Rector’s Remembrance Day Address – 11 November 2011

 

This address is based on a project written in 2011 by Francesca Galla-Taylor, age 10, granddaughter of Tom Galla. She has used diary entries and letters written by Tom and his parents, plus information given to her by her father Max and other family members,  to create a vivid account of  Tom Galla’s experiences in Budapest and Dollar in World War II. Dollar Academy is very grateful to Max and Francesca for sending the project. It has generated a huge amount of interest.

 

Thomas Goldman was born in 1923 in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. His father was a Doctor, who had had had a tough time during in the First World War. Tom was Jewish, and growing up in Hungary he and his family had to face a lot of the anti-Semitism that was widespread in Europe at that time. Despite that, Tom had a happy middle-class upbringing. Here’s an entry from 1936 in Tom’s diary; he was 13 years old.

 

Life is fine and relaxed. I hope it will stay like this for the rest of my life. I have a good family, a big house, and a happy environment. I could not wish for more.

 

I’ve got a younger brother, Janos, and a sister, Suszi. My mum is very protective which is sometimes annoying, but I know it is because she loves me.
 
My dad was a doctor in the army in the First World War and has told me many stories about it. I really want to follow him and become a doctor too. 

 

Every weekend my dad takes me and my older sister to the open air pool. There is a water slide, a diving board, and there are seats in the water with chess tables. I love chess. There is a chess club at school and I won the club competition this year.

 

There are some really tough boys at my school who always want to get into fights. Once or twice they bullied me and my dad wanted me to start boxing, so that I could protect myself, but I hated the idea. Eventually my dad persuaded me to try fencing instead.   He thought that might be a good way to stand up to the bullies.  But when we had entered the sports hall to sign up for fencing lessons, I saw a man being carried out on a stretcher with blood pouring from a wound. I turned, and fled!

 

 

 

Maybe Tom thought about changing his mind about becoming a doctor…

 

Two years later, in 1938, the Hungarian Government, allies of Germany, passed an anti-Jewish Law, and the Jews were then persecuted more openly. Tom’s family were in danger. They changed their name from Goldman to Galla. Most of Tom’s father’s patients stopped visiting, the family became short of money and Tom’s parents were worried about his safety.

 

Tom’s parents knew a man called George Knight. George was a minister at the Church of Scotland Mission in Budapest and he had Dollar connections. His grandfather had been a minister in Dollar and his father had attended Dollar Academy.

 

Tom’s father wrote to George Knight as follows:

 

Dear Mr Knight

 

We would like to get in touch with the boarding school in Scotland called Dollar Academy. It seems that Dollar is well-known for its kindness in helping people, including pupils from other countries who cannot continue their studies. I know that part of your job at the Scottish Mission is to help children from Budapest get into schools were they can continue their education.

 

We do not have very much money, but we will scrape together everything we can. We will keep this quite private, because it could be dangerous for you and for Tom. If other people find out, they will stop it happening.

 

Please tell me whether you can arrange this and if it is possible to contact Dollar Academy.

 

Well, George sorted everything out for Tom and, sure enough, Tom arrived at Dollar in August 1938, age 15 and unable to speak a word of English. How did Tom get on?

 

 

Well, let’s give you the good news first.

 

Here’s a letter from Tom’s mother written in January 1939, four months after Tom left for Dollar.

 

Dear Tom

 

It has been so long since we have seen you. I have packed some special Hungarian garlic sausage in the parcel to remind you of home.

 

I hope everything is going well at your new school. We desperately hope that we can afford to pay for you to come back to visit us in Hungary in the summer holidays.

 

Everyone in the family is fine, but we are very anxious that war seems about to start. We know how terrible the First World War was and we are dreading another one. Because we are Jewish, people have stopped coming to your father for medical advice.  I hope this won’t worry you too much, but because your father isn’t getting paid enough you might have to stop going to Dollar Academy.  We hope this won’t happen.
 
Love from your mother who misses you so much

 

Incidentally, Hungarian garlic sausage has quite a strong smell, and when the package arrived at Dollar Academy, one of Tom’s teachers thought it had gone off, so he threw it in the dustbin.

