John Glazer collection

John Glazer (1914 -1985) was born Hans Gerson Glaser in Katscher, Silesia, the son of Louis Glaser (1864-1923) and his second wife, Olga Grunthal (1879 -1918). By the age of 9 both of his parents had died. After his father’s death, he moved to Berlin with his stepmother, and then moved to Breslau (Wroclaw) for High School (Heilige Geist Gymnasium). He began engineering studies, but they were disrupted by the rise of the Nazi regime. John had two older half-brothers from his father’s first marriage: Georg, who moved to Sao Paolo in Brazil before WWII with his wife, Elsbeth; and Dr Franz Glaser (1900-1928), killed in a car accident. John’s father married a third time to Amalia Freund, née Silberman. She died in the 1950s, in Switzerland?. John’s paternal grandfather was Louis Glaser, a tailor. John’s maternal grandparents were Gershon Grunthal (1841-1913) and (Joh)anna Bujakowski (1845-1909). His mother, Olga, had a brother, Walter, who lived in Argentina, and a brother Julius (1870-1942). There is a request to the Red Cross in 1947 seeking information about his fate. John was sent $15,000 by his half-brother, Georg, to apply in 1938 to enter Brazil, but he was rejected. He was subsequently imprisoned in Buchenwald. John arrived in UK in early 1939 because he had a job offer. He was interned in Huyton, Merseyside in 1940, then transported to Australia on the notorious Dunera. He was released in 1941 on condition he join the Pioneer Corps, from which he was demobbed in July 1946, but remained a reservist until 1952. During his time in the Army, he became very sporty, concentrating on cross country running. He changed his name to John Gerald Glazer when he joined the Army. John had met his future wife Hilde Callomon (1919-2012) at a Jewish dance in Breslau before she left Germany for the UK in 1937. They corresponded and it was her uncle, Curt Rockwell, who obtained a work permit for him in London, so that he could be released from Buchenwald and allowed to leave Germany for Britain. Hilde had a younger brother, Walter (1921-1974) and a younger sister, Eva (1927-2013). John and Hilde’s brother, Walter were soon both interned, and went to Australia together. They both joined the Pioneer Corps to be released from internment. When stationed in Cornwall in Jan 1942, he was given 7 days’ leave to marry Hilde on 22 Jan 1942. Hilde returned to their rented flat in Eaton Ct, Wembley, with her parents in a neighbouring flat. There the first 2 children, Frank and Anthony, were born in 1943 and 1945, but Anthony died soon after his first birthday. When he was demobbed in 1946, John and an Army colleague set up an electrical repair business in Folkestone, but John was swindled, so returned to London. They lived in Coolhurst Rd, N8 where Helen (1947-2010) was born in 1947. Their youngest child, Richard was born 13 years later in 1960 when the family lived in Kenton, Middlesex. John died in London in 1985 of bowel cancer. Hilda died in 2012.

via Margaret Levin

Donated 4.10.2017

Donor: Frank Glazer