College Record 2019

St Hilda’s. Joyce Marjorie Hazell, generally
known as Hazel, was reading Classics at St
Hilda’s; they met and were married on 12
April 1944. With Hans’ obsessive interest in
dates, he calculated that his wife was exactly
seven years, one month and three days
younger than him.
On 17 May 1945, just nine days after Victory
in Europe was declared, Ferdinand died in
Prague of natural causes at the age of 75.
By this time Willy was serving in the British
army, so it fell to Hans to try to find a way
for Ilse and Lissy to join him in England. To
the credit of Ilse and Hans, neither of them
would contemplate leaving Lissy behind.
She had worked for the family for decades,
always on the understanding that she would
be looked after in her old age.
After much lobbying, they were both given
visas and flew from Prague to Croydon
Aerodrome on 18 April 1946. This date
provided Hans with his own personal proof
of the existence of God. The time between
his emigration and that of his mother was
seven years, one month and three days,
exactly the same as the interval between his
birth date and that of Hazel. To Hans’ logical,
chess-playing mind this was conclusive
evidence of the work of an all-powerful
deity; it was simply inconceivable that such
symmetry could be the product of mere
coincidence.
Photograph of Hans aged ten and Willy aged
four, with their mother, Ilse, and their nanny,
Lissy.
MEMORIES OF WOLFSON
Hans became a University Lecturer in 1947,
but he had to wait for many years, until the
founding of Iffley College, the precursor
of Wolfson, before he gained an Oxford
College Fellowship. He remained a Fellow of
Wolfson until his death in August 1979.
WOLFSON.OX.AC.UK
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