How to be a Refugee: Life lessons by one who escaped the Holocaust, by Irene Gabriele Gill

Author: Irene Gabriele Gill. Review by Glen Williams

Oxford Friend Irene Gill has written a truly remarkable book about the first eighty-nine years of her life. It begins with how she, her parents and siblings arrived in Oxford in 1939. Both parents were part Jewish, and needed to escape from Germany. Her father found employment at the university.

When Irene arrived in Oxford she spoke no English. She learned quickly, but when war broke out her whole family suffered. Her father was interned, and Irene found herself ostracised at school. She felt particularly hurt when a fellow pupil taunted her as a ‘dirty German rat’. 

Nevertheless, Irene made rapid academic progress. But rather than going straight on to tertiary studies, she tried to get into acting. This led to some interesting short-term jobs, including being a member of the swimming group the Mayfair Mermaids, performing ‘water ballets’.

Irene’s life took a turn for the better in 1953, when she enrolled at University College London. There she met David Gill, For the next sixty years, Irene’s and David’s lives were tightly intertwined and mutually reinforcing.

They moved to Oxford, where David taught and also wrote beautiful poetry. Irene also taught and the couple threw themselves into political action in support of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Irene started a group called Oxford Aid for Children in Vietnam.

If Irene seems to be a dedicated, effective, self-confident person, in fact she was plagued by self-doubt: ‘I felt that there was something fundamentally wrong with me, like a bad smell – a fatal flaw which made me incapable of success.’ Yet a colleague remarked: ‘She brought wonder and delight and rigour into the classroom… She cared about her students, she cared about her subject, but she never allowed a concern for the subject matter of the lesson to overcome her concern for individuals.’

Later, Irene and David went on several long trips – to Israel, Poland, Japan, Vietnam and Uganda. These came to an abrupt end in 2012 when David was diagnosed with dementia, the subject of the most poignant chapter of the book. It describes how David descended into uncontrollable behaviour. Irene wrote: ‘I am a carer now – that’s all… It means my days and nights are entirely devoted to keeping the routines going: guiding him, coaxing him through the days… Trying to keep him active, to stimulate his darkening mind… to ward off the despair that’s hanging over us both.’ David died in 2017.

Irene moved to the Oxford suburb of Headington, where she attends Meeting for Worship, and remains a strongly committed member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

The book is available for £10 plus postage from the author: ireneggill@btinternet.com.

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