8 The boys of Lebanon Park: George & Freddy George Ruf lived in an apartment with his family on Bahnhofstrasse in Herne, Germany. He had two brothers and a sister. His parents worked in a furniture shop where he would go after school to
name to George as his real name Gunter, sounded ‘too German’. Eventually ten boys were brought to this house. He enjoyed life there, always expecting his family to join him there soon. He stayed in a room with two other boys and was looked after by Matron Kroner, which was the first time he had porridge and tea with milk.
time, after 47 years. Last year George and his wife took their youngest daughter to see the house at Lebanon Park. Freddy Popper was born in June 1928 in Vienna. He was born into a middleclass family that had a rich musical herit-
He left St. Mary’s to go to Orleans Park secondary school next door which he left when he was 14. After leaving the house at Lebanon Park George had a very interesting life. When he was 18 he rode a motorbike all through Europe and back to Herne where he met some of his old neighbours. He then joined the army and served in Hong Kong and Singapore before moving to Ecuador to manage a factory and then, finally, settling down in the USA. George eventually found out that after The synagogue in Herne, still smoulder- he left Germany his mother and sister were taken to Stutthof and his brothers ing after being set alight by Nazis in to Bergen- Belsen concentration camps. 1938 Photo: Ralf Piorr His mother died on the death march in Poland in 1945. George’s father manget a snack. He longed to go to the local aged to escape, fighting for the British swimming pool but because he was Jewarmy against the Nazis in Africa before ish he wasn’t allowed to. Nevertheless, reaching England and finding George in he had a very happy life until Kris1946. His sister and brothers went to tallnacht, the night of broken glass, Australia and lived there until they died. which was a violent riot, against Jews George visited them in 1986 for the first carried out by SA paramilitary forces and civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 10th November 1938. The windows in George’s parent’s furniture shop had been smashed. Pictures show the aftermath of Kristallnacht in Herne, just over seventy years ago this month. After that day, George’s family was forced to move from their home and went to live with Mr. Ganz, the president of their Jewish community in Herne. Five days later his father was taken to a concentration camp. On April 19th 1939 his mother and siblings took him to Dortmund station to go on a train to Holland, he was allowed to bring a suitcase with just a few clothes. It was the last time that George ever saw his mother. Eventually George ended up living in 52 Lebanon Park in Twickenham and when to school at St. Mary’s there. Soon after arriving he was forced to change his
Freddy Popper, left , with Emil Haber, another of the boys who lived in Lebanon Park Photo: Michael Popper age. Freddy and his mother escaped from Vienna in 1939 and made their way to London where Freddy lived at the hostel in Lebanon Park. When Freddy left the house in December 1944 he found work as a tailor, becoming a highly -skilled pattern cutter. After travels around the country for work he settled back in Richmond Borough, living in St Margarets from the early 1990s until he passed away. The boys who lived in Lebanon Park— do you remember them? The young people researching the boys at Lebanon Park would like to hear from any local residents who remember those who lived there along with George and Freddy. Please do get in touch with Mr Lawrence at Hampton School if you remember: Fred Pauker, Emil Haber
Gerald & Harold Ohrbach Ralph Metzger Frank Reichmann George Ruf today with one of his grandchildren in the USA Photo: George Ruf
Kurt Kristeller
