My Voice: Fay Phillips

And I still can't sleep

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• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN:
  9781526186379
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526186362
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Jewish History
• Index: History

Fay Phillips was born in Gilly in Belgium in 1932. After the German invasion of Belgium, Fay recalls her family's escape to France in a little van as part of a large movement of refugees, then later being sent back to Belgium, where she had to be hidden by the Resistance and moved around to several different places, including an unhappy time in an orphanage.

After the war, Fay spent time in London working as a nurse, and eventually settled there working for local government when she married Len and had two children, David and Ruth. After many years, they moved to Whitefield in Manchester to be near their grandchildren.

Fay's book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.

Table of contents

• Front matter
• My Voice Project
• Dedication
• Contents
• 1 – My arrival
• 2 – From Warsaw to Gilly
• 3 – The school and the shul
• 4 – Our extended family
• 5 – Leaving in a camionnette
• 6 – Lisle-sur-Tarn
• 7 – Caught by the Germans
• 8 – Back in Gilly
• 9 – A hidden child
• 10 – The orphanage
• 11 – Living on a farm
• 12 – How my parents survived
• 13 – Life at home after the war
• 14 – I was a rebel
• 15 – The Jewish American soldiers
• 16 – Lily meets Leon
• 17 – Life goes on
• 18 – I come to live in London
• 19 – My short medical career
• 20 – My English improves
• 21 – America beckons
• 22 – Living in the States and my return
• 23 – Getting the thumbs up
• 24 – The groom was late!
• 25 – My father and family life
• 26 – A working mother
• 27 – Len’s trade
• 28 – A new home and a new job
• 30 – My children
• 31 – We move to Whitefield
• 32 – Shabbat and Yom Tov with the family
• 33 – Len and I kept busy
• 34 – Plenty of time to enjoy ourselves
• 35 – Music, TV, flowers and football
• 36 – My grandchildren
• 37 – I wish I could speak and understand Ivrit
• 38 – He went like a tzaddik
• 39 – A wonderful husband, father and zaide
• 40 – My caring family
• 41 – Reminiscences
• 42 – My sisters
• 43 – My precious things
• 44 – What I’ve learned
• 45 – Memories
• Glossary
• My Voice volunteers
• About The Fed