Play / pause Blitz Evacuee

Blitz Evacuee

  • Ralph Levy
  • Interview by: Ewan Burnet

Transcript

We had no choice as to which house we would go in.

We were just in the town hall and we were selected

by various people prepared to take

young boys and girls into their house,

which was very kind of them,

and treat us as their children.

But some boys were lucky

and they were with people who were wealthy

and had nice houses.

I was selected by a couple

that were very ordinary.

Hardly had any money at all.

They certainly had never met a Jewish boy before

and I think that was difficult for them

because I couldn't eat all the food that they

provided for me.

They tried their best in getting me

backwards and forwards to the school

for half a day,

and then the other half a day was

going to the sports field.

And it was very inconvenient for them.

But they did help

to give me a roof over my head

during the Blitz on London.

And my parents were glad that I was away from it all.

But then my father used to come and visit me

once a month, which was nice.

And then I was there for 11 months when

I was due

to have my confirmation.

And you can have that in a synagogue.

And actually, there was a temporary synagogue

that Jewish people from the East End had created

in High Wycombe

that I could have gone to to have my confirmation.

But I found, I did used to go there on a Saturday,

but I found it very strange

because I didn't know anybody there

and I felt that to have my confirmation

amongst people I didn't know

would be rather miserable,

and wasn't at all happy about that.

So there wasn't much scope for religious learning

in the year that I stayed with them.

And after the year,

I decided I didn't want to stay there any longer

and so I came back to London, to my home in London,

in spite of the Blitz.

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