Hedy Morrow

Hedy Morrow, was born Hedy Pelz in August 1937 in Innsbruck, Austria. Her parents Elisabeth née Bunzl and Stefan Pelz married around 1936. Her mother worked in Vienna as a radiographer in a hospital, while her father specialised in X-ray crystallography. Her father’s family came from Brno in Czechoslovakia and later lived in Sankt Pölten, outside Vienna, where his father had an electrical shop. Hedy’s paternal grandmother was Jewish and her husband was not, which contributed to her surviving the war. Hedy’s mother came from the Bunzl family, a large and wealthy family involved in the pulp and paper industry in Austria. The Bunzl family owned factories in several places, including Wattens in Tyrol, Ortmann near Vienna, and another location in the Salzkammergut. Several brothers in the family ran the business, while Hedy’s maternal grandfather, who was a doctor, died during the First World War.

Hedy was born in Wattens, where her father worked for the Bunzl company. In March 1938 Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany. Hedy’s family obtained permission to leave and emigrated in October 1938, shortly before Kristallnacht. During their journey they were temporarily taken off the train at the border, but eventually reached the Netherlands and then travelled on to England. They were met in London at Victoria Station by Hedy’s great-uncle Hugo Bunzl, who arranged accommodation for them at the Charing Cross Hotel. Later the family lived for a time in Maida Vale before moving to Petts Wood in Kent, where Hedy lived with her mother and grandmother.

Hedy’s parents separated soon after arriving in England. Her grandmother, Lili, rented a house in Petts Wood for £1 per week, where several relatives also lived. Hedy grew up there with her mother and grandmother, surrounded by an extended refugee family. Her mother retrained as a dressmaker and worked from home. The family spoke German at home during Hedy’s early childhood, but she switched to English once she began school.

During the Second World War Hedy experienced wartime conditions in Britain. She remembered seeing aircraft overhead and taking shelter in a Morrison shelter inside the house. During the Blitz she and her mother were briefly evacuated to Cheltenham, where other family members were living. Later, at the age of six, she was evacuated again to Dewsbury in Yorkshire, where members of the Bunzl family had established a business. She stayed there for several months before returning to Petts Wood.

Hedy attended a small private “dame school” in Petts Wood, chosen by her mother so she would learn English with a good accent. She later went to Bromley High School. Although she was aware that she was a refugee and Jewish, her family had no religious affiliation and did not attend synagogue. Jewish identity in her upbringing was primarily cultural and connected to family background rather than religious practice.

Her father was interned on the Isle of Man during the war as an enemy alien and later served in the Pioneer Corps of the British Army. After the war he became a research scientist at King’s College London, working in a department connected with genetic research. He remarried during the war years.

After finishing school, Hedy studied sociology at Bedford College in London. While still a student she met Michael Morrow, an Irish musician and musicologist who specialised in early music and led the ensemble Musica Reservata. They married in 1959. The couple lived in North-West London, including Belsize Square and West Hampstead, and had four children.

During her early married life Hedy did not work regularly outside the home, although she briefly worked as a research interviewer while expecting her first child. Later, once her youngest child was older, she worked teaching English to refugees and immigrants. She taught for about fifteen years, from around 1980 until 1996, in various locations including Swiss Cottage and near the Harrow Road.

Keywords: Pelz. Bunzl. Innsbruck. Petts Wood. Bedford College. Musica Reservata.

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