On Jan. 26, 1941 we were married in the Great Synagogue in the Cheetham Hill section of Manchester, England. We had met in May of 1940 while working alongside one another in a raincoat factory, and began dating in September.
Rabbi Altman came from Hamburg, Germany. The service was Orthodox. Since we were refugees from Germany, there was no charge for his service, although we gave him a token of our appreciation.
There were no showers, no wedding dress, no bridesmaids or groomsmen. No photographer. The sisterhood offered to have a reception for our friends, but while we did appreciate the offer, we were not poor enough to accept it.
The wedding was attended by my stepmother, (my father was in Theresienstadt), a sister of an aunt, two cousins who came to England on a children’s transport and a few friends. My stepmother (who was also my aunt) and the sister of my aunt were the Unterfuehrer (the people who give the bride away), and four friends of Harry supported the chuppah.
The weather was miserable, cold and raining and the rabbi was half an hour late. We received a ketubah on very plain white paper; there were no fancy ketubot. The synagogue, now a historical building, was in the industrial part of Manchester and the population was mainly Jewish.
Although we were not dependent on charity, my stepmother arranged to have a dinner in the house of a friend, which was attended by seven persons beside us. It was a day that is very dear to us.