The Dynamics of Forced Female Migration from Czechoslovakia to Britain, 1938–1950

Jana Barbora Buresova

The Dynamics of Forced
Female Migration
from Czechoslovakia to
Britain, 1938–1950

PETER LANG

Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • New York • Wien

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Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data

Names: Buresova, Jana B., 1950, author.

Title: The dynamics of forced female migration from

Czechoslovakia to Britain, 1938-1950 / Jana B. Buresova.

Description: First edition. | New York : Peter Lang, 2019. | Series: Exile studies ; 18 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018029885 | ISBN 9781788744461 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Women refugees--Great Britain--History--20th century. | Women

refugees--Czechoslovakia--History--20th century. | Forced

migration--Czechoslovakia--History--20th century. | World War,

1939-1945--Refugees--Czechoslovakia. | Czechoslovakia--Emigration and

immigration--History--20th century. | Great Britain--Emigration and

immigration--History--20th century.

Classification: LCC HV640.5.C97 B87 2019 | DDC 940.53/1450820941--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018029885

Cover image: Nina Dobosharevich, Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines
and Hana Benešová (courtesy of Nadia de Vivo)

Cover design by Peter Lang Ltd.

ISSN 1072-0626

ISBN 978-1-78874-446-1 (print) • ISBN 978-1-78874-447-8 (ePDF)

ISBN 978-1-78874-448-5 (ePub) • ISBN 978-1-78874-449-2 (mobi)

© Peter Lang AG 2019

Published by Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers,

52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU, United Kingdom

oxford@peterlang.com, www.peterlang.com

Jana Barbora Buresova has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act, to be identified as Author of this Work.

All rights reserved.

All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.

Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without

the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.

This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming,

and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.

This publication has been peer reviewed.

About the author

Jana Barbora Buresova is a committee member of the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies, attached to the Institute of Modern Languages Research (IMLR) at the University of London, where she was awarded the Martin Miller and Hannah Norbert-Miller Bursary for Doctoral Study. She is also involved in the Association of Jewish Refugees’ audio-visual Holocaust Testimony Archive project.

About the book

The study of Czechoslovak women refugees in Britain is noticeably missing from current research and Anglo-Czechoslovak historiography. This book explores the diverse experiences, dilemmas and contributions to Britain of these women within a socio-political context, commencing with the 1938 Munich Agreement that precipitated exile.

An essential difference between this and many other studies of exile is the focus on nationality (Czechoslovak) and gender (women), rather than either element alone. Moreover, archival research is complemented by oral interviews with former refugees, presenting a more detailed and nuanced approach to their experiences, including wartime roles in the armed services, Czechoslovak Red Cross, women's organizations and patriotic cultural societies.

‘Exile is “not only about leaving one’s home, but about leaving, and perhaps losing, everything that one held dear”. This is how many women migrated from Czechoslovakia to Britain 1938–1950. In this path-breaking book, Buresova combines archival research with extensive interviews to create a vivid picture of the lives of women refugees.’ – Professor Naomi Segal, Birkbeck, University of London

‘A well-written and excellently researched book on a highly original subject. Nothing has previously appeared on female Czech exiles in Britain in World War II, and this book amply fills that gap. It will interest both scholars and the general public.’ – Professor Emeritus Charmian Brinson, Imperial College London

‘This is a first-rate contribution to the hugely topical subject of migrant history, investigating the sorely neglected theme of women forced into exile in wartime Britain from the former Czechoslovakia. Buresova depicts with great empathy, mastery and picturesque detail a tapestry of culturally and ethnically diverse, but intertwined lives. Moreover, she shows how Britain’s betrayal of Czechoslovakia at Munich in 1938, which had done so much to precipitate the war, continued to have its distinctive repercussions – emotional as well as political – among hosts and refugees alike.’ – Robert Evans, Regius Professor of History Emeritus, University of Oxford

This eBook can be citeed

This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.

Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

Introductory Notes

Introduction

Chapter 1

Arrival and Adjustment in Britain

Chapter 2

Friendly Alien/Enemy Alien? Internment and MI5 Scrutiny

Chapter 3

A Women’s War in a Foreign Land: Helping the War Effort

Chapter 4

Mothers Without Their Children, Children Without Their Mothers

Chapter 5

Identity, Culture and Social Cohesion: ‘Home Away from Home’ ←ix | x→

Chapter 6

Repatriation, Retribution and (Re)migration to Britain

Conclusion

Chronology

Appendix A

Population of Czechoslovakia Showing Ethnic Groups According to the 1930 Census

Appendix B

Interview Questionnaire

Appendix C

Key Interviewees, Respondents and Testimonies

Bibliography

Index ←x | xi→

Figures

Frontispiece. Map of Czechoslovakia, 1918–1938, indicating areas of ethnic German settlement. Adapted from Paul Robert Magosci, Historical Atlas of Central Europe, Revised and Expanded Edition (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002).

Figure 1. Anna Tschapek’s British Registration Certificate showing endorsements re: Fortis Green CRTF hostel, internment, Hammersmith Hospital [Czechoslovak section], 1940s. Courtesy of son, Walter.

Figure 2. Where the journey began: interviewee Hedy Fromings by the Kindertransport memorial, platform 1, Wilson Station, Prague, 2011. Author’s image.

Figure 3. Early days: women refugees in Fortis Green CRTF hostel, London, c.1940/1. Courtesy of Fritz Koehler, son of ‘house-father’ Frederic Kohler [sic].

Figure 4. Front cover of Czechoslovak Christmas Carols, compiled for the Czechoslovak Red Cross, London, during WWII. Courtesy of Nadia de Vivo (Knap). ←xi | xii→

Figure 5. Marie Řehulková’s Czechoslovak Red Cross shoulder badges, London 1941. Courtesy of interviewee.

Figure 6. Front cover of Czechoslovak National Anthem: translated by Marian Jeary (later Knap), proceeds to Czechoslovak Red Cross Fund, c.1941. Courtesy of daughter, Nadia de Vivo (Knap).

Figure 7. WREN Officer Dorrit Epstein, 1943. Courtesy of interviewee.

Figure 8. WAAF Corporal Theresie Schneider (later Lowit), showing ‘Czechoslovakia’ shoulder badge. Courtesy of interviewee.

Figure 9. RAF Service Release Book, 1946. Courtesy of Theresie Schneider (later Lowit).

Figure 10. Legionnaire Nina Dobosharevich, London, c.2005. Courtesy of interviewee.

Figure 11. Hedwig ‘Mutter’ Huenigen, Matron of CRTF children’s hostel. Courtesy of daughter, Hedy Fromings (formerly Huenigen).

Figure 12. Patriotic birthday card for ‘Mutter Huenigen’. Courtesy of daughter, Hedy Fromings (formerly Huenigen).

Figure 13. Czechoslovak Institute, 18 Grosvenor Place, SW1. Author’s image. ←xii | xiii→

Figure 14. Poster, Czechoslovak Sokol Exhibition, Czechoslovak Institute. Courtesy of Nadia de Vivo (Knap).

Figure 15. Phoenix Theatre poster for the play The Last Stone, courtesy of Devana Pavliková.

Figure 16. Council of Czechoslovak Women in Great Britain (CCWGB), based at 155 Notting Hill Gate, W11 (just right of traffic lights). Author’s image.

Figure 17. Anna Tschapek’s Sudeten German Committee Representative Body of the Democratic Germans from Czechoslovakia, subscriber card No. 248, and CCWGB membership card, 1944– 1945, No. 230. Courtesy of son, Walter.

Figure 18. Joan Roginson showing photographs of Leamington Sokol group, 2011. Courtesy of interviewee.

Figure 19. Poster, Picton Hall event, including the Leamington Sokol group. Courtesy of Joan Roginson.

Figure 20. Letter, 28 February 1945, Hana Beneš toAston Abbotts villager, Victor Scott. Courtesy of interviewee.

Figure 21. Czechoslovak Repatriation Card issued to Heda Wernerová (later Franks) on release from Terezín, 1945. Courtesy of interviewee. ←xiii | xiv→

Figure 22. Extract from Heda Wernerová’s (later Franks) passport, showing her photograph. Courtesy of interviewee.