British and World Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare, emotive and well-documented Second World War campaign service group of four awarded to Private Julius Brumsack (alias Jeffrey Barclay), Royal Pioneer Corps, a German Jew who, having escaped to England shortly before the outbreak of hostilities, became one of “The King’s Most Loyal Enemy Aliens”
1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with original Army Council slip and card forwarding box addressed to ‘Mr. J. Brumsack, 23 Beverstedt, Bez, Bremen (Brit Zone), Germany’, together with his identity disc in the name of ‘J. Barclay’, extremely fine (5) £500-600

Julius Brumsack, a German Jew, was born in Beverstedt, near Wesermunde, Germany in January 1915, and was fortunate to gain entry to the U.K. as late as May 1939. On the outbreak of hostilities shortly afterwards, he volunteered for military service and was posted to the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps (afterwards Royal Pioneer Corps) in February 1940, one of a number of Austrian and German Jews to be similarly enrolled, among them the cinematographer Sir Ken Adam - and in the full knowledge that active service beckoned with a high risk of execution if ever taken prisoner, a gallant gesture which won them the sobriquet “The King’s Most Loyal Enemy Aliens”. And in Brumsack’s case, that risk must have been painfully apparent in his subsequent stint of service with the B.E.F. in France from April to June 1940 - indeed his service record confirms that he was not actually evacuated until the 19th of the latter month. So, too, during his active service in the North-West Europe operations from July 1944 until the end of the War: it is worth noting that while given an alias, the above described identity disc in the name of ‘J. Barclay’ bears a ‘J.’ for his religious denomination.

Discharged at Kingston Lacy, Dorset in December 1947 in consequence of ceasing ‘to fulfil Army physical requirements’, Brumsack sought permission to return to Germany as a permanent resident, since his next of kin had been ‘killed by the nazis or did not return from deportation to the East’, and there was nobody left to look after the old family interests in Beverstedt, Bremen. But as evidenced by a large quantity of accompanying correspondence, his desire to return home was often thwarted by officialdom, cost and ongoing strife with his ex-wife, a fellow German national who was domicile in the U.K. but from whom he was granted a Decree Nisi in the summer of 1948 on account of her adultery. In a letter addressed to the Alien Department at the Home Office, dated 22 July 1948, Brumsack stated: ‘I am rather forced to return to Germany because none of my next of kin survived the nazi concentration camps. All our properties and belongings were left behind and taken over by the nazis, and sold by them. For myself, as well as some distant relatives, who as well left Germany in time before the last war, this means part of our future. We all left Germany in 1939 as Jewish refugees of nazi-oppression and this country was kind enough to save our lives, for which I myself shall always be very grateful. But for myself, as the only one who knows about the properties, etc., and therefore has to deal with this and to build up again perhaps a new future for us, there is no other way left but repatriation. I have tried again and again to see if it would be possible to get the necessary entry-visa for the British Zone of Germany, on reasons of restitution, but this could never be granted. So I have applied for repatriation by the end of August 1948 to my former home in Germany and have submitted all the necessary documents to the Foreign Office ... I am leaving Great Britain as a true friend of this country, for whose people I have the most admiration - a brave country who has done more to those uncounted refugees than any other country in the world. It is owing to this BRITAIN alone that I am alive today ... ’

In the fullness of time, Brumsack did indeed gain entry as a permanent resident in the British Zone in Germany, a letter in the accompanying archive being one sent from Beverstedt in January 1950, in which he requests information from the Welsh Local Assistance Board in respect of the whereabouts of his son, Leslie Barclay, his ex-wife having seemingly lost touch.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s Soldier’s Service and Pay Books and around a dozen or so letters regarding his attempts at repatriation - namely his typed copies of his original correspondence and the official Government responses; so, too, with an official copy of the Decree Nisi granted him by the High Court at Carmarthen, date stamped 27 August 1948, this being one of the documents required by the British authorities to process his repatriation.