On Holocaust Anniversary Day my thoughts went back to 1938, the year before World War II.
Sutton had opened its doors to young Jewish refugees whose parents had managed to send them out of Germany to safety.
I was 16 and a girl guide with 3rd Sutton Company. Our guide leader, Olive Hillbrook, was asked if the guides would be willing to assist with housework for German lads who had been allocated a large house, which, if I remember correctly, was in Brunswick Road.
The boys were in the care of a German professor and his wife who had escaped with them.
Several of us got permission from our parents, would go once a week and help clean the house, thoroughly enjoying the teenage boys’ company. They joined our youth club and proved to be terrific table-tennis players. The professor showed his gratitude by giving us German lessons once a week.
Subsequently, war broke out, things changed and I lost touch. I often wonder what happened to those lads and whether any of them were reunited after the war, with any family who survived the Holocaust.
Are there any records surviving and are there any ex-3rd Sutton Guides (also surviving!) who remember those days?
PEGGY POLLARD
by email
- Send your letters to: letters@suttonguardian.co.uk
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