Cities of Refuge by Bihler Lori Gemeiner

Author:Bihler, Lori Gemeiner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2018-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Manners and Mannerisms

Part of the pressure German Jews experienced in London to remain inconspicuous came from a British tradition of understatement and subtlety in speech and manner. The German-Jewish Committee’s While You Are in England acknowledged this when it encouraged German refugees to moderate their volume level and any distinctive mannerisms that might draw attention to themselves.89 In 1940, the German-Jewish Committee published Mistress and Maid: General Information for the Use of Domestic Refugees and Their Employers. It explained that “in this country it is good manners to speak and walk quietly, both in the house and in the street and public places.”90 Refugees were also sharply aware of the culture of politeness in Britain. Gabriele Tergit’s article in the AJR’s 1952 Britain’s New Citizens included a section entitled Land of Understatement. In it she wrote:

It is not by chance that “outsider” is an English word in many languages. The refugees found life in England a game dominated by rigid rules. “Manners maketh man,” but it is not just manners that are different in different countries. Germany was the country of big words, England that of small talk in an inaudible voice. We said, “I am keen on doing so and so,” when the correct thing to say would have been, “Unfortunately I am much too lazy to do this.” Even when you were desperate you had to say, like your English neighbor who had lost a child in the war or had been bombed out, “I’m fine, thank you,” or perhaps, “Lovely day today.”91

Niceties peppered British English, and some refugees incorporated these into their conversation. Eileen Erlund said of her landlady, “She was a marvelous person, but we were still so afraid that we never even tried to open our mouths. We just said ‘sorry’ to everything we did or did not!”92 While You Are in England stated, “You will find that [the Englishman] says ‘Thank you’ for the smallest service—even for a penny bus ticket for which he has paid.”93

Even if a refugee domestic servant gained a basic knowledge of English, the subtle manner in which her employers expressed commands and the cold treatment she sometimes received were disquieting. Mistress and Maid advised, “The mistress states orders as requests. Do not argue or grumble.”94 Alice Schwab was surprised by the tone of the policemen who collected her father for internment. She wrote, “The way they got hold of the refugees was quite strange. The police would come and say ‘You’d better come with us, for if you don’t, we’ll have to arrest you.’ In some cases they saw that their victim was a harmless old chap and they would let him pack up his few possessions to take with him before they carted him off.”95 The quiet manner of the average Briton intrigued German Jews. Dr. Furst, for instance, noted that during his initial journey to London, “people were not talking to one another in the train. It was still like a church. It was strange to us.”96

German

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