Page 38 - My Story

Hank Ballin was born in Germany into what was probably a fairly wealthy middle-class Jewish
family. His grandfather had founded a shipping line and there is a road named after him in Hamburg, the
Ballindamm. When the Nazis came into power his parents sent him to London, aged about fifteen, on one
of the Kindertransport. He was sent to a Rabbi in London who decided he did not need more education
and found him a job servicing Ford trucks. This is laughable to anyone who knew Hank because he was
never a practical man, always something of an intellectual with a wonderful open mind and tremendous
sense of humour and fun. He was always respectful and loved people and especially children. Fortunately,
the war came along and Hank, as a German national, was offered the choice between internment and
going to Canada to become a lumber jack. He chose the latter and in Canada gave up on chopping down
trees and joined the air force. In 1944 he was part of the force freeing Denmark from the Nazis and met
his Annelise.

In the summer of 1964 we had a vacation in England. It was our first trip back since we’d left. The
children had a great time. The weather was lovely, and everyone spoiled them. We had a week with each
set of grandparents and the Lanzer grandparents were at the shore in Birchington, what could be better?
We travelled by car and ferry, the boat being a big treat for the girls although not for me – I can be ill on
a boat anchored in calm seas!

Long car trips were not much fun in those days. Within minutes of leaving the house Helen would
announce she was about to throw up – and frequently did. The other two would need a toilet stop but
that only happened when Peter needed one. Then everyone went, whether it was necessary or not! I
had a repertoire of games and songs and poems that a friend swore lasted the two-hour trip from home
to Frankfurt.

There once was a rabbit, developed the habit
Of twitching the end of his nose.
His sisters and brothers and various others
Said, “Look at the way that it goes” …………………

right through The Pied Piper to The Kings Breakfast,

The King asked the Queen and the Queen asked the dairy maid,
“Could we have some butter for the royal slice of bread”
The Queen asked the dairy maid, the dairy maid said,” Certainly,
I’ll go and ask the cow now, before she goes to bed.”

And games like, “How many red cars can you spot” – they tended to be white or black in Germany in
those days.

Toby was born in Kleve hospital in May 1965. He has never forgiven us! In the international life
he leads he is always having to explain why he is an Englishman who was born in Germany (and domiciled
in Sweden). The night he was born, friends who lived across from the hospital spotted Peter’s car and
invited him in for a celebratory drink. Their habit was to knock back a schnapps followed by a beer and
after a few of these Peter wove a very uncertain path home and for the only time ever, was unable to
park the car in the garage. He left it in a side street.

Kleve hospital was a Catholic hospital and the nurses were all nuns. They kept catching me
walking barefoot and would scream at me to get back into bed before I caught a bladder infection! Toby
was born on Ascension Day and the bells rang most of the day. It seemed that every time I closed my eyes
for a nap those blasted bells would start up again. Sunday was the same. I was asked whether I would
like a visit from the priest and I said no, I wasn’t ready for it yet, so I had a special sign put on my door. At
31 I was about the oldest Mum in there. There were many girls of seventeen and eighteen who treated
me like their mothers. No breast milk came through so the nuns bound me up and gave my son some
formula. I took home a very pinched looking, ailing baby. He was vomiting and had diarrhea. After a
couple of days my friend Eva Lindecke, a nurse, brought her scales to the house and we weighed the baby.
He had lost more than a kilo off his birthweight of three point three kilos. I called our doctor who said,
“Come in immediately and make sure you are shown right into my office. I don’t want you and that child
in the waiting room – we have a ‘flu epidemic!”. He took one look at Toby and called the KinderKlinik in

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