as Lord Haw Haw, while Harry Rossney carried out the vital work of hand writing signs for the temporary crosses on the graves of fallen soldiers.

Historian Helen Fry says that the impact of these men and others like them is not to be underestimated: “Without their contribution the War would not have been shortened. It’s marvellous that the story is finally coming out”. Our listeners felt the same way, many of them explaining that their fathers too had been in the Pioneer Corps and how grateful they were for this opportunity to find out more about what happened to them. There was a real sense at the event of being able to “touch history” and to honour four extraordinary men.  

Image: L-R Geoffrey Perry, Harry Rossney, Willy Field, Dr Helen Fry, Bill Howard

To hear more exciting and unusual stories from members of “Churchill’s German Army” join Dr Helen Fry and her guests on Thursday 17 and Thursday 24 November at 2.00pm. http://www.ljcc.org.uk/courses/1821-churchill-s-german-army-hope-and-courage.html