Verloren – gewonnen: Mein Weg von Berlin nach London

Name of traveller

Lily Pincus (1898-1981) and Fritz Pincus

Reason for travel

• Austrian Jewish refugee from Third Reich

Date of travel

April 1939 to April 1943

Die Wißbegierde, der Lerneifer dieser Männer war für uns erstaunlich, ist aber weitgehend typisch für Wales. Wohl nirgends in der westlichen Welt gibt es so viele Menschen in höheren akademischen oder politischen Positionen, die aus ärmsten Familien stammen, ursprünglich nur die elementarste Schulbildung hatten, aber durch ihre besonderen Leistungen später Universitäts-Freistellen bekamen. (Pincus 94)

Content

• customs:
  • enjoys the friendly and welcoming atmosphere in Wales
  • describes life of the mining community which includes attending concerts, going on excursions, picnics on the beach and swimming in the sea
• diet: works in the kitchen of Coleg Harlech and learns to cook for the students and staff
• language: mature students at Coleg Harlech predominantly enroll into English Literature course in order to improve their English skills
• people:
  • friendship with Thomas Jones (T.J.) (1870-1955) who offers Lily and Fritz Pincus positions at Coleg Harlech
  • Lily Pincus's brothers and families manage to escape and join them in Harlech for a time
  • friendship with Susan Macaulay, née Graves (b. 1885), her step-mother Amalie Elizabeth Sophie Graves, née von Ranke (1857-1951), and brother Robert Graves (1895-1985)
• politics:
  • Welsh nationalism as historically grown tension between Wales and England, owing to linguistic and religious differences
  • describes establishment of Coleg Harlech, a college for mature students, with support from the Workers' Educational Association
  • graduates from Coleg Harlech frequently enter into significant political and educational careers
  • with the outbreak of the war a great number of evacuated children arrive in Harlech
  • with outbreak of war, conscription of miners into the army and placement of Coleg Harlech first under administration of Liverpool University and later the Army Bureau for Current Affairs
  • establishment of a Home Guard in Harlech
  • the Pincuses are called in front of a tribunal to proove their genuine status as Jewish refugees; are classified as enemy aliens; the male German and Austrian refugees are sent to internment camps for some time
• terrain:
  • appreciates the beautiful surroundings of Harlech, but finds the town itself ugly
  • enjoys the sight of the mountains of Snowdonia from the beach
  • Harlech and surroundings have a soothing effect on refugees

Nationality of traveller

Bohemian, Austrian

Language of publication

German

Gender of traveller

Male, Female

Type of publication

autobiography

Citation

Pincus, Lily. Verloren – gewonnen: Mein Weg von Berlin nach London. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1980. 90-119. Print.