The Glamorgan Archives is home to thousands of items that document key events in history and with World Holocaust Memorial Day taking place on January 27th the team was interested to find out if it had any documents relating to those who were a part of this tragic period in time.
Through a search, the team found a number of ‘Alien’ registration cards from German citizens who came to Britain in 1939 to escape the rise of National Socialism. Poignantly written on their card is ‘refugee from Nazi oppression’.
Their fate could have been drastically different if they hadn’t been able to flee Germany for a new life in Britain.
Two of the cards stored at the Glamorgan Archives belong to two German women, Jeanette Sara Speier and Margarete Israelski. Jeanette’s document show that after coming to Britain in 1939, she decided to move to America. Permission was granted by Merthyr Tydfil Borough Police Aliens Department for Jeanette to travel to Liverpool so she could sail to America.
Another document held by the Archive is paperwork form a German nurse who moved to Wales. The papers state that the nurse worked at General Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil and was again leaving Germany due to ‘Nazi oppression’.
Cardiff Council Leader, Cllr Rodney Berman said: “The fate of those featured in these cards could have been very different if they hadn’t been able to move to the UK. The cards document a key point in world history and serve to illustrate the wider significance of some of the items stored at the archives.
“It’s important that documents like these are preserved so that we remember all those who died or were affected by the Holocaust and World War Two.
“They also serve to remind us of the importance of providing sanctuary to anyone fleeing oppression and persecution in other countries. My own great-grandparents escaped from Latvia and Lithuania at the turn of the twentieth century in the wake of persecution of Jewish people there under the Russian Tsar. I never forget that I might not be here today if they hadn’t been welcomed in the UK when they fled here at that time in search of safety.”
