Ronald Basil Girdler

1925 - 2017


Helene Girdler

1927 - 2020


The Zamler Story

written by Helene Girdler

Mum and Dad


Mum and Dad were born in Poland, Mum in about 1895 and Dad in 1890. They had no Birth certificates so that the dates are approximate, though Mum always said that her birthday was on May 1st and Dad's was January 12th. Dad was born in Lodz and Mum in the small town of Pinchev nearby. At this time Poland belonged to Czarist Russia and the regime was extremely anti-Semitic. The oppression of the Jews was such that although the "mother tongue" of both Mum and Dad was Yiddish, they did not use it in public but used Polish instead. Mum's given name was Sulcha, subsequently anglicised to Sarah, and her surname was Stern, Dad's name was Avrom (Abraham) Zamler.


Mum was one of thirteen children and was the third youngest. She told us that her Mother had a webbed thumb on her right hand. Her father had what appears to have been a small-holding, but he seems to have also had a brick-making business and she could remember the bricks being made from clay in a mould. From her accounts he was an extremely religious and severe man, and a strict disciplinarian, but she loved him very much. Her mother died when she was about 12 years old and for some time afterwards she was expected to look after the family. She told how she would sit by her mother's grave and cry, thinking how terrible it was that her mother would never see her getting married. The family had two dogs, Finker and Bookit, and on the occasions when she had to walk into the next village through the dark woods she would take the dogs for company. At some stage she worked in a Baker's shop and used to serve the Russian soldiers with bread and pies. Later she was apprenticed to a wig-maker in Lodz where she lived-in. The woman who owned the establishment was Dad's aunt and it was on one of his visits to his aunt that he met Mum. She would have been about fifteen and he about twenty.


Dad was the eldest of four children, having two younger brothers and a sister. His father was a tailor and died when he was quite young, his mother was a very religious woman and wore a wig, having had her head shaved as was customary when Jewish girls got married. He could remember when, as a child, he would hold the horses of the Cossack soldiers whilst they went into the shops, and he had seen the Cossacks ride down the street brandishing their sabres and slicing the ears off anyone who happened to be in the way.


Mum's father was very strict in her "courting" days, and she always had to be home at a given time. Finally Dad had to ask permission of her father for "her hand in marriage " but at about this time Dad received his calling-up papers for the Russian Army. The papers state that he was to be present at a certain venue at a given time dressed in clothing of "good quality," Jewish soldiers in the Russian Army were expected to control their fellow Jews in the manner laid out by the authorities. This Dad was not prepared to do, so he left Poland for Hungary with his younger brother Isaac (Uncle Ike) having made arrangements to send for Mum when he had settled. He was at this time twenty-one years old. He stayed in Budapest for some time and then left for England. He sent for Mum who arrived in England when she was seventeen . Neither of them could speak a word of English, and for a while Mum stayed with her brother, Moshe, who also had settled in the East End of London. The marriage took place about a year later, in January 1914, and the wedding reception consisted of tea and cakes and was attended by her brother and his wife.



My Siblings


Dad was by this time working as a Master Tailor and they lived In Stepney, in Smith Street. Eight children were subsequently born, the eldest Esther Rachel (Hetty) born on December 16th. 1914. The second baby, Samuel, died shortly after birth, following circumcision carried out according the Jewish rites. Irene (Kitty) the third child was born in March 1917, Dora in January 1919. Fanny (Fay, later Barbara) on January 6th. 1922, John on June 6th. 1923, Dora died of sarcoma of the leg when she was eight years old having suffered in great pain; Mum told me that she said that she would be born again and when I (Helene) was born on July 28th, 1927 Mum was convinced that Dora's prophesy had come true. Shirley was born in December 24th. 1928. Shirley and I were born at 94, Mile End Road.


Mum and Dad and their growing family lived in various flats in Stepney and had many problems including shortage of money, at times lack of work owing to the seasonal nature of his occupation, and had some very difficult landladies. In one place they lived on the first floor and all their water had to be collected from a ground floor tap, situated in the yard. The landlady kept a cockerel in the yard and would set it loose whenever Mum and her children went downstairs. Dora was bitten in the leg on one occasion. During the Great Depression in the 'twenties Dad was without work for some time and the family had to resort to the soup kitchens. Some of the children were without shoes and Barbara and Kitty had to share a pair of wellington boots so that they had to take it in turns to go to school.




Next Page