Tag Archives: passports

Between countries: the well-travelled Passports of Ernst and Anicuta

 

As refugees fleeing the mounting danger of a progressively more anti-Semitic Germany, Ernst and Anicuta considered many different options as a new home. Ernst explains that he was refused emigration to Palestine because of his ‘Arian [sic.] and Catholic’ wife (see post on ‘The Levins and Israel‘). He probably decided to settle in Scotland because of his work with neurosurgeon Norman Dott, which had begun as early as 1934. Below are the couple’s passports, the last of which are British, demonstrating their naturalisation to British citizenship. Nazi insignia is clearly visible on the passports from the Third Reich, and multiple stamps for renewed ‘landing permission’ indicate the logistical difficulties of gaining rights to settle permanently in Britain.

Ernst’s German passport 1929:

(1) Inner cover stamped ‘INVALID’. Lines ‘accompanied by wife by the name of ….’ Crossed out, marked as accompanied by one child. Nationality: Bavarian.

(2) Stamped 4th January 1929 by Munich police. Section for details of wife not filled out. Place of Birth: Berlin, DOB: 8th (May?) 1887, Place of residence: Edinburgh, Build: tall, Face: oval, Eye colour: brown, Hair colour: black, Distinctive features: none. Child’s name: Anna Katharina, Age: ‘Levin’ (last name crosses into column), Gender: 10.8.1919 (DOB in gender column).

(3) Valid in: Germany and abroad. Expires 4th January 1934. Signed by ‘Vogl’.

(4) French Consulate Munich visa stamped 10th April 1930. Duration of stay 15 days. Swiss border stamped 28th April 1930 (Geneva – ?). Swiss stamp 27th June 1931 entry at Martinsbruck.

(5) Three stamps at Brennero (Northern Italy).

(6) Stamp of ‘Aliens Registration Office’, Metropolitan Police at Bow Street Station, London, 12th December 1933 daybook. Permission to stay longer in UK until 20th January 1934, granted by Under Secretary of State Home Office 12/12/33.

(7) Permission from Munich police to travel out of Germany ‘with the exception of the border crossings to Austria’, valid until November 1933, stamped 23rd September 1933.

(8) Stamp (in English): ‘Leave to land granted at Harwich this day on condition that the holder does not enter any employment paid or unpaid while in the United Kingdom’ (handwritten): ‘and does not remain in the United Kingdom longer than ONE MONTH’. Stamp of Immigration Officer Harwich 20th October 1933.

 

Ernst’s German passport 1939:

(1) Glued to inside cover is list of responsibilities of German citizens whilst abroad from February 1938. Lines ‘accompanied by wife by the name of ……. And …. Number of children’ have been crossed out. Nationality: ‘German Reich’.

(2) Stamped with Nazi stamp 7th March 1939. Section for details of wife not filled out. Personal description as above. Section for children crossed out. Valid until 7th March 1940.

(3) Stamped by German Consulate Glasgow. Three passport stamps amounting to 14 shillings (8, 5 and 1 shilling) acquired a visa at the Foreign Office, London on 18th August 1939 valid until March 1940.

4) Visa for entry (in French), stamped French Consulate Glasgow. Entry 1st November 1939, valid for single visit of six weeks. Reason for travel stated as ‘(?) of health’. 75 Francs paid.

 

 

 

Anicuta’s German passport 1936:

(1) Name filled out as ‘Anna Levin’. Child accompaniment section crossed out. Stamped by Munich police 2nd December 1936. Personal details – Occupation: wife, Place of birth: Bucharest, DOB: 18.2.1886, Place of residence: Munich, Build: average, Face: oval, Eyes: grey/green, Hair: dark blonde.

(2) Munich Central Train Station stamp 16th December 1936, exchanged money.

(3) Stamp ‘Permitted to land at Harwich on 17/12/36 on condition that the holder does not remain in the United Kingdom longer than ONE MONTH’.

(4) Stamp for border cross on 4th August 1939 at Basel, Switzerland. Entry 20th December 1937 at Kaldenkirchen. Edinburgh City Police Alien Department stamp 18th March 1938.

(5) Foreign Office London 21st July 1939, visa for 12 months. Immigration officer stamp Newhaven 18th September 1939.

(6) French visa from Glasgow Consulate, 24th August 1939 for holiday.

 

 

British Passports of Ernst and Anicuta, issued 1956 and renewed 1966.