POWs in post-war Britain
In 1946, the year after the end of World War Two, more than 400,000 German prisoners of war (POWs) were still being held in Britain, with POW camps on the outskirts of most towns. Clement Attlee's post-war government deliberately ignored the Geneva Convention by refusing to let the Germans return home until well after the war was over.
During 1946, up to one fifth of all farm work in Britain was being done by German POWs, and they were also employed on road works and building sites. Fraternisation between the soldiers and the local population was strictly forbidden by the British government, and repatriation progressed extremely slowly. Then the ban on fraternisation was finally lifted - just in time for Christmas 1946. In towns across Britain, many people chose to put the war behind them and invite German POWs to join them for a family Christmas - the first the men had experienced in years.
In Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, one Methodist minister, Mr Howe, asked his congregation whether they'd like to invite a German POW to their homes for Christmas day. The response was warm-hearted and generous. Sixty POWs found themselves in private homes that day.
Mary Clarke, who worked at a typewriting bureau in the town, and her family took in two prisoners. As did Fred Haworth, recently returned from six years in the RAF: 'No-one could speak English, and we couldn't speak German. But we managed, with a bit of sign language and pointing at this and that. Language is no barrier sometimes.'
Ex-POW Heinz Hermann recalls that 'it was wonderful. After all those years of war and captivity, to be in a private home again. Welcomed by good people. It was a beautiful Christmas Day, which I'll never forget 'til the day I die.' Heinz's mother in Germany was surprised and touched to receive food parcels sent by English friends Heinz had made in Oswaldtwistle.
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