David Baddiel Discovers His Secret Grandparents | Who Do You Think You Are
Ойын-сауық
David Baddiel starts his journey by speaking with his parents in Cambridge. David's maternal grandparents fled Germany in 1939, and left his mother two cases that contained all that remained from their life in Germany. But where will the pre-war findings lead David?
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As a child, comedian David Baddiel felt a strong emotional connection with his maternal grandfather, Ernst, a German Jew who fled his native land just weeks before the Nazi regime invaded Poland. Now David is a father himself, he regrets not asking Ernst more about his early life.
“Because my family experience is one of immigration and ‘refugee-ism’, you’re never entirely sure how you ended up here,” says David. Belatedly learning more about his family, David finds a story of lost wealth and wartime internment, in addition to discovering a branch of his family he never knew existed.
David begins his research at the home of his parents, Sarah and Colin. Sarah was just five months old when her own parents, Ernst and Otti Fabian, escaped Germany. To discover more, David heads to his grandfather’s former home, Königsberg, formerly German territory but now an exclave of Russia bordered by Lithuania and Poland. Before David leaves, his mother drops a bombshell: Sarah suspects she may have been her uncle Arno Radbil’s daughter, adopted by Ernst and Otti in order to get her out of Germany.
Königsberg is now called Kaliningrad and was heavily damaged during the Second World War. Yet before Europe descended into conflict, it was a vibrant university town. As owners of a brick factory, the Fabians were wealthy and central to the city’s cultural life.
The rise of the Nazism changed the family’s fortunes. At the end of a muddy track, David goes to visit the site of the family’s brickworks, but there’s now little to see beyond a few desultory ruins. “This makes me feel as if my past has been blown out of existence,” he says.
At least Ernst got out; just three weeks before the Nazis invaded Poland, paying £1,000 (£40,000 today) for a visa to England. David’s great-uncle Arno, who seems unlikely to have been Sarah’s father judging by a letter that David finds amongst Ernst’s papers, wasn’t so lucky. Instead, he was last heard of in Warsaw but David can find no clues to Arno’s fate in the city. Did he starve in the infamous Warsaw Ghetto or die violently in the 1943 uprising against the Nazis? David will never know.
Not that coming to England was in itself the end of Ernst’s problems. In 1940, like many others from Eastern Europe, Ernst was sent to an internment camp amidst fears there might be spies amongst the refugees. Apparently, though, Ernst quite enjoyed the experience. His ‘camp’ was a converted hotel on the seafront in the Isle of Man. He shared his captivity with a remarkable five Nobel laureates. In April 1941, Ernst was released.
Ernst isn’t the only traveller in David’s family tree. His Latvian paternal great-grandfather, Barnett Baddiel, was one of 120,000 Eastern European Jews who came to the UK at the turn of the century to escape persecution. Barnett had a brother, Harry, and David discovers that Harry’s descendants, Osher and Clive, are noted teachers.
Harry’s descendants are religious Jews and David heads to Golders Green to learn more. There he meets another David Baddiel in the street by chance, a distant cousin who describes himself as a rebel. However, David’s research into his father’s family ends here: he wants to meet his family only with the cameras there, they want to meet only without the cameras present.
As David’s mother threatens to torch his house by lighting an alarming number of candles on a birthday cake, his journey into the past is at an end. One lingering question remains unresolved: even if Sarah wasn’t Arno’s daughter, could she nevertheless have been adopted? It’s a question that says much about the upheavals caused by the Second World War, but one that will probably never be answered.
Пікірлер: 70
The two boxes with everything they had of value is heartbreaking.
God this is old. He is 57 now. Dolly is adorable.
The evil nazis destroyed so many families, so many dreams. It's always heartbreaking watching stories like that.
@binaway
3 жыл бұрын
There was a lot of Jews who came to Australia after WW2 as it was about as far from Germany/Europe that you can get. when one elderly man died, 1990's what they found was sad. He was always single and ran his own business. They discovered he had small properties spread around Melbourne. All stocked with supplies and hidden cash inside. He must have been paranoid always ready to run to one of his hideouts if anything started.
@haeuptlingaberja4927
3 жыл бұрын
@@binaway Right you are. It was the Diaspora on steroids. Shanghai, Australia, South America (where they had to deal with many thousands of Nazis hiding in plain sight.) And now the same madness is starting up again, all over the world...
@binaway
3 жыл бұрын
@@haeuptlingaberja4927 Nazis hiding in South America yes but not in Australia or Shanghai. Quite a few escaped to Sweden, which is seldom mentioned and many in Syria before moving on to South America.
@mraheem9214
Жыл бұрын
You have no right insult Nazis,they have clothed and fed the Jews .Also gave jobs to the unemployment not only that build suitable accommodation for the Jews
So wishing the show was available on BritBox in the US
Beautiful family then and now.
