Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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Despite the difficulties, Judy made a conscious decision to try and integrate with the
society in which she found herself. “I myself made up my mind when I came here that I
would not seek out anybody from my own background. I would not seek out other
Jewish people, let alone German Jewish. And I’ve stuck to that, because I wanted to
become what I felt was all of a piece. I didn’t want to be bitsy, itsy-bitsy you know. I
wanted to be integrated and I went after that quite consciously”. 229 That she succeeded
in becoming integrated into Greytown society is attested to by her daughter Ingrid, who
talks about her being “very much involved in community affairs […]. She used to lead
a very active social life particularly geared around helping people. She has more
visitors than I do […] and I think it was because she grew up surrounded by people”. 230
Judy did not speak to her children about her experiences prior to coming to New
Zealand until, as adults, they approached her to tell them. When they did finally ask
her, she felt that “it was very satisfying to me. For the first time, somebody wanted to
know. You know, it’s funny, when I was in the army, I used to think, my children and
grandchildren will be so interested in when mother (or grandmother) was in the army,
and they’ll want to know all about it. In fact, it never came up”. 231
Ingrid Ward reiterates that her mother did not talk very much about her German Jewish
background, and did not speak German to the children, except for a few German rhymes
they learned when they were young. She attributes this to the commonly-held belief of
the time that children would not learn English well if they learned another language.
Ingrid believes that her mother encountered prejudice because “she was Germanspeaking
and some people just assumed she was German straight after the War. She
was treated as though she was German. And then there was other prejudice of Jews. I
never felt it myself, but I think she felt it”. 232
Judy talks about “an inner loneliness” that she experienced, and her perception that her
children were uncomfortable because she was different from other mothers. She recalls:
I expected the children to be embarrassed and I never came to school if I could
help it. I remember coming to school to retrieve a piece of clothing. Paddy was
229 Lynette Read, interview with Judy Ward, 15 April, 1999.
230 Lynette Read, interview with Ingrid Ward, 15 April, 1999.
231 Lynette Read, interview with Judy Ward, 15 April, 1999.
232 Lynette Read, interview with Ingrid Ward, 15 April, 1999.