Project aims to uncover stories of Newmarket's WW2 Jewish refugees

Newmarket provided a safe haven for many refugees during the Second World War

Eva and Fritz Ball, residents of Palace House Stables during WW2.
Author: Arlen JamesPublished 25th May 2021
Last updated 25th May 2021

A project aiming to uncover the stories of Jewish refugees housed in Newmarket during World War Two has been launched.

The heritage project from Suffolk Archives and the National Horseracing Museum stemmed from the memoir of Fritz Ball, who lived with his wife Eva at Palace House Stables after fleeing Berlin.

A copy of it was deposited to Suffolk Archives by his granddaughter, Sandra Ball, who said:

"My grandfather died years before I received this manuscript from my aunt. With no one left to ask, I turned to internet and to archives for the answers to questions I couldn’t ask my grandfather anymore.

"The attention given to Fritz’s story by Suffolk Archives and the National Horseracing Museum is important to our family."

Since receiving the memoir, the joint project has discovered there were 25 Jewish refugees living at Palace House Stables, as well as a number of unaccompanied child refugees in households around Newmarket.

Sandra Ball also owns one of Fritz's cellos which features strongly within his memoir, and Suffolk Archives hopes the instrument can play a part in how the stories can go on to be shared more widely.

Hannah Salisbury, Community and Learning Officer for Suffolk Archives, said:

"Fritz writes in his memoir what a relief it was to be out of the situation they had been in. It Palace House Stables provided accommodation and safety for people who had a really, really difficult time.

"It opened in early 1939, so before the war had started but obviously still lots of people coming over already at that point, and we know it operated all the way through to 1946. There would have been a large group of people living there."

According to Fritz's memoir, a number of garden parties were held during their time a Palace House Stables, and Hannah is hopeful people growing up at the time might remember them.

She continued:_"_I may be being optimistic here but Fritz, in his memoir, mentions all these social occasions, gardens parties and concerts and so on. Did anyone at any of those occasions have a camera with them? We've got no photographs so far of Palace House in use as a hostel or of any refugees in Newmarket."

Dr Alexander Fletcher, Packard Curator at the National Horseracing Museum, added:

"The National Horseracing Museum is very excited to be part of this project. The wartime history of the current museum site and the contribution the Rothschild family made in providing homes for Jewish refugees is a little-known but important chapter in Newmarket’s history.

"The ‘Palace House Stables’ as they were known provided a home for several families. The museum is looking forward to working with our project partners to discover and tell their stories."

Anyone with memories or stories relating to the project are asked to email sharing.suffolk.stories@suffolk.gov.uk.

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