Mit dem Koffer in der Hand

Name of traveller

Susanne Bock (b. 1920) and Ivan Lipscher

Reason for travel

• Jewish refugee from Austria

Date of travel

1940 to 1941

Llangollen liegt in North-Wales, umgeben von grünen Wiesen, Schafweiden und Wäldchen, es ist ein wunderhübscher Ort. (Bock 119)

Content

• agriculture: sheep and dairy farming around Llangollen
• diet:
  • supplements nutrition by buying milk from local farmers and making cheese
  • discusses food rationing during the war
• language: some notes on the Welsh language and the importance of proper pronunciation for being accepted by the local people
• people:
  
  • lives in Llangollen with her Slovak husband Ivan Lipscher
  • works for the Czech Refugee Trust Fund in Llangollen during World War II
  • many of the refugees working in wood cutting around Llangollen as contribution to the war effort
  • describes living conditions and group life among the multi-national inhabitants in the refugee hostel
  • after an initial period of self-organisation, the hostel is eventually supervised by an army officer who has little understanding of cultural differences and lacks any experience in accounting, administration and house keeping
• recreation:
  • due to lack of tourists many inns and hotels were transformed into refugee hostels
  • people from Liverpool visiting Llangollen to escape the bombing raids for a few days
• terrain:
  • conflation of Wales and England
  • area around Llangollen with dense woodland

Nationality of traveller

Austrian and Slovak

Language of publication

German

Gender of traveller

Female

Type of publication

autobiography

Citation

Bock, Susanne. Mit dem Koffer in der Hand: Leben in den Wirren der Zeit 1920-1946. Wien: Passagen-Verlag, 1999. 119-34. Print.