My Uncle Max
I never really understood what Max was all about.
He was an Austrian (I think) Jew who married my father's sister after walking across most of western Europe and then getting on a ferry to England in the 1930s. He worked as a tailor in London for a while. He spoke several languages including German, Yiddish and Russian. When World War 2 broke out, he joined the British Army and fought his way back across Europe. He was a Communist. These days, that word seems to have the same effect on people as 'paedophile' but in the 40s and 50s it was pretty normal and it also meant he was an atheist. I think. We never talked about religion.
At some point in WW2 he spent some time in a POW camp. When he came back to the UK, he got a degree at Glasgow University and qualified as a probation officer. He went to work in Newcastle upon Tyne. He drove my other (smarter - according to him) uncle mad because he read so slowly and explained his thoughts very deliberately. We tried explaining that Max was operating in his 2nd or maybe 3rd language. In his retirement in the 1980s, having hated Jews and their religion all his life (so he said), Max decided to visit Israel. He went to Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
He never said what he thought of the state of Israel. But when he died, he told my aunt Lottie: 'Don't let the Jews get my body.'
He encountered a huge level of prejudice in his lifetime, including Mosley's Fascists in the East End of London. We never considered it but apparently, he looked Jewish (small, chunky) and he sounded Jewish (I've no idea what that means).
I suppose the irony in this family saga is that my 'smarter' uncle (whose family were Irish Catholics) spent some time in Palestine in the early 50s fighting against Jewish groups like Irgun Zwei and Haganah looking for independence.
Where would Max and my other uncle stand on the current awful situation in Israel/Palestine? Who knows?
But they are wrong.
He was an Austrian (I think) Jew who married my father's sister after walking across most of western Europe and then getting on a ferry to England in the 1930s. He worked as a tailor in London for a while. He spoke several languages including German, Yiddish and Russian. When World War 2 broke out, he joined the British Army and fought his way back across Europe. He was a Communist. These days, that word seems to have the same effect on people as 'paedophile' but in the 40s and 50s it was pretty normal and it also meant he was an atheist. I think. We never talked about religion.
At some point in WW2 he spent some time in a POW camp. When he came back to the UK, he got a degree at Glasgow University and qualified as a probation officer. He went to work in Newcastle upon Tyne. He drove my other (smarter - according to him) uncle mad because he read so slowly and explained his thoughts very deliberately. We tried explaining that Max was operating in his 2nd or maybe 3rd language. In his retirement in the 1980s, having hated Jews and their religion all his life (so he said), Max decided to visit Israel. He went to Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
He never said what he thought of the state of Israel. But when he died, he told my aunt Lottie: 'Don't let the Jews get my body.'
He encountered a huge level of prejudice in his lifetime, including Mosley's Fascists in the East End of London. We never considered it but apparently, he looked Jewish (small, chunky) and he sounded Jewish (I've no idea what that means).
I suppose the irony in this family saga is that my 'smarter' uncle (whose family were Irish Catholics) spent some time in Palestine in the early 50s fighting against Jewish groups like Irgun Zwei and Haganah looking for independence.
Where would Max and my other uncle stand on the current awful situation in Israel/Palestine? Who knows?
But they are wrong.
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