“In mid 1949, I entered into an essay competition, the winners which would be sponsored by some group for a cultural exchange program to England, the intent was to promote good relations between German and English students. All I had to do was write an essay about why I wanted to go to England. Apparently it was a good essay, because I was one of only three people from Berlin that won, out of over 20,000 essays. The Winners were supposed to study foe a few months in a British university.
But, I had no money for the travel and spending money. Well, I had a little money, but it was East German money and was worthless anywhere else. So the program arranged for a travel stipend and that I could work with the Women’s Land Army once I got to England, instead of going to the study program. The WLA was set up in England during the War for women to work the land and farms. I worked in a little town called Wollington, between Liverpool and Manchester. There were a lot of foreigners, maybe 50 or 90 people, many of them Australians and Canadians, and a few French. The pay was based on piece work so actually the men workers did quite well, we were stronger and could do more work than the women. So I could work for two weeks and have enough money to travel for a week.
I was there from mid-September until just before Christmas. I remember the area because my father gave me the names of a couple of wool producing firms his pre-war business had done work for, these were based in Leeds and Huddlesfield. I went to those firms to see if there was any work available there, but they both said the Bauke and Rosenau Company (his father’s pre-war fabric importing business) still owed them money from shipments made in 1939, so I didn’t get jobs with them unless the accounts were paid. Well, my father’s business wasn’t there anymore so there was nothing I could do about that”.
Pop returned to Berlin on December 19, 1949. Attached are his travel documents from this time. I am posting these because these are the documents that resulted in Pop being arrested and imprisoned for several months upon his return to Berlin, accused of being a British spy.
Photo above - Three of Pop's friends from England 1949 - Denise Boulange, Odile Rose, and ?
Travel Documents - German Passport
British Registration Permits