My War

By Marion Frankel

At the outbreak of the Second World War, a twelve year old girl who had grown up in East London tells the story of her evacuation to Northampton. The experience opens up a whole new world for her, and friendships that would last for many years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Graham Frankel
• Release date: Oct 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005327026

Book preview

Foreword

I would like to mention how I came to write this. My granddaughter Elizabeth - who was eight at the time - asked me if I would come to her school to speak to her class about being an evacuee during World War II. I must say that I felt rather nervous about doing this, but I thought if I made some notes on the computer it might help me remember something that happened so long ago. As I sat at the computer my notes seemed to turn into a story that just spilled out................

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In 1939, when the Government of the time thought that a war in Europe was possible, they decided that schoolchildren should be sent away from London to safer areas in the country. This was not compulsory, and it was for parents or guardians of the children to decide whether they should be evacuated.

My school, Dalston Central School, was in the East End of London. Our teacher told us about the evacuation scheme, and I had to ask my parents if they wanted me to leave London. I must assume that my parents, who had lived in London for a long time and who were married there during the First World War, must have had some idea that London might not be safe if there was a war. So, they agreed for me to be evacuated.

My parents were not born in England and were immigrants from persecution in Europe. My father was born in Russia and was brought to England by his mother when he was about seven, together with his sister (who was a couple of years older) and his six-month-old twin brothers. I know my grandmother had a brother in England and some other relations, but it was quite a struggle for her to bring up her four children on her own. Her husband was supposed to follow her later, but he never arrived! My grandmother became a cook to a firm of caterers. Having this job and also wonderful strength of character enabled her to bring her children up with very little help from other sources.

My mother was born in Poland and came to England when she was about sixteen. She had a brother here in England as well as a grandmother, grandfather and some other aunts and uncles. Her parents had stayed in Poland with her brothers and sisters. My