War Stories – Sea Mills & Coombe Dingle – The Radas

Albert Johann and Gertrud Anna Olga Rada

Albert Rada was born on 24 June 1903 in Gersdorf, Germany. Olga Anna Gertrud Scholz was born on 26 April 1905, also in Germany. They appear in the 1939 Register living with the Bell family on St Bernard’s Road. Albert was a metal worker.

Were they the same couple who made such an impression on a young Keith Howell when they stayed with his family in 1937?

1939 Register RG 101 accessed from https://www.findmypast.co.uk/1939register

Although there doesn’t seem to be a surviving record of annullment of nationality, they were acknowledged as ‘stateless’. Officially the Radas were classed as ‘enemy aliens’. Later that year, on 19 October, Albert had to be interviewed to assess whether he could be exempted from internment.

Internees at liberty in UK accessed from https://www.findmypast.co.uk/

At first he was exempted but an update to his file shows that, following instructions issued in June 1940, he was detained at Mooragh Internment Camp in Ramsey, Isle of Man. He was released without restriction on 15 April 1941.

Gertrud was interviewed on the same day and it appears that she was allowed to remain at liberty. (HO 396/71/61)

 It’s not clear what they did immediately after the war but the Radas did return to Germany. Gertrud died in Dresden in July1951. The death registration notes that Albert was living in Berlin.

Sterberegister/Sterbefallanzeigen: Stadtarchiv der Landeshauptstadt Dresden, Dresden, Germany accessed from https://www.ancestry.co.uk/

Albert died in January 1977 and was buried at Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde in Berlin.

Image accessed from https://billiongraves.com/grave/Albert-Rada/17513762 (5 May 2020)

I haven’t found a marriage record for Albert and Herta; she may have been a second wife or an unmarried sister.

Thank you to Ruth Crumey-Davies for the research which went into this page.

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