OBITUARY

Ernst Michaelis
October 1926 to April 2020

​

Our father, Ernst Michaelis was a quiet man, hard-working and with a fascination for engineering which lasted his whole life. He was also immensely proud of his family, even regaling the nurses with the exploits of his grandchildren a couple of days before he died. For many years he did not talk to us about the trauma of his childhood or what happened to his family. Ernst was born in Berlin in 1926 and escaped to the UK in August 1939 on the Kindertransport. He never saw his family again. It was after the birth of his grandchildren, Emma, Ben, Tom and Kiera that Ernst started to talk about his childhood.

Ernst described his family in Berlin as ultra-liberal Jews. His parents and brother, Werner stayed (too long) in Berlin in order to help others. Two typically quirky stories Ernst told were how his mother, Resi would cook pork chops as the last meal before fasting on the day of atonement and his father, Walther would take him to an ice cream parlour because Ernst’s sins “weren’t significant enough”. They embraced an ethos of being active German citizens. Four of Ernst’s uncles had died fighting for Germany in the First World War. Under the Nazi regime, Walther had to give up his job as a district judge and Ernst was barred from state schools. As a result, Walther set up two schools in Berlin for Jewish children which Ernst attended. 

Ernst’s journey to the UK was enabled by a German Quaker, Mrs Landman with Mrs Atkinson as his British sponsor. He spent his first year at St Mary’s school before taking up a scholarship at Bryanston school, which he always said he hadn’t deserved. St Mary’s was a residential school for children with physical impairments and complex needs. The women who founded the school took in several Jewish refugees. It was like a home for Ernst; he would return there for holidays and would eventually become a Governor of the school. In 2003 St Mary’s opened the “Ernst Michaelis Suite”. In 2016 we celebrated Ernst’s 90th birthday there which included an assembly with the children telling Ernst’s story and singing Happy Birthday.

On one occasion Ernst was helping build the stage set for St Mary’s school nativity play when he met a young woman teacher dressed as a Roman centurion. He married our mother, Ann on 29th February 1960. Victoria (now Prof Vicky Pope) was born in January 1961, Jonathan (J.) in March 1964. We were very privileged children with parents dedicated to our upbringing. Ernst outlived his wife and most of his friends. We have very fond memories of some very good and often quirky family friends.

As a child, Ernst had always been fascinated by engineering, for instance rigging up a “bathroom occupied” light in his family apartment in Berlin. A hand drill was one of the few possessions he brought with him from Germany. On leaving Bryanston school, Ernst could not afford to attend university. He worked on the shop floor at Smiths Industries whilst attending evening classes in Engineering. Having little money, he used his Bryanston Sunday chapel suit as a boiler suit and could only afford to eat either tomato soup or trifle each day in the Smiths works canteen. Ernst eventually became a chartered engineer and member of the institution of mechanical engineers. Somewhat inevitably, his son and two of his grandchildren are now also engineers.

In the early 1950s, Ernst “Mic” Michaelis joined Pearson Panke using his skills as an engineer and fluent German speaker to supply industry with specialist machine tools and other equipment. He was a leading expert in fields such as sheet metal forming. Ernst worked hard, only retiring in 2014. Even in his final year he would still help sort out his son’s workshop. After Ann died, Ernst moved into a flat within a retirement home in Bushey, where with his typical humour he complained that “the other inmates serve no useful purpose”. He was well looked after.

Ernst had an international outlook believing in reconciliation. He would say: “people are people”. He thought it was important to learn the lessons of the past but not to blame children for their parents’ misdemeanours. It was thus very consistent that he worked with German manufacturers, some of whom had a (fatal) history of criticising the Nazis. Ernst was dismayed by the Brexit referendum result.

Ernst was very proud of his children and grandchildren, often embarrassing us with his praise and no doubt boring his friends. Prof Vicky Pope led the Met Office Hadley Centre’s climate modelling, J. (Jon) Michaelis founded Neater Solutions developing equipment for people with physical impairments.

Ernst may have been a hard worker but he always told us to “have fun.” He danced the night away at his son’s wedding in 2017. Ernst had a wicked sense of humour. Perhaps in case they might be his last words, whilst being wheeled away by doctors at a visit to A&E in 2018 he said: "enjoy my absence."

In April 2020 Ernst succumbed to Covid-19. As a friend commented: Ernst “was a link to the horrible events of the past; it seems ironic that he was claimed by the horrible events of the present.”