War In Poland - An Eyewitness Account
Gryffe Valley Rotary Club was privileged to have a visit recently from Halina Moss, who spoke of her Jewish family’s experiences during the 2nd World War.
Halina was born and lived in Western Poland. Interestingly, she and her mother had visited an aunt in Glasgow in 1938, when she was just 10 years old. She stayed for 6 months and attended Hyndland Academy where she learnt to speak and write English. When they returned home, it was just a few weeks before the outbreak of the war. Halina recounted her terror as a wee girl when bombs fell in her back garden in the opening days.
The family watched as a constant stream of refugees passed by their house, heading towards Eastern Poland. Halina’s father soon joined the trek and they lost touch with him. Rifle and artillery battles broke out and Halina remembers having to cower in trenches in order to survive. When the Germans occupied the area, the atmosphere became “very unpleasant” and the rest of the family joined the refugee trek to the Russian zone in the East along a trail of abandoned cars, bikes and dead horses. When they got there, fortuitously they met up with her father, who had been renting a table to sleep on at night! Halina remembered that there were loudspeakers at every street corner, used to transmit Russian propaganda – however they also played a lot of Russian music and songs enabling her to learn some of the Russian language.
The family had plans to go to Lithuania, but it was annexed before they could try to escape – the huge advancing Russian troop deployment took 3 days to pass their house and, when they stopped, Halina remembered the soldiers singing and dancing nearby, which as youngsters they much enjoyed. One day out of the blue they were told to pack everything immediately, and they were transported next day to somewhere in Northern Russia where they remained for the rest of the war.
The family had managed to retain sufficient documentation to persuade the authorities to repatriate them to Poland in 1946. Only then did they discover the full horror of the holocaust – all of their family and friends had disappeared. Halina emphasised how lucky her immediate family had been – a combination of good decision-making and good luck had enabled them to survive. Making good use of Halina’s English language skills, they managed to get visas to move to her Aunt in Glasgow in 1947. Halina has stayed there since - she married a Scotsman and subsequently taught maths and Russian at Glasgow University.
Halina is probably one of the oldest speakers to have addressed the club, but her audience was gripped throughout – these brief notes give scant regard to the remarkable story she had to tell. She urged everyone not to categorise people – despite some of the harrowing experiences she had witnessed and endured, she did remember some very friendly and helpful Russians and Germans. The photo shows her with past president Ross Anderson and Angus Matheson who introduced her.
OFT Launches On-line Register of Supervised Businesses
A searchable register of the businesses supervised by the OFT under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 has been made public for the first time today.
Under the Regulations, estate agents and some businesses engaging in consumer credit lending are supervised by the OFT to reduce the risk of them being used for money laundering or terrorist financing purposes. These businesses need to register with the OFT.
A non-public register has been in place since 2009, however making the list of registered businesses searchable on the OFT website allows the public, industry, and regulators including Trading Standards to check and notify the OFT if businesses are not registered.
The register also allows supervised businesses to make sure their basic information is up-to-date and accurate.
Failure to register a business could result in the imposition of a penalty by the OFT and/or prosecution. The OFT’s anti-money laundering compliance team uncovered 192 unregistered businesses in England, Wales and Scotland in 2011. All have since registered although penalties totalling £11,500 were imposed on five businesses.
12,438 businesses are currently registered - 6742 estate agents and 5696 credit lending companies.
David Fisher, OFT Director of Anti-Money Laundering, said:
‘By making our register available for all to see, we hope to encourage businesses that should be listed to come forward and register, and others to tell us about businesses that are not registered. The penalties for not registering are significantly higher than the costs of registering.’
See the new online register at
www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/ aml/amlsearch/
May Gadget Guide
Toncado Fun USB Hubs
Toncado Mouse USB Hub Polka Dots Black & White, only £15.95.
Toncado Panda, Frog and Red Brick USB Hub, only £12.95 each.
All come with 4 USB ports (2.0 and 1.1). No driver or software is required, simply ‘Plug and Play’! The mouse has LED indicator on it’s eyes and lights up while working. Fully Compatible with PC and MAC. Max Speed 480 MPS.
24 |MAY 2012 | your LOCAL news every month - in print and online | Bondi phone holder
Bondi fit on all cell phones, regardless of brand! Available in Black Turquoise, Pink & White, price £12.95 each.
Hang it to charge your phone or to listen to your music. Bondi is a door stopper, a cables organizer, a book mount and bookmark, holds keys, memos and pictures.
www.gibbstuart.co.uk
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