Suzanne Lee

Suzanne was born in Frankfurt am Main in May 1927. Her parents were ‘proud Germans who happened to be Jewish’, but that didn’t stop them being persecuted by the Nazis forcing them to leave their home and come to England in August 1939. Suzanne considered herself very lucky to have been able to travel with her parents. She believes her grandparents died in Sachsenhausen. Suzanne’s father was interned on the Isle of Man and she herself struggled with being accepted. Arts & crafts helped Suzanne express herself through pottery, sculpture, painting and glass-blowing. (Unaided Emigration, Domestic Service, Kristallnacht, Beacon Boarding School)

Download Book

View Online

We weren’t supposed to come to England... my aunts and uncles and cousins all went to America and that’s where we were supposed to go. But then war was declared the day after we arrived so we were stuck here, we couldn’t leave.

It’s hard enough when you choose to live in another country. I think that’s why people all crowd together in, what do you call them, ghettos? They need their culture, to hear their own language, eat their own food, to have something familiar in a strange land. But we didn’t choose to come. We had no choice. And then to be treated the way we were. It has not been easy.

Unless otherwise indicated, the copyright of all photographs belongs to individual interviewees & must not be reproduced without permission. Please get in touch for more information