Isabel Webber

IIsabel Webber, born Isabella Schneider in Düsseldorf, Germany, in February1930, was the daughter of a Jewish family with roots in both Germany and Poland. Her father Abraham Solomon worked in business and her mother Cecilia née Mannheim was a homemaker. Isabel had one younger brother, Dieter, and several older half-siblings from her father’s previous marriage. The family lived a middle-class life in Düsseldorf until antisemitic persecution under the Nazi regime forced their displacement. Isabel’s father left for Spain in 1933 with the plan for his family to follow later.

In October 1938, following the Polish Decree that rendered many Polish-born Jews in Germany stateless, the family was among thousands expelled from Germany to Zbąszyń, a Polish border town. Isabel, then nine years old, recalled being transported by train with her mother and brother, spending nights in a mill converted into a temporary camp, where they slept on the floor with little food or sanitation. Eventually, an uncle, Zyl Grunberg, came to collect her from the camp, taking her into his Orthodox household in Zbąszyń, though there was no space for her mother and brother, who remained behind.

She lived with the Grunberg family for several months, adapting to an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle unfamiliar to her. She recalled the strict observance of Shabbat, the purchase of live chickens for kosher slaughter, and the general rhythm of religious life. Her cousins were friendly but teasing, and she vividly remembered being thrown into a river by them in play. Her aunt Herta Grunberg managed a busy household, while her uncle worked locally. Isabel attended no school during this period.

In July 1939, arrangements were made for Isabel to leave Poland on a Kindertransport to Britain. Her mother told her she would be going to stay with her Aunt Frieda, who had recently fled from Potsdam to England with her two sons. In the event, when Isabel arrived in England by ship (Warszawa) from Gdynia to Harwich, Aunt Frieda was not at the station to meet her—she had been evacuated from London—and the child was taken in by another family.

In Britain, she was initially placed under the care of Jewish welfare authorities and subsequently billeted with Harry and Emily Glidden in Devon, in the village of Talaton, where she spent the war years. The Gliddens, a childless couple, became her foster parents, and she attended local school, joining the Girl Guides and integrating quickly into English village life. She maintained contact with other refugee children from the Kindertransport, including Pola and Josef, who were also evacuated to the area.

After the war, Isabel learned that her mother and brother, who had remained in Poland, had perished during the Holocaust. The last letter she received from her mother was sent from Zbąszyń, written jointly with relatives, describing worsening conditions and deportations. Isabel’s father, who had left Germany earlier for Spain, survived but had little further contact with her. Isabel never found out what happened to her mother and brother.

Isabel married Ken Webber, a non-Jewish Englishman, in 1948 in Talaton Church, and they settled permanently in Devon. The couple had three children.

Throughout her adult life, Isabel engaged in community and care work. She worked nights as a nurse, fostered children, and cared for elderly neighbours and local families. Her home was described as “an open house,” welcoming anyone in need. She attributed her independence and self-reliance to her early experiences of displacement, remarking that Kindertransport children “grew up too quickly” and learned to be responsible from a young age.

In later life, Isabel became active in Holocaust remembrance. She participated in the 1989 Kindertransport reunion, where she was seated with others from Düsseldorf, and later met Prince Charles and the Duke of Edinburgh. A community theatre group in Talaton later produced a play based on her story.

Keywords: Schneider. Düsseldorf. Polenaktion. Zbąszyń. Otwock. Gdynia. Kindertransport. Ship Warszawa. Talaton. Devon