Childhood memories of fleeing to England from Vienna

Ingrid was born in Vienna in December 1932. She lived in a first-floor flat near the Schönbrunn Palace with her parents and grandparents and her older brother.

Ingrid's father was Hans Pichler von Tennenberg, a Geography and Geology teacher born in 1898. He joined the Austro-Hungarian army at the end of World War I and became ADC to his father. They were both taken prisoner in 1918 by a group of Italians and spent the winter in the Dolomites before being sent home after the war ended.

In 1938, after the Anschluss, Hans decided to leave Austria. He was very much opposed to the Nazis and, worried about the way Austria was changing, wanted to remove his family from danger. Ingrid and her brother were sent to Switzerland in the summer of 1938 and their parents joined them in the autumn. They were sponsored by a vicar/priest in the village of Höngg near Zurich and stayed on a farm. Ingrid remembers weddings in the village and sweets being thrown from the carriage as the married couple left the church. (She also remembers sliding down the hill on a tea tray!) However the family could not stay in Switzerland because many refugees were arriving and it was becoming overcrowded. They applied to go on to England or New Zealand and were accepted by the British just in time to avoid being sent back to Austria.

The family arrived in England (via Paris, Dieppe and Newhaven) in August 1939. The journey and their presence in England had been facilitated by the Quakers. Their first home was in Dane End, Ware, Hertfordshire, where a rector took them in. Ingrid remembers that first winter being very snowy. Hans was employed on a local estate and given the task of plucking pheasants, among other things. Ingrid's mother (Friedl) became a cook's assistant. Ingrid and her brother were sent to an orphanage/boarding school in Birmingham founded by Sir Josiah Mason, this is where they learned English. Ingrid says it was a good, kind school except that she had to have her plaits cut off! In the meantime her parents left the estate; they were employed to look after a weekend cottage near the south coast, owned by an unmarried couple! However, no "aliens" could live near the south coast because of invasion fears. Hans was sent to an internment camp on the Isle of Man. The camp was known as Douglas University because of the large number of academics housed there.

Friedl moved to Hampton in Arden to work as a cook for a childless couple who allowed her to bring her children to stay during the holidays. The householder was a businessman and owned Bulpitt & Sons, the company which made the Swan brand of saucepans and kitchenware. Hans was eventually released from the Isle of Man in 1942 and able to join his wife, they were given a flat over the stables at the local vicarage. That Christmas, when Ingrid's father collected her for the holidays, he drove her took to Hampton and turned off the road into the vicarage. They went through a large gate and and there among the trees was a brick cottage. He said that his would be their new home. The cottage belonged to the Birtles family who lived in the"big house" on a small estate. Mrs Birtles lived there, her sons were away at school and her husband was in the army. The family was given an allotment where they grew vegetables. This is where Ingrid began her love of gardening. Hans became a teacher in Birmingham, starting at St Phillip Grammar School and moving to another job after the war. Ingrid and her brother were enrolled in a local school where Ingrid passed the 10-plus and went on to Solihull High School on a scholarship. (Apparently you could have two goes at passing in those days!)

Hans put a map of North Africa on the kitchen wall and he plotted the Allied advances on it as they were announced on the radio. Basic rations were delivered by the local grocer and"points" were allocated each month. These could be used to buy things like fruit and other foods which were not rationed, Ingrid does not remember ever feeling hungry. Coupons were issued so people could buy clothes. After the war the family stayed in Hampton in Arden until 1948 when Hans could afford to buy his own house on the outskirts of Birmingham near the Austin car factory.

Ingrid's grandfather died in 1935, so when the family left Austria one of Hans' brothers remained. His youngest brother had emigrated to Brazil in the aftermath of the First World War and their mother was visiting him when the second war started. She returned to Vienna in about 1940 and stayed there until the end of the war. The other grandmother also stayed in Austria with another of her daughters. Apparently, letters could be exchanged with the help of the Red Cross.

Ingrid is very keen to mention the many kind people who helped them when they came to England, particularly the Quakers, who had the contacts which allowed the family to get jobs, a home and to attend school.