Angela Anderson:
Memories of Dr. Deutschkron – The Dok.

I have very fond memories of the Dok. He just came to prominence in my young life in the 4th form at the Redditch County High School. When pupils reached the 4th form certain subject choices had to be made. In my case it was German or History. As a result of choosing German, I became acquainted with this small in stature, hearty accented German Jew, who had fled from Berlin around 1936 [in 1939!].

His lessons were unusual, often sowdy, as a certain element chose to act up, but obviously informative as I subsequenty obtained both O and A levels in German, which served me well in later life as I have been Chairman several times of our Havesfordwest – Oberkirch im Schwarzwald Twinning Association, we alternate two years a councillor and two  years a non-councillor.

In the late 40’s early 50’s school excursions abroad were in their infancy and it was with a certain amount of reticience on my parents' part, that I was allowed to go to Cologne – then on to Lorbach, a delightful tiny village in the Eifel mountains. All this to be organized under the auspices of “The Dok”, and of course accompanied by Ella, his wife. She was an equally ebullient character who the Dok was constantly calling to order when we were in the Jugendherberge and he was trying to tell us something important. To help him keep control over us - and Ella – he had a husband and wife team, the Neumanns, Frau Sophie Hertel (Schlupp), Frau Dr Margret Timmermann and Willi Alsbach all from Cologne.

We had several visits there all very efficiently organized by The Dok who always entered into the spirit of what was going on, especially, the evening entertainments, he was an extremely jovial character.

Back in school two fellow pupils and myself were keen to learn languages, and as Spanish was a widely spoken language we asked the headmaster, if this could be put in the curriculum. He declined. We were not prepared to leave it there, and one day we were chatting with the Dok, who was always very approachable, even for us youngsters, mentioning that the head had denied our request. He promptly said: I’ll teach you, but it won’t have to be in the dinner hours, as he did not live locally. We said fine. So we had our two lunchtime sessions for a year, took our ‘O’ levels, passed of course. Lessons were hilarious, his knowledge of other languages was truly amazing, a bit of confusing on times for us, but if he think of a word in Spanish, he would try French, German, which we knew and even Polish - which we didn’t – for us to translate into Spanish. His great enthusiasm was infectious and we learnt quickly and thoroughly.

We remained friends after I left School and joined the bank, and he and Ella even managed to come to my 21st Birthday Party, a long time past but still a fond memory.
Shortly after my birthday I moved from Redditch and we lost touch, although I remained in contact and visited the teachers in Cologne in later years. They used to update me on his escapades and whereabouts.

I shall always be deeply in his debt, my knowledge of German and Germany has given me a richness of education that I am sure I won’t never have had if I had not had the great fortune to be tutored by the Dok. Every month when I run our U3A [University of the Third Age] German Conversation class, I think this would not have been possible without Dr. Deutschkron.

Thoughts and memories of Lorbach.

As a coach climbed ever more steeply in the Eifel mountain we wondered where on earth we were going. Suddenly we came upon this delightful small hamlet, it could hardly be called a village, it was so tiny. I seem to remember a sort of muddly track for a road with a very small shop.
This was the shop, where we exchanged our tins of coffee for Marks. It was suggested we take coffee which was very short in Germany. And the kindly shopkeeper would give us DMarks. This helped our pocket money because we were strictly limited as to what we could bring with us currency-wise.

The Dok told us the way to tell the most important person in the village was to look for the biggest manure heap in front of the cottage. To this day I do not know whether this is true!

I seem to remember a gentleman who was in charge of the Jugendherberge and we call him ‘Opa’. A bald headed man who had lost part of his arm in saw-mill accident. A kindly gentleman who gave me a piece of wood on which Frau Neumann said she would paint me a picture of the Jugendherberge, although I’m afraid it has suffered from an attack of wood-worm.

A lasting memory of Lorbach is of one night several thunderstorms met overhead – it went on for hours. It was a most spectacular sight, no chance of sleep, and something which I have never forgotten.

Without 'The Dok' I would never have had the opportunity to visit such an idyllic place, and one of these days I hope it will be my good fortune to return - although has it changed much? I wonder.

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