He certainly looks like Arno!
@daddams100
3 жыл бұрын
I think so too
It would be so nice to see the complete show of any one of these people..NO idea why they are broken up the way they are presented!!😡
@monicacall7532
3 жыл бұрын
Agreed! It’s extremely annoying.😡
@meganhinch1715
3 жыл бұрын
I think a lot of them are on BBC iPlayer if that helps!
@poohsplaylist4913
3 жыл бұрын
@@meganhinch1715 Not available if you're in the States.
@TheCapns
3 жыл бұрын
@@meganhinch1715 try getting a secure VPN service and you should be able to watch any show that has regional blocks. Simply set the region for the VPN in the UK and enjoy.
@annek1226
3 жыл бұрын
@@TheCapns Great suggestion! Thank you!
Some pieces of prussia records were collected in Polish town Olsztyn - it was only small parts of long history Konigsberg.
A son shaking his father's hand to say hello, so british...
@finehomemadewine
3 жыл бұрын
I know, so close! We do not go so close to one another over here.
@GlobetrotterBR
3 жыл бұрын
@@finehomemadewine That is something I always found weird when I lived there. Some children greet their parents as if they are greeting the postman.
@evalon9129
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, we Polish go for sloppy kisses (3 x is a must ) and bear hugs 😂😂While my husband’s British family barley touch each other’s hands 😂
I really want to know the rest!
Wow! A mystery to solve.
Without the facial hair David and Arno look a heck of a lot alike.
David looks a lot like his grandmother Otti and especially like her brother Arno. Did they do DNA testing that could verify who his mother’s parents were for sure?
Imagine thinking your parents aren't your blood all your life
Are we all going to ignore his dad shaking his had when he went home to his parents!
@a697ag
2 жыл бұрын
Very British
As a crocheter I have to say: his mother is wearing a nice jumper :)
Personally I love the lady golfer 🙂
@hightidemidafternoon
3 жыл бұрын
So do I :D Did you notice David and his mum were dressed in the exact same colours as the figurine when they filmed this? ^^
I was going to keep my grandmother's piano but gave it to my niece
Nice collectibles.
What were they able to find out?
Discovery Plus has all these for those who want to watch them
@a697ag
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you!
I wish my parents hadn’t been my parents 😒 I never got that lucky
She could have DNA done to find out for sure, who are her parents.
wow! what an unexpected thing to hear from your mother!!
oh juice info
23 November 2004
Who is he? I don’t know UK celebrities.
@tessmolloy2388
3 жыл бұрын
We’re going to have to google this.
@gadaboutunited
2 жыл бұрын
he's a British comedian and author
Argh! The “background” music is so loud I can’t hear a lot of the speaking.
Were your grandparents in Berlin?
@saphorr
3 жыл бұрын
It is clear from the birth certificate that she was born in Königsberg, which is was annexed by Russia in 1945 and is now called Kaliningrad.
@cefcat5733
3 жыл бұрын
The photo background where they are happy looks like Berlin. Did they ever live and work there or just pass through? Lots of people from Königsberg in that generation came and settled in Berlin. Ah maybe they just had a nice visit to Berlin or their city architecture was similar. I will watch the other videos. So where did Arno disappear? 🤔
@isd4154
2 жыл бұрын
🦙💀
😫😫😫😫😫
Nothing
Anne Frank Summer '22 !!!
Did you think you were such a massive hypocrite, Dave?
It was a bit of an inopportune time for him to participate in this, wasn't it? In the process moving?
@saraschneider6781
Жыл бұрын
And you feel you have the authority to criticize his decisions why?
@Psmith-ek5hq
Жыл бұрын
@@saraschneider6781 Er. . .it's called free speech. You're criticizing me. Don't be a hypocrite.
English houses are so small.
@Jess-nc4oy
2 жыл бұрын
It's a small country, besides they are not small if you're use to it. its just normal :)
And just what do they expect their son to do with all that crap they’ve “collected” when they pass???
@graceygrumble
3 жыл бұрын
Sell it. It's worth a bob or two. They have the pleasure of collecting their treasure and their child/ren will profit by it.
@annek1226
3 жыл бұрын
How old are you Glenn? You sound like you are 12.
@colonyofrats4193
2 жыл бұрын
Are people not aloud to enjoy things why they’re alive. I thought that was the point of living
@janebaker4912
2 жыл бұрын
I thought that too!!! My god! I've done a post mortem clean out twice and it's a nightmare!!
@janebaker4912
2 жыл бұрын
@@colonyofrats4193 well yes... But it's getting to be a hoard. Maybe they have trauma from their parents pass down, so they hoard