Simon Jochnowitz

Simon Jochnowitz was born in July 1931 in Fulda, Germany, as the youngest of seven children to Abraham and Civia Jochnowitz, née Kalter. Both his parents had come from Poland to Fulda, which offered work opportunities. Simon tells us that his parents met in a boarding house run by one of his uncles and fell in love. Fulda had a considerable Jewish community of about 300 families. The community consisted of Jews from Eastern Europe and Germany. The German Jews used the synagogue and the Eastern European Jews had their own rooms in the basement. His father, despite having come from Poland, sang in the German Jewish congregation. He was a cantor and officiated in smaller synagogues in towns and villages outside Fulda. He also taught in the yeshiva while his wife Civia ran the household and raised the children. She was supported by her mother who lived on the ground floor in the same house in the Judengasse. The name of the street was changed to “Am Stockhaus” when the Nazis came to power. Simon attended the Jewish kindergarten which organised outings with the children. At the age of six, Simon moved on to the Jewish primary school.

He remembers a happy childhood, playing with his siblings in particular outside as the flat was rather small. Close to their house was a chocolate shop where Simon’s grandmother Kalter bought the leftovers which couldn’t be used for sale “for two Pfennig”. He also remembers that the non-Jewish population of Fulda and the Jewish population lived peacefully alongside each other – until the November Pogrom when the synagogue burnt. And he remembers that public loudspeakers made it impossible to escape Hitler’s speeches, which he could even hear in their apartment.

In late October 1938, his family, together with other Polish Jewish families, were taken from Fulda to Kassel and from there deported to the Polish border. Simon says, this was the first time he remembered meeting non-religious Jews. When the group of Polish born Jews came to the border, the Polish authorities denied them entry. Simon remembers a German policeman saying “you are free to go” and his father almost fainting with relief. The family returned to Fulda, only to find their flat sealed and having to find accommodation. After the November Pogrom, Simon’s oldest brother Joseph (born 1919) obtained a visa for Britain based on the invitation from the Manchester yeshiva. Sister Ida and Gina came on domestic visas. Simon, his brothers Max and Naftali and his parents were able to come to Manchester on a work visa for his father. This had been organised by one of his sisters who had asked Rabbi Schonfeld for help. Simon’s maternal grandparents did not emigrate with them, his grandfather died in 1938 and his grandmother was in a non-Jewish old people’s home where she was well taken care of.

In Manchester, his parents also ran a boarding house as an additional source of income. Simon and his brothers Max and Naftali started school, which was overall a positive experience. At the beginning of the war, they were evacuated to Fleetwood for a short while, which Simon and his brothers did not like and they returned home to their parents in Manchester. After finishing primary school, he attended Salford Grammar School and wanted to go on to university, but his father insisted on him attending the yeshiva. Simon followed his father’s wish but finally trained as a chiropodist and worked for Elizabeth Arden in London where he met many celebrities, such as Lauren Bacall. He later studied at UCL and became a teacher.

His first teaching job was with JFS, the biggest Jewish school in Europe.

Simon has been back to Fulda once in the 1980s and has vivid childhood memories. He proudly identifies as a British Jew.

Keywords:

Fulda. Jochnowitz. Kalter. Abraham Jochnowitz Fulda Yeshiva and cantor. Rabbi Kahn. Judengasse Fulda. Manchester. Salford Grammar. UCL. Polen-Aktion. JFS.