Liesel Carter completes her journey

My mother, Liesel Carter, came to England in 1940. Her story is quite remarkable. She was born in August 1935 into a reasonably wealthy German-Jewish family in Hildesheim. Her father, David Meier, had fought in the German army in the First World War and had been decorated. They were an ordinary Jewish family. In March 1937 David Meier was beaten up by Nazi thugs and died of his injuries. This was our information. Liesel never knew him and the family never spoke of what had happened. This is not the story of how she escaped from Germany alone at the age of four to come to England – although that is remarkable in itself. Nor is it about how lucky she was to escape the Nazis – one of six of the original 250 family members who survived extermination. This is about the completion of her journey and what we all have found out. My mother came to England and made a good life for herself, marrying and having three children. She possesses only seven family photographs and none of the previous family wealth. She also has very little family history. What she does have is a photograph of her father and a picture of his grave – these are her only memories of him. For many years, Liesel tried to locate her father’s grave but without success. In 2012 a final attempt to find the grave was made – a last-ditch attempt for her, then 77, to visit and pay her respects. Many letters and emails were sent. No replies. But a chance conversation with Lilian Black, Chair of the Leeds Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association, led to a successful result. The mayor’s office in Hildesheim made contact and found the grave. Liesel was invited to visit Hildesheim as a guest of the mayor and to play a role in the Kristallnacht commemoration on 9 November. She travelled with me and my sister plus two of her granddaughters. We didn’t know what we would find – to say my mother was nervous is an understatement! On Thursday 8 November, Liesel was taken to the cemetery where her father is buried. His grave has been well maintained. She brought stones from her mother’s grave in London which were placed on his grave; stones were taken from his plot to return to London and reunite her parents. She recited the Yizkor memorial prayer and a Jahrzeit candle was lit. The moment was emotional. While in Hildesheim we found out that David’s story was not what we thought at all. He had been a proud man and something of a firebrand and had stood up to the Nazi changes with all his strength. He didn’t see himself as merely Jewish – he was proudly German. In March 1937 he was set upon by four SA thugs. We believe he fought back. He ran into his bank, the manager of which sheltered him. It was suggested to him that as he was a Jew, he should leave the bank by the back door. ‘I have been a good customer of this bank for many years. I am German and will leave by the front door,’ he said and left. The thugs were waiting and the beating continued. He finally got away and went home. Three days later he was summoned to a basement hearing at the local Gestapo office on a charge of affray. He disappeared. A few days later the family found out he had been taken to Buchenwald. He never returned. What happened? Nobody knows: speculation is that he refused to sign a confession and was beaten to death. The ultimate injustice was that he was cremated and that his widow had to pay to repatriate his ashes for burial. The exact date of his death is unknown, which is why the Hebrew date is not shown on his headstone. We also discovered that of a Jewish population of over 10,000 in 1939 out of a total of approximately 72,000 only five Jewish people remained in Hildesheim post-1945. Today the city boasts a ‘thriving’ community of 100 Jews out of a population of over 103,000. There is in Hildesheim, however, a strong student group called Beth Shalom. Their members are not Jewish but visit the cemetery every Wednesday and tend the graves. Also, the local schools study the Holocaust as a lesson that it must never happen again. There is no hiding from history or responsibility here, their group leader, Matthais Reisner, told us. Invited to meet the Beth Shalom group on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, we found some 125 students waiting to meet Liesel. Their annual commemoration told the story of David Meier and his death – the commemoration was memorable for them as well as us and they were enthusiastic to meet her. A prayer was said at David’s graveside in tribute to this first victim. Liesel was asked to speak to the students and she thanked them for their dedication to maintaining the cemetery. She had worried that her father had been all alone, she said, and it comforted her to know that he had visitors every Wednesday. We went on to a meeting with the mayor to discuss our findings. We had visited the street where Liesel was born and where the shop had been. Over 80 per cent of Hildesheim had been bombed and destroyed. Perhaps, fittingly, this part of the city was untouched. Landmarks had changed and she couldn’t find her former home. She also had no memories and nothing felt ‘familiar’. However, the mayor’s office, armed with information from us, is now looking into this so we may yet get a final answer. From there we moved to the formal commemoration service, which is held annually in the ruins of the synagogue. On Kristallnacht in 1938 the rabbi had been forced to open the synagogue but prevented from entering it. It was burned to the ground that night. As a memorial to the Holocaust victims, the outer boundary has been relaid and a large, carved stone cube showing images of historical Jewish persecution, Jewish history and the Holocaust placed in the centre. At the event, the mayor gave a speech and then Liesel told her story. Again, some 200 people attended. Wreaths were laid and Kaddish was said for the persecuted victims. The commemoration event is supported by all faiths and there is no attempt to hide or justify what happened. Did Liesel enjoy the visit to Hildesheim? Difficult to say. Everyone we met was very helpful, polite and friendly and we definitely got answers to the questions we had. However, the memories and fears are very close to the surface. Whilst we were visiting there was a demonstration in the market square. One protestor was holding a rolled-up flag coloured red, white and black. In an instant, my mother was a four-year-old frightened child again. Later, we found out that the demonstration was actually for a Kurdish dissident. However, the deep childhood memories emerged very strongly. My mother said she felt uneasy during her visit and has commented on feeling scared that ‘they are coming to take me’, even though nothing happened or was said that might have caused this feeling. Asked how she felt to have come ‘home’ to Hildesheim, she replied ‘I am glad to be here but this is not my home. My home is England and I will be glad to return to it.’ Perhaps this is the measure of her story, but at least she has found some level of peace and completed her journey. Postscript Since our return to the UK, the mayor’s office has confirmed that they have found the location of the butcher’s shop and apartment where my mother lived. It was bombed to the ground during the war and new housing now sits on top of its location. It wasn’t far from where my mother had walked. Also, the mayor’s office is considering installing a Stolperstein in her father’s name as a further commemoration. Finally, Beth Shalom leader Matthais Reisner has told us they have petitioned the mayor’s office to have a street in Hildesheim named after Liesel’s father. Janet Howley