MY DARLING DIARY Ingrid Jacoby
Ingrid Jacoby was amongst 10,000 Jewish children brought to Britain just before
the Second World War under the organised movement called
‘Kindertransport’ (children’s transport). At the age of 12 she left Nazi-occupied Vienna with her sister
Lieselotte, leaving behind her parents and friends, to arrive in Falmouth,
Cornwall.
In Vienna Ingrid had already started keeping a diary and she continued to do so
on her arrival in England. This diary became her closest friend and confidant,
set against the background of coping with a new language and strange people and
surroundings.
She expresses her state of loneliness and her longing for her mother, whilst
also recording events surrounding her life in Falmouth and the ongoing war in
general. We are enticed to read on with each entry because of the honesty and
forthrightness which only a diary can capture.
Ingrid’s decision to let the Diary be published came after extracts had been read on
BBC Radio 4 and she realised she wished to show her gratitude to those who were
prepared to take in refugees during a time of rationing and austerity.
Ingrid Jacoby
At the age of 12 Ingrid Jacoby left her home and parents in Nazi-occupied Vienna
via a movement called Kindertransport. She arrived in Falmouth, Cornwall and
spent the years through to 1944 at school there. After leaving school she
worked in various libraries and bookshops. In 1968 she became a mature student
and qualified as a teacher three years later. She studied at Sheffield
University and went on to teach modern languages.
She has always kept a diary, continuing through to the present day, and has
been featured in this connection on BBC Radio 4
’s Message to Myself and Woman’s Hour as well as other radio programmes.
