Lilli Tauber

This is a picture of me at the age of 14, taken in England in 1940.

I arrived in London with a Kindertransport in 1939 and stayed in a hostel of the Bnei Brit Lodge. In August school began in England, and a few weeks later the war began [1st September 1939]. We were sent to live in the country, in Cockley Cley, with a certain Lady Roberts. She belonged to the English landed aristocracy and wasn't Jewish. She was about 50 or 60 years old, very nice and concerned for our well-being. She knew what was happening to Jews and had enough money to help a lot of them. She owned a large plot of land and employed many farm workers who also lived there. English children lived with the farm workers, and emigrant children stayed with Lady Roberts.

I used to draw a lot at the time, and recalling the pictures I drew back then, I must say that they were very beautiful and I was very talented. I didn't think of it back then, but I really should have done something with my talent.

There was no school in the village so all the children went to school in Swaffham, the nearest bigger city. Our teachers from London had come with us, and Lady Roberts arranged for a little cottage with two rooms to be transformed into classrooms. None of the teachers knew German, so I learned English pretty quickly.

When we moved to Lady Roberts' estate our cook came along. She was strictly kosher and got her own kitchen. Lady Roberts made sure that she would get kosher meat and so on.

Lady Roberts received a certain amount of money for each child that she took on. She gave what remained from that amount to us, children, and we could use that money to go to the cinema.

Photos from this interviewee