10 Getting Married
The date for the wedding was already fixed and, having delayed my departure several times, we had to take out a special licence, but we actually got married on time, attended by many relatives and friends, mainly from Friedel's family. From my side, only Philip and his wife Henny came from Antwerp. Yoine unfortunately could not get a visa at the last moment. Some cousins who resided in London also came. It was a great pleasure to have Rabbi Dr. Ansbacher attending. He was a Rabbi in Wiesbaden and a close friend of my father's.
In spite of the food rationing restrictions still in force in Britain, the affair was well arranged and we all had a good time. Still, I was sad and upset, thinking of all my family, who could not be with me on that important day. I cannot remember the exact wording of my speech which I delivered during the dinner, but I do remember clearly two themes that I mentioned. First was the home in which I grew up, and the education which I received from my parents, and I was glad that Rabbi Ansbacher could confirm the high standard which ruled in our house. Then I told our guests that Friedel and I were determined to live in “Israel”, whatever the difficulties. Today this doesn't sound remarkable, but in 1947, conditions were not favourable in Palestine, to say the least. The State was not established yet; there were only deliberations at the UNO and the future looked very bleak. We were determined to settle in Palestine for ideological reasons. We had both been brought up in the religious Zionist movement of Bachad. It felt like a new beginning, a fresh start for us after the horrors and devastation of the Holocaust.
Against the advice of the family and other well-wishers, we went straight ahead and applied for an entry visa from the British Home Office. This was not an easy task, but we were determined to get on with it, until we got the permit. Meanwhile Friedel's family tried to persuade us to settle in England for some time, until times were better. We would not hear of it. At the UNO, various parties were active in trying to reach a majority for the establishment of a Jewish State, and we wanted to be there when it happened.
While we were waiting for our papers to come through, we prepared for our journey, shopping and packing wedding gifts and other personal belongings into big trunks. Between May and September, I worked at Santor Paper (my father-in-law’s business). We had a rented room in Hampstead. Finally, in September 1947, we were granted permission to enter Palestine as legal immigrants, and received all the necessary documents. We booked our journey to go to France by train, spend a week in Paris, then proceed to Marseilles to board the "Kedma", the first Jewish ship to go to Palestine.
The day arrived when we took leave of family and friends. With a lot of emotional good wishes, and many bits of advice, we boarded the train taking us to France. Friends in Paris had booked us into a hotel, and we spent a few very nice days there. We were very upset when we were informed by the travel office in Paris that the “Kedma” was undergoing repairs, and it would take a long time to make it seaworthy. We did not want to wait that long, so we changed our booking to a Romanian ship sailing in a few days from Marseilles. Upon boarding the boat, we found that most of the other passengers had done as we did. Among the passengers, we also met a widow by the name of Tiefenbrunner - the wife of a cousin of my father's from Strasbourg. Accommodation on the boat was not of the best, as the ship was overcrowded. However, nothing mattered - we were looking forward to a new life!
The date for the wedding was already fixed and, having delayed my departure several times, we had to take out a special licence, but we actually got married on time, attended by many relatives and friends, mainly from Friedel's family. From my side, only Philip and his wife Henny came from Antwerp. Yoine unfortunately could not get a visa at the last moment. Some cousins who resided in London also came. It was a great pleasure to have Rabbi Dr. Ansbacher attending. He was a Rabbi in Wiesbaden and a close friend of my father's.
In spite of the food rationing restrictions still in force in Britain, the affair was well arranged and we all had a good time. Still, I was sad and upset, thinking of all my family, who could not be with me on that important day. I cannot remember the exact wording of my speech which I delivered during the dinner, but I do remember clearly two themes that I mentioned. First was the home in which I grew up, and the education which I received from my parents, and I was glad that Rabbi Ansbacher could confirm the high standard which ruled in our house. Then I told our guests that Friedel and I were determined to live in “Israel”, whatever the difficulties. Today this doesn't sound remarkable, but in 1947, conditions were not favourable in Palestine, to say the least. The State was not established yet; there were only deliberations at the UNO and the future looked very bleak. We were determined to settle in Palestine for ideological reasons. We had both been brought up in the religious Zionist movement of Bachad. It felt like a new beginning, a fresh start for us after the horrors and devastation of the Holocaust.
Against the advice of the family and other well-wishers, we went straight ahead and applied for an entry visa from the British Home Office. This was not an easy task, but we were determined to get on with it, until we got the permit. Meanwhile Friedel's family tried to persuade us to settle in England for some time, until times were better. We would not hear of it. At the UNO, various parties were active in trying to reach a majority for the establishment of a Jewish State, and we wanted to be there when it happened.
While we were waiting for our papers to come through, we prepared for our journey, shopping and packing wedding gifts and other personal belongings into big trunks. Between May and September, I worked at Santor Paper (my father-in-law’s business). We had a rented room in Hampstead. Finally, in September 1947, we were granted permission to enter Palestine as legal immigrants, and received all the necessary documents. We booked our journey to go to France by train, spend a week in Paris, then proceed to Marseilles to board the "Kedma", the first Jewish ship to go to Palestine.
The day arrived when we took leave of family and friends. With a lot of emotional good wishes, and many bits of advice, we boarded the train taking us to France. Friends in Paris had booked us into a hotel, and we spent a few very nice days there. We were very upset when we were informed by the travel office in Paris that the “Kedma” was undergoing repairs, and it would take a long time to make it seaworthy. We did not want to wait that long, so we changed our booking to a Romanian ship sailing in a few days from Marseilles. Upon boarding the boat, we found that most of the other passengers had done as we did. Among the passengers, we also met a widow by the name of Tiefenbrunner - the wife of a cousin of my father's from Strasbourg. Accommodation on the boat was not of the best, as the ship was overcrowded. However, nothing mattered - we were looking forward to a new life!
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