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Date of Interview:
07/12/88
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INTERVIEW:
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Konigsberg
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Collection:
Jewish Museum London oral history collection
Date of Interview:
07/12/88
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Interview Summary
Interview with Lord Immanuel Jacobovitz who was born in 1921 in Königsberg, now Kaliningrad. He lived there for 7 years, then for 8 years in Neukölln in Berlin before emigrating to Britain in 1936 as a refugee from Nazism. Describes life in Berlin with parents (father rabbi of Orthodox congregation) and six siblings, attending Jewish school and with no non-Jewish friends; rise of Nazism with trade boycott of Jews in 1933 and Berlin Olympic Games in 1936; relief at arriving in Britain in late 1936 where he attended Jewish boarding school in Stamford Hill; rest of family followed him to Britain after father’s synagogue burnt down on Kristallnacht in 1938. In Britain learnt English and pursued rabbinical studies, briefly interrupted by internment in Onchan on Isle of Man; worked as rabbi in various London synagogues and with Jewish clubs in East End; founder of Jewish Marriage Council; received call to go to Ireland as Chief Rabbi. Describes feelings about Britain, gratitude and love for saving him and his family and no resentment about internment, recognition that Britain was taken in by Hitler until invasion of Poland but then impressive change from appeasement to standing alone against Hitler; he stopped feeling German as soon as he arrived in Britain and refuses ever to set foot in Germany again.

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