It took Dr Bruce Eton ten years and study at three separate institutions before he was finally able to practice as a Doctor.
Born in January 1914 in Berlin, Bruce Eton was one of around 600,000 Jews living in Germany at that time. He was the first born, and just six months after his birth, he was left alone with his mother when his father was called up to fight in World War I.
Although his primary school was Jewish, his secondary school was mixed, and the anti-semitic feeling was already growing. Many of his teachers became Nazis. There was a militaristic approach to discipline and one teacher even walked as though he was on parade, he says. In 1933, aged 19, Bruce finished his A Levels and applied to study medicine at Berlin University when Hitler came into power.
When I saw the white cliffs of Dover, I thought 'I am coming to paradise'. I had £20 to start a new life.
But the headmaster of his secondary school, who refused to become a Nazi, warned Bruce’s mother of the danger of staying in Berlin.
The bond between mother and son was very strong. After seeing the headteacher, she returned home, and although Bruce heard her enter the house he could not find her anywhere although he searched everywhere. Later he found her sitting in a darkened room room crying. I was very upset, I didn’t like to see my mother crying. She opened her handbag and said I’ve got a ticket for you. You are travelling to Switzerland, tomorrow. I didn’t want to go.
He left for Switzerland after the first ‘Boycott Saturday’. This was the first public move against Jews, although anti-semitic feeling was endemic. All Germans were told to boycott Jewish premises. Storm Troopers were posted outside Jewish workshops, businesses and factories, and daubed the buildings in paint with slogans ‘these are Jewish premises’.
Bruce went to Basle to begin his studies of medicine. He started in April 1933 and studied for one term before he was told that foreigners were not allowed to take the exam in Biochemistry which meant that he would not be admitted to the final examinations because it is a vital part of a qualification in medicine.
At the end of June the police told him he’d have to leave Switzerland as he was not allowed to stay in the country during the summer, unless he was a Swiss citizen and come back in October to continue his studies.
And so he began to look around to find where else it would be possible for him to study. France was out of the question as his German A Level exams were not recognised there. So he went to Italy.
I could not speak the language but before I went I learnt the currency because I was told I would be cheated if I did not know it. I travelled by train from Switzerland and the Customs officials got on the train to check passports. I changed my Swiss Francs for Lira through an official on the train. When I got to Italy I went to a shop and the shop keeper told me that the currency I offered him was false!
During the summer he learnt Italian and then started his studies in the October. At the end of the first year he had achieved top marks in several of his subjects. He decided to complete his studies in a better university in Milan in 1934.
A medical qualification takes six years to complete. And Bruce was due to complete his degree in 1939. But in 1938 he realised that anti-semitism was becoming rife in Italy too, when he saw the Nuremberg Laws (which are against Jews) published in Italian and the persecution of Jews began.
At the end of 1938, he was told that he would have to leave by the police. Just two months before his finals. This was the end of my third attempt to complete the qualification. I didn’t want to be shipped back to Nazi Germany. He went to Consulates all over the world for a visa, including South America but thousands of Jews were doing the same thing. He even ran out of the crowd while Mussolini’s son-in-law, the Foreign Minister was visiting, to put a letter in his hand begging to be allowed to stay the final two months to complete the course. But it was all to no avail.
However, a small miracle did happen. A girlfriend’s mother was a nurse at a hospital and put his case to a British plastic surgeon. The surgeon asked for Bruce’s details and went back to England. At that time, a refugee in Britain had to have a guarantor to say that the refugee would not become a burden to society. He got the visa.
On April 6th 1939 he left Milan. When I saw the white cliffs of Dover, I thought I am coming to paradise. I had £20 to start a new life. Bruce’s visa allowed him to stay in Britain for three months. Helped by the International Student Service (now the World Student Service), he found a free place at Aberystwyth University to study agriculture. I realised that this was the end of medicine, he says.
In June that year he got an invitation to go to Church Stretton in Shropshire. At that time there were ‘refugee committees’, set up to offer help and support to the refugees. He was offered two weeks hospitality with travel and board paid for. He had a ticket to return to London. But I never used it.
Half a dozen refugees made the train journey to Church Stretton and were met by the Mayor and members of the committee. They wanted to know what we looked like! I was taken to my room, it had a table, bed, and chair. And when I turned back the sheet there was a bag of sweets!
The next day, the retired Bishop of Bristol and the Mayor came to visit. Each was asked their history. Bruce told them that he had been a medical student but now was going to study Agriculture at Aberystwyth.
A few days later he was told that he had been the subject of much discussion. They thought it a great shame that he had so nearly completed (at last) his medicine, and asked whether he would like to resume his studies. It was obvious I would!” A week later the Home Secretary of the time had been contacted and a professor at Manchester University and Church Stretton committee had agreed to fund Bruce to finish his studies. He stayed in Church Stretton until January when he went to Manchester and started his studies. He started with the third year students – as only his first two years of study were recognised by the university. One professor said that he ought to become a specialist, but at this point Bruce was so grateful to be studying that he was happy with just being a doctor.
Everyone thought he was going to invade the UK and there where panic stations
And then Hitler arrived at the channel ports. The British Army was evacuated from Dunkirk. Everyone thought he was going to invade the UK and there was panic stations.
Medicine came to an end again. Bruce was arrested and interned in a camp with other German refugees for around three months. He then volunteered for the British Army and worked throughout the Blitz.
One day he was called up before his Commanding Officer. The CO had received a letter from the War Office, asking if Bruce wished to continue his medical studies. The CO phrased the question in such a way that could leave Bruce in no doubt he disapproved. I was shivering before the Commanding Officer, I am so timid, but I managed to say that I wanted to accept the offer.
He went on unpaid leave back to Manchester University, where he paid for his accommodation by taking over the duties of a boiler man. He got up before the rest of the students to light the boilers so that there was enough hot water and then polished all their boots. He woke everyone up by knocking on their doors with a boot brush.
He would change and join the other students for breakfast. Then he went to university, returned at lunchtime to check the boilers and went back for the afternoon’s studies. He then checked the boilers again in the evening. With the 10 shillings a week he earned, he bought books from the students in the year above him.
In June 1943 he finally completed his medical studies. He became an house surgeon at Chester and then was called back to the army to serve as a doctor during the invasion of Normandy. “During all that time I never, ever encountered an anti-semitic comment.” After the war had finished Dr Eton worked at Bromley Hospital and eventually in 1961 he came to Hastings and became the consultant gynaecologist at the Hospital. He retired at 65 and still lives in Hastings.
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This page last updated: 06/04/2001