folder 1
Photograph album
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Gunther Abrahamson was born in Berlin, Germany on October 27, 1926. His father, Wilhelm Abrahamson, was a lawyer who committed suicide in 1933. Gunther’s mother, Käthe Lubczinski Abrahamson was from Posen (now: Poznań, Poland). She took care of Gunther and his older sister, Daisy (b. September 3, 1921). Daisy immigrated to Palestine in 1938 and in July 1939 Gunther was sent on a Kindertransport to England. Gunther corresponded with his mother via the Red Cross, but in 1942 Käthe was deported to Riga where she perished. Upon arrival in England, Gunther and several other children were first went to the Barham House near Ipswich. Gunther and two other boys were later sent to The Priory, a children's home in Selkirk, Scotland. Before arrival of the refugee children, The Priory served as a holiday home for children from under-privileged homes in Edinburgh. Gunther, who was thirteen years old at that time, disliked the atmosphere at the Priory. A local minister arranged for him to work at a nearby farm that belonged to the Millar family. He stayed with them until 1946 when he left to study at the University of Edinburgh. After graduation he left the United Kingdom and settled in Canada in 1951.
The photograph album contains images from the Priory children's home in Selkirk, Scotland, for refugee children that arrived on a Kindertransport in 1939. Many of the photographs show Gunther Abrahamson, who lived in the home, and Netta Pringle, assistant matron in the Priory home, who took the majority of the pictures and assembled the album. In 1996 Netta gave the album to Gunther and he added some captions and photographs of his own. The album also includes newspaper clippings referring to sale of the Priory in 1991.