So to finish here some more pictures of activities around the ship over the last couple of days
The children have their own place and are well catered for, they all see to have had a ball.
Some good movies on the big screen each day.
This is the Adults only area called the Oasis'. Three levels of peace and quiet at the back of the boat with a jacuzzi and loungers, and of course a bar - we have only just found it!
The Orient Pub - a great place to have a pre-dinner drink
Let's hear it for the chefs.....
Just in case you were curious about my unfinished conversation with Jim, here is his story so far....
Jim's Story - 10 July 2015
We met Jim at breakfast in the Waterfront Restaurant on the Pacific Pearl. After a little while we got talking and I asked him whereabouts in England he came from, he replied that he was born in Germany, but educated in England. He explained that he was brought up by his grandparents for the first few years of his life, and that they spoilt him rotten. He went on to describe how they owned a small store in a very small village in Germany and every day his grandfather would take him for a walk to the Post Office to collect the mail. On the way back he would be carried on his grandfathers shoulders, and in their small village his grandfather was well known and respected, many people would stop and chat, and young Jim had been told by his grandfather to tell people he was his "old donkey", which he did as a great joke. However his grandmother heard about this and told young Jim to say "old gentleman" instead as it was much more polite. This Jim did but then whispered in his grandfather's ear that he was really his old donkey, just to please him.
Another time his grandfather would give him a penny to buy a block of chocolate, which he ate on the way home. This apparently spoilt his appetite and when his grandmother found out she said he was to put the chocolate bar in his pocket and eat it after his dinner. Grandfather then asked a few days later why he didn't eat his chocolate bar on the way home, and when Jim told him he gave him 2 pennies to buy two chocolate bars, eating one on the way home and the other to give to grandmother. And so he believes he had the most loving early upbringing and he treats his own grandchildren in a similar way.
I was curious to know what happened to his parents. And Jim took a little time to gather his thoughts, and I guess it was knowing where to start.
His father was an academic, he studied hard and became a doctor. His parents advised him to find a rich women and marry her! However, he did marry but not to a rich women! In those days doctors had to go where they were needed and so they ended up in this little village.
Hitler came to power in 1933 and there were several uprisings. The unions were always fractious, and one day a fight broke out and one of the unionists was shot in the stomach. His friends brought him to the surgery, but his father knew that this would have to be reported to the police which would mean jobs would be lost. So he sutured the wound and agreed to fill out the form by describing the injury as being bored by a bull. All was well until the same man got into another fight and ended up at the police station where the doctor there asked the man to explain the wound on his stomach. He gave the story about being bored by a bull and the doctor didn't believe him. The union rep was brought in and he told him about the shooting and cover up by Jim's father.
There were some sympathisers in the village who told Jim's father that the police would be coming for him the next day, so he had to pack whatever he could and get out. With a lot of help by brave people in the underground movement he somehow managed to get to Scotland (another story perhaps?). Meanwhile the next day the police came knocking on the door and demanded that his wife tell them where the doctor was. She feigned innocence and told them ,
he had gone off with another woman and they let it go at that. Some weeks later the mayor of the village told Jim's mother that she would need a new passport and would need it in her maiden name, and this was done. This meant that she could leave Germany officially and joined her husband in Scotland. Apparently, ever the academic he was studying at Edinburgh University and because he needed funds, his mother went back to Germany a few times to bring money back - (again may be another story?).
Jim is sad he has so few relatives, most of his family were murdered by the Nazis, he mentions an Aunty who was born with a back defect, she had little schooling but her mother taught her how to cook. So instead of the Germans killing her because she was a cripple, she volunteered to work in the kitchens. She was sent to one of their labour camps and just managed to survive the war. He has no one else from that era.
One comment he made was that his father waited until he was 18 and then signed up for the German Army for WW1 only to be told that the war had ended!
Things I would like to know:
More detail on his fathers escape to Scotland
More detail on the trips his mother took
When and how did he and the grandparents get to join his parents? I know he has a sister still living
Where did they move to in the UK because there is no trace of a Scottish accent
Why did he think his parents were strict on him?
I think it is amazing that probably Jim is only one of millions of Jews who escaped the holocaust, and they must all have stories like his. If we probe deep enough we know that something like this is still going on in many parts of the world today, what is it about mankind that they inflict such grave fear into their fellow men?
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