Mexborough and Swinton Times March 31, 1939

German Refugee in Mexborough Fears Long Arm of “Gestapo.”

A timely escape from Germany was described to a “Times” reporter yesterday by a refugee, a German Jew, who is at present staying at the home of Doctor S.P. Bhatia. He desires that his name should not be mentioned fully and we will therefore refer to him as Herr Erich. He explained in broken English that his parents and brother, Was still in Germany would “be persecuted” if full details were given.

He escaped, with the aid of the International Students’ service from his home Town to Sudetenland in 1936, and when Hitler’s troops entered that country, he escaped to Prague, Czechoslovakia. Four days before German troops arrived in Prague he again made a timely escape into Poland, from where he came to London and Mexborough

He studied engineering in Germany, and his father was a wealthy man. Now his father is so poor that he had not enough money to enable him to get out of Germany. Herr Erich told how ,Tews in Germany were compelled to give away any valuables they possessed. “A gold ring worth £10” he said “a Jew would be forced to sell for a shilling.”

I think England is a nice country, ‘ and the English nice people, and they are very kind to us. I want to stay in England, and ‘work here as a draughtsman, but first I shall have to get permission from the Home Office.”

Herr Erich said he had seen no outrageous brutalities, but has heard of them and states that the Jews in ‘Vienna are suffering badly.He stated that when he was 14 an SS man once struck him in the face and kicked him. He was apparently resigned to the fact that “when the Gestapo want me, they will find me.”

As our representative left he said “If unknown man asked, you do not know me. But if a man asked about finding a work, then tell him.”