 

This image is a detail from the 1939 - 1940 '3 XVs' rugby photograph. The full picture can be viewed by clicking on this image, and is particularly interesting as the birth place of each player is recorded against his name. Thomas Galla appears towards the bottom right of the photograph and his name is mis-spelt.     Thomas Galla, 3rd XV 1939 - 1940

 

 

I am pleased to say though, that Tom did get home for the summer holidays in 1939. Here is his diary entry for the 4th September 1939, just after he has returned for the start of term, and three days after war broke out. He writes:

 

War has started. After a long a tiring journey I have arrived at my boarding school, Dollar Academy, once again.

 

I got the last train from Hungary to Paris, just before it was too late. London and Paris both had soldiers in camouflaged uniform. They were setting off to war.

 

At Kings Cross station it was amazing how worried people looked.  Every so often I would see men waving newspapers and shouting: “Get your Daily Mirrors, War starting, war starting!”  It was all quite scary.

 

The journey was long, but I didn’t mind a bit. I was so happy that I could carry on with schoolwork at Dollar. But sad that I’m leaving my family behind once again and that a massive war is starting which could have a devastating effect on the whole world. 

 

I am getting so scared about what is going to happen. Will it affect me?  Will it affect my friends back in Hungary? Will it affect my family?

 
Tom did well at Dollar. Incredibly well. Tom was awarded a class prize in English at Prizegiving in 1940. But I am sorry to say that the war certainly did affect Tom and his family.

 

 

After returning home that summer, Tom never saw his parents again. I would like to be able to tell you exactly what happened to them, but no-one really knows. Conditions in the Jewish ghetto in Budapest were pretty grim though and many suffered from malnutrition and illness. It is thought that both his parents died in this way.

 

Here is the last letter we have from Tom’s mother, written in June 1940:

 

Dear Tom

 

We are so proud of you for getting a prize in English, even though you’ve only been speaking the language for two years. Everyone in the family is excited about your amazing achievement.

 

Your brother and sister are doing well at school - they both asked me to say: “Hi,” and “what are you getting up to,” and “please reply!” They are really missing you, and of course so are we. Please write back as often as you can.

Things are very difficult here, with the war, but I hope everything will be OK.

 

Tom lost contact with his parents, and didn’t know what had happened to them, but he continued to make outstanding progress at Dollar. He was determined to make the most of his opportunity.

 

Have a look at the honours boards outside the assembly hall on your way out this morning. On the right, you will see the name of the 1941 Kennedy Medal winner for the top academic pupil in Form V; Thomas Galla. On the left you will see the name of the 1942 Milne Medal winner for Form VI, again, Thomas Galla. He then won a scholarship to study medicine at Edinburgh University.

Like his father before him, he became a doctor, just as he had hoped, and he had an outstanding career in this country. He was particularly renowned for the charitable work that he undertook.

 

Tom began to keep a diary less frequently after leaving Dollar. But here is the entry marked June 1948, Edinburgh:

 

I have now finished my studies.  I know how proud my mum and dad would have been.  But I also now know that both died during the war. The war has had such an awful impact on so many lives. 

 

I haven’t really faced many difficulties in life.  I have just been very lucky and everybody has been unbelievably kind to me.
 
And in a way, the terrible war has helped me to become a doctor. I hope in the end that I will be able to do things that will benefit people’s lives.

 

Tom’s story is both sad, and inspiring.

 

The one question you might be asking is how were Tom’s fees at Dollar paid, after the family’s money ran out?

 

The answer is that someone in the village of Dollar paid the fees for him. Tom never knew who that was. But he never forgot that kindness and more than paid it back in the way he supported others throughout his life.

 

Of course this is just the story of one family and of how they were affected by one war. One story among millions.

 

Usually in Remembrance Assembly we hear about the combatants and you may remember the story of the Garlicks last year, a Dollar Academy father and son who lost their lives on the same date, 2nd December, the father in the First World War and the son in the Second.

 

Today though, we heard the other side of the story – the suffering of civilians.

 

Around 17 million people died in the First World War; 10 million in battle and 7 million civilians.

 

So many died in the Second World War that historians cannot make an accurate count; it is thought to be between 50 and 70 million. Even the uncertainty is mind-boggling – imagine not being able to estimate the range of deaths to within 20 million.

 

Later today, the 11th November, the two minute silence at 11am is an occasion to remember the deaths of all those who have died in all conflicts, both soldiers and civilians, since the First World War. That includes of course the Second World War, and more recently Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as many other conflicts. Millions of people will observe this silence together, including our community here at Dollar, to remember those who died, and in the hope that something can be learned from the past.

 

D J Knapman

November 2011