Here is a story about Mrs. Thatcher and Rotary which you
may not know. When Margaret was 12, her older sister Muriel had
a letter from her pen friend Edith in Vienna. Edith Muhlbauer
was a 17 year old Jewish girl. Because the Nazis were already
rounding up the Jews in Austria, Edith wrote to Muriel to ask
if she could raise enough money to help her leave Austria as
soon as possible. Muriel enlisted the help of her sister
Margaret and together they asked the local Rotary Club for their
support. Their father, Alfred Roberts was not only a founder
member of the Grantham Club but in the 1930s had been its
President. The club readily gave their support and the money
was raised quickly. Edith came to England and stayed with the
Roberts family in Grantham, at one stage sharing a room with
Margaret. Later she stayed with other local Rotarians before
being helped on her way to relatives in Brazil.
Among
the guests at Mrs. Thatcher’s funeral was Betina, Edith’s
daughter and her husband , who had travelled especially from Sao
Paulo, Brazil. In 1995, Mrs. Thatcher received a Paul Harris
Fellowship and at the time, she said, “Its wonderful to know
that the Rotary Club in our home town, and my father played
their part in defeating the forces of evil, thus enabling a few
more souls like Edith to live in freedom.”
Provided by
RGHF Senior Historian
Basil Lewis, UK, 23 April 2013, posted by Jack Selway |
