What can you do?

Through the voices of Michael, Sion and Ghofran we are immersed in two separate but interwoven journeys of refugees to Aberystwyth. These stories are separated by time but depict the shared experience of Wales as a place of refuge and safety for those caught up in the horrors of war. In Michael Rosen’s telling of his family’s story, we glimpse moments of Oscar and Rachel’s transport to Auschwitz. Listen to this immersive soundscape to consider the personal journeys and experiences of those who died in the Holocaust, to hear from those who found refuge in Wales, and to find out more about the individuals who are still working to help refugees today.

This content was created during COVID-19

Michael:

Always reminds me of my father…evacuated to Aberystwyth with University College London, talking about playing Rugby…singing to me:

‘Father’s pants will soon fit Willy
Will he wear them?
Will he hell!
Will he wear them?
Will he wear them?
Will he wear them?
Will he hell!’

“I had two French uncles.
They were living in France before the war.
They weren’t there at the end.”

I’d say
What happened to them?
I don’t know, he’d say
And mum would say
Tell him. Tell him what you do know.

And he’d say
They probably ended up in the camps.

He had a way of looking out of the window
and his face went saggy
as if to say, what can you do?!
And there was nothing that could be done.

But some people escaped.

“In Aberystwyth where I was
there was a group of children who managed to escape.”

they talked of arriving on the steam train
spilling out on the platform
in the tiny station,
marching with their bags and cases along an unmade road.
130 of them…from Czechoslovakia
People staring at them…
and then one of the teachers had a brainwave
they put on a concert
and invited all the people of Llanwrtyd Wells
to come
and the children sang their national songs
and danced their dances
and then the children stood up and sang
the Welsh national anthem…
Not a dry eye in the house,
they said…

Years went by
and I started to want to know more
about my father’s uncles in France.
and I got working on family memories:
I found names - Oscar and Martin
places - Nancy and Metz

Visits to libraries…
going online…
ordering books…

Oh here he is - Oscar …and his wife’s name! Rachel!

Oh here he is listed as a clock mender…that’s how the family remembered him…but here he is selling clothes in a market and having to pin a sign up saying: Jewish business….then what? They escape! Oh amazing…but where to…where did they escape to?

Nice?![the French town]That’s over the other side of France…they were refugees…but why Nice?

[Reading] Nice was occupied by Italy, and Jews from all over France fled there to escape the deportations. Italy was refusing to deport Jews to the East and a benefactor, Angelo Donati, requisitioned 4 boats to ship the Jewish refugees to North Africa which had been liberated from the German army by the British Eighth Army.

So why didn’t my great uncle and aunt get to North Africa?

[Reading]The Allies defeated Italy and a few days later the Nazis moved into Nice, captured the refugees, transported them to just outside Paris and then deported them to Auschwitz…

Oh so close…and my father never knew…but what could it have been like on that train?

What did you think, as you and Rachel sat on the floor
of the cattle truck as it left Paris?

Did you think of the watches
and clocks you had mended?
Did you think of the tiny springs and wheels?

You with your magnifying glass in your eye, pouring over the works so that a Monsieur or a Madame could tell the time,
correct to the exact second...

Did you look
through the gaps in the slats on the side of the truck?

Did you see farmers in fields? Women selling clothes in a market?

Did you call out?
Did you push your hands through the gaps?

Did the night come creeping in?

Did you see a light from a window where people sat and
ate their evening meal?

Did you see in the dark horror on Rachel's face?
Did she see horror on yours?

Did you shut her eyes?
Did she shut yours? Thinking of children
who shut their eyes to make the world go away?

And then
behind your eyelids
did you think of the cattle
that had once stood in the truck as they were taken away
to the slaughterhouse?

Sion:

The latest Syrian refugee family has been welcomed to Aberystwyth.

Aberaid, which has been raising money and collecting donations to assist refugees, has announced that the organisation’s community sponsorship refugee family have arrived in Aberystwyth and are settling in well.

Ghofran:

For a year of travelling, they told us that we’re going to England. I said “where... where is that? Where is that? I’ve never heard of that country!” Later on we got to know that we were going to Ceredigion, so I looked up Ceredigion on Google. And when I saw the pictures - oh my god! - It’s so beautiful! In Wales, it’s different than England, you know, you see green everywhere, you see trees, you see wild places. The Welsh people are really lovely and when I walk, just like walking, even if I don’t meet people, just the feeling, the smells, the nature around us, the flowers I see in the houses. All this small things makes me so happy inside. And, I realised, like, even if it’s a small place, you can’t find everything but the love you find, you can’t find it anywhere else, that’s what’s important and that’s what we need.