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Susan Soyinka

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Susan Soyinka (née Fowler; born 27 October 1945) is a British social historian, researcher and author. A former educational psychologist, she became a writer of historical non-fiction on retirement.

Background

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Susan Soyinka was born in Nottingham in 1945. Her mother, Lucy Fowler née Smetana (1919–2003), was an Austrian Jewish refugee who came to England in 1938 to escape Nazi persecution. Lucy had been enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Vienna, but was expelled, along with other Jewish students, by the university authorities.[1] After graduating from Keele University in 1969, Susan spent ten years of her early career in Ghana and Nigeria working as a teacher and lecturer. She married Kayode Soyinka, younger brother of Nobel prize-winning writer, Wole Soyinka.

On her return to England, she retrained as an educational psychologist, and after discovering her Jewish roots, worked for nine years in the Jewish community in London. Following her retirement she established a new career as a writer.

Writing career

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Susan Soyinka’s first book, From East End to Land’s End, describes the World War Two evacuation of about 100 children from Jews’ Free School (JFS) in the East End of London, to the Methodist village of Mousehole in Cornwall, where a Jewish school, JFS Mousehole, was established. A 70th anniversary reunion of Mousehole villagers and the evacuees was held in 2010.[2][3]

Her second book, A Silence That Speaks, describes her Viennese Jewish family history, and the fate of several members of her family in the Holocaust. The book received an award in 2014 from the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB).[4][5][6]

Her third book, Albert Reuss in Mousehole: The Artist as Refugee, is a biography of Albert Reuss (1889–1975), a Viennese Jewish artist who fled to the UK from Nazi persecution in 1938.[7][8][9][10]

Soyinka has written articles for a number of platforms including Art UK and New Statesman.[11][12]

Publications

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  • From East End to Land’s End. The Evacuation of Jews' Free School, London, to Mousehole in Cornwall during World War Two, Eliora Books 2013, ISBN 978-0957561410. First published by DB Publishing, 2010.
  • A Silence That Speaks. A Family Story Through and Beyond the Holocaust, Eliora Books 2013, ISBN 978-0957561403. First published by DB Publishing, 2012.
  • “Penzance Synagogue – A Brief History”, JCR-UK 2014 [13][14]
  • Women of West Cornwall 1600 to 1945, Co-author, Penwith Local History Group 2016, ISBN 978-0995494008
  • Albert Reuss in Mousehole: The Artist as Refugee, Sansom & Co 2017, ISBN 978-1911408161
  • Growing up in West Cornwall, Co-author, Penwith Local History Group 2019, ISBN 978-0995494015

References

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  1. ^ “Lucie Smetana”, Gedenkbuch. Memorial book for the victims of National Socialism at the University of Vienna in 1938. Retrieved on 4 May 2019
  2. ^ "Reunited with the Past - Second World War Evacuees". Cornwall Life. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  3. ^ "Return of evacuees after 70 years". BBC News. 15 June 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  4. ^ Susan Soyinka | A Silence That Speaks
  5. ^ Saffer, David. “'Collective madness' shocked author Susan”, (PDF). The Jewish Telegraph, p. 7, 14 December 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  6. ^ Vulkan, George. “An act of painstaking research”, The Association of Jewish Refugees, Review in the AJR Journal, pp. 8-9, July 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  7. ^ "Albert Reuss in Mousehole – The Artist as Refugee, Susan Soyinka (Sansom ISBN 978-1-911408-16-1)" (PDF). Review by Bert Biscoe in www.oldcornwall.net
  8. ^ Weston, Janet. “Albert Reuss in Mousehole: The Artist as Refugee”, The Association of Jewish Refugees, Review in the AJR Journal, pp. 10-11, December 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  9. ^ “Albert Reuss in Mousehole: The Artist as Refugee”, Royal Institution of Cornwall 2019 Lecture Series. Talk by Susan Soyinka. Retrieved on 28 April 2019.
  10. ^ Exhibition: “The Artist as Refugee” Penlee House Gallery and Museum, Penzance, 26 February to 25 April 2019. Part of Insiders/Outsiders Festival 2019. Retrieved on 30 April 2019.
  11. ^ Soyinka, Susan. “Albert Reuss: The Artist as Refugee”, Posted on Art UK, 25 September 2017. Retrieved on 4 May 2019
  12. ^ Soyinka, Susan. “Seventy years after my mum fled Nazi Germany, it seems the UK has not learned from history”, Published in New Statesman, 1 May 2019. Retrieved on 4 May 2019
  13. ^ "JCR-UK: Penzance Synagogue - Brief History, a paper by Susan Soyinka". www.jewishgen.org. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  14. ^ Historic England. "The Star Inn, including No.1 New Street and the former synagogue, Penzance (1143981)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
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