Second year pupils at Braidhurst High School were honoured to welcome Holocaust survivors Henry and Ingrid Wuga on Wednesday 12^th June 2013. They delivered a talk to 120 pupils who have been studying the Holocaust as part of the S2 Social Subjects course. Pupils had the fantastic opportunity to not only hear Henry and Ingrid’s testimony but to ask questions to further their own knowledge. Henry and Ingrid Wuga share an incredible story where against all odds they were able to escape the evil Nazi regime against German Jews at the outbreak of World War Two.

Henry was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1924. Following the events of Kristallnacht on the 9^th November 1938 when Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues were destroyed by the Nazis, it became clear that there was a real danger for Jews in Germany. Henry’s parents made the decision to send him to the UK as part of the Kindertransport. This allowed 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children to enter the UK to live with a sponsor family, however Henry’s parents were not allowed to join him. On 5^th May 1939, Henry arrived in Britain and travelled to Glasgow on the flying Scotsman, where he was fostered by a Jewish widow until he was evacuated to Perth alongside other Glaswegian children in 1940.

Henry shared his experience with the pupils of being arrested in 1940 for ‘corresponding with the enemy’ for writing to his mother in Germany via his uncles in Paris and Brussels. He was registered as a Dangerous Enemy Alien at the High Court in Edinburgh, and was subsequently sent to the Isle of Man, where he remained for 10 months until he was reclassified as a Friendly Enemy Alien and released. On his release, Henry returned to Glasgow where he once again worked in restaurants as a chef. It was here that he met Ingrid, a fellow refugee from Nazi Germany, who he went on to marry. In 1947, Henry’s mother, who had survived the war in hiding, joined them in Scotland, his father passed due to natural causes.

Ingrid shared a similar experience of Kindertransport. She was born in Dortmund in Germany in 1924 and escaped at the age of 15, just a few weeks before the outbreak of World War II. She was not given the opportunity to continue her education in the UK, and soon after arriving in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in Leicestershire, she took up a position of a nanny to a baby. Ingrid’s mother and father were fortunately able to follow her to the UK. However, Ingrid’s aunt and uncle chose to remain in Germany and did not survive the Nazi reign of terror. After a few months in England, Ingrid’s parents were offered jobs in West Kilbride, and the family moved to Scotland. As the war progressed, Enemy Aliens were no longer allowed to live on the coast as it was feared that they may send signals to the German Army. Ingrid relocated to Glasgow, where she worked in a dress shop, sewing collars on British Army uniforms. Henry and Ingrid continued to live in Glasgow, where they are involved with the work of a number of charities. This was recognised by the Queen in 1999 when Henry, a ski fanatic, was awarded the MBE for his charity work with the British Limbless Ex-Servicemen’s Association (BLESMA). The couple continue to tell their story across Scotland. Laura Ballantyne, History teacher commented, “It was a tremendous privilege to welcome Henry and Ingrid Wuga to our school. Their testimony will remain a powerful reminder of the horrors so many experienced. There is no better way to learn about the Holocaust than through the first-hand testimony of a survivor. Henry and Ingrid’s story is one of tremendous courage during horrific circumstances. By studying the Holocaust we hope to impart the history of the event to young people, to ensure that we honour the memory of those whose lives were lost and to take forward the lessons taught by those who survived to make a positive difference in their own lives. From this pupils can learn where prejudice and racism can ultimately lead. We are very grateful to Henry and Ingrid for taking the time to visit us to share their story and to the Holocaust Educational Trust for co-ordinating the visit”.