Frank Henderson

I had a very good job and my lawyer was very happy with me, I worked hard, day and night. Until one day, in my seat there was a letter, he wouldn’t come and say it personally: “Sorry you are dismissed, by order of the Nazi Party”. So, he didn’t come out and shake hands with me or nothing, he was frightened of the secretary who was a born Nazi. You see, it is most impossible to understand what happened, unless you were amongst it.

I applied for (UK) naturalisation and I had to appear in front of three judges, and one of them said “Mr Henderson, you have been interned.” “Yes.” “Tell me why were you interned?” I said, “In all fairness sir, would you please tell me why I was interned?” He said “Thank you very much Mr Henderson. Granted.”

"2 SS thugs guarded the border. They put a rifle against me. I said 'What do you want?' They took me to a room & said 'Put everything in your pocket on the table.' I had a photo from a girlfriend.
'Ah' he said, 'That's not a Jewish girlfriend. That is an Aryan madchen.”
I said 'No.'
What do you think he did? Put a pistol at my head: 'I'll count to 10 & if you don’t say by 10 she's an Aryan, you are dead.'
I said 'Are you mad? She's Jewish.'
'You heard what I said. 1, 2…'
"By 8 the door opened. The inspector came in. He said 'Put it down'.
He said 'He's got an Aryan madchen there.'
I said 'Her name is so & so & she's Jewish.'
So he said to that Nazi 'You heard what he said. What else do you want? She's Jewish, that is it.'
He said 'I can’t let you past now, you have to stay the night in prison.'
They took a taxi, drove me back to Treia, put me in prison for 4 days, I ate 1 piece of bread & drank 1 cup of water. After 4 days I was ordered out downstairs & there was a fellow, 'Heil Hitler. Are you Jewish? Sit down. Tell me your life story from the moment you were born until you sit down here.' I told him what I know. The door opened, a fellow comes in: 'Tomorrow a transport is going to Dachau, put him in.' He left.
I said 'If I leave the country in a normal way, wouldn’t that be better than sending me to Dachau?'
He said 'Have you got a passport?'
I said yes.
'Right, go back to Berlin, report to the Gestapo, get your visa for wherever you want to go to & then get a train from the station to Holland.”
I said 'Thank you very much.'
'And don’t tell them I let you go, just get out of here quietly.
Frank went to the British embassy in Berlin.
"There was an inspector, he was well known [probably Frank Foley]. I told him what happened to me. He said: 'Give me your passport. OK'. That man, he did so many good things. Whenever he was on duty there wasn’t one who was sent out without a visa."

I stood on the platform all by myself in a London railway station. What now? I thought: I can’t use my £3, I can’t go to a hotel. In that split second a huge policeman came & looked at me: 'Woher kommst du?' He was Jewish! He said 'I'll take you to the shelter.' There was a shelter in the East End. He said: 'I'll put you into a taxi. Du gebst den ganef sixpence, no more.'
At the shelter another yiddlech came & said: 'Lie on the bed if you want, sleep if you want, don’t get undressed. If you get undressed you won't find your things tomorrow morning. They are all ganovim.' So for the first hour I sat on my bed, looking. Then somebody said 'Go to sleep, we will watch you. Nothing will happen.' Nothing did but I had nothing to eat for 30 hours. It was terrible."
The next day Frank went to "the Jewish Agency" (Woburn House): "'Ya, come in, sit down. Do you come from Vienna?' She questioned me. Suddenly next to her was a big trolley & on the trolley was a box stacked with £1 notes, there must have been £10,000. The telephone rings. She gets up & walks away. I said 'Just a minute, oh no,' I said, 'That we don’t do.'
'What’s the matter?'
'I am not being left alone by myself,' I said, 'No way! I won't be left alone with all that money here.'
'As long as you don’t take it, what are you worried about?'
So finally she came back & said 'What is all the shouting about?'
I said 'How can you leave me alone with all the money?'
'Well, why not? Did you take any?'
I said 'No I didn’t.'
“There you are. Here is £1, good luck to you. Now what was it you want?'
I said 'What can I do?'
She said 'I have given you £1, go back to where you have come from & come back tomorrow morning.' So I walked a bit here & there, I had a bit of something to eat & drink & by 8 o’clock the day was gone. The next day she said 'Do you want to go to the Kitchener Camp?'
'I will go anywhere you want.'
'Well there is a transport going to the Kitchener Camp in Sandwich.'
So I went there.