Im92*

My mother began her many attempts to escape her home in Germany when she was 14 years old. She finally succeeded at the age of 18 by crossing the English Channel. An English family sponsored her to work on their farm as a housekeeper. Once there, she was injured and rendered disabled from earning her keep. She was eventually sent to live with other German refugee girls. She was the only member of her household who survived, along with two young male cousins who survived various concentration camps. In London, she met my father, a Czech refugee. They married in 1944.

 

Waldbreitbach, Germany

Irene [Levy] Mahler