WAR: British soldier's German wife sheltered Jewish woman

SHORTLY after British soldiers were allowed to talk to German people, Don Dack asked Christel Kahn to dance with him.

It was the summer of 1946 and the setting was a soldiers’ club in Luneburg Heide, where the German army had trained.

The couple became more than just friends, and two years later Christel came to Dartford and married Don, who had fought in Belgium and Germany with the 52nd Lowland Infantry Division.

Christel, now 80, says when she came to England she never encountered any ill-feeling or hostility because she was German.

She said: “I didn’t think he’s English, I’m German. I was just so in love with him.

“I must honestly say, nobody showed any animosity towards me.”

Don helped liberate Antwerp, Bremen, Hamburg and Belsen, where there was a Nazi concentration camp.

Christel said: “The mayor of Bremen wanted to surrender, but the gestapo said German soldiers fight to the bitter end. Because of that, the bombs came in.

“Don said the camps at Belsen were a terrible sight, but he never really talked about it.

“He remembered Bremen and Hamburg, he said it was slaughter.”

Christel’s brother Ludwig died from wounds he suffered while fighting for Germany on the Russian front.

Since the war, his family never knew where he was laid to rest, but Christel now believes he was buried in Vilna, Lithuania.

She said: “We found out he had died by letter. We were shattered, he was married and had a daughter.

“It was at the height of the Russian campaign, so it took a while to find out where he was buried.”

LIVING IN GERMANY DURING THE WAR

One bitterly cold day during the winter of 1942, there was a knock at the door of Christel’s family home in Braunlage.

Christel said: “We must have been so brave knowing what happened.

“My mum went downstairs to open the door and there was a lady standing in a black fur coat, hat pulled right over her face.

“She said she was just a lady needing a room.

“My mother said don’t stand there you’re so wet.

“She came upstairs, took her hat off and my mum realised she was a Jew, you could see from her face and nose.

“She said she was a Jewish lady and couldn’t go to a hotel. Her name was Mary and her visit was by sheer chance.

“Mum took her coat off and put it in the bath, it was so wet.

“She stayed with us for three months in my room.

“Mum said if you speak to her speak softly so no-one would hear.

“I used to speak to her but she never really revealed much.

“When she was with us she never used to come out of her room.

“Then my father said tenants were getting suspicious because the curtains in my room were drawn day and night. They would have called the gestapo.

“Mum gave the excuse my room was cold and didn’t have any central heating. In the end we had to let her go because we were frightened. We never heard from her again.”

Christel joined the Hitler Youth movement when she was 14.

She said: “We had to join the youth party. My mum always said you had to do that otherwise you'll be shunned.

“I hated the girls who ran it. They used to pick on me, but in another sense I liked the sports.”

To avoid any trouble, Christel’s mother warned her to be careful about what she said in public.

Christel said: “My mum said whatever happens indoors don't you ever reveal anything, because the gestapo will be at the house.

“If in assembly you have to say Heil Hitler, you say Heil Hitler and lift your arm as high as you can. But whatever happens indoors has nothing to do with other people.”

Christel says ordinary German people were unaware of the evil committed by Hitler and his Nazi henchmen until it was too late.

Her family only began to find out about the atrocities when a Czechoslovakian friend returned after he had been taken away.

She said: “He said to us, you didn’t know I was taken to a camp. He said the things I saw you would cry your heart out. And that was just one camp, he never said which. He said Hitler was a wicked man.”

DON DACK - "EVERY OUNCE A SOLDIER"

Don died on October 27 following a massive stroke 10 days earlier.

He was 85 and had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for four years.

After leaving the army, Don worked as a boiler operator at a power station in Dartford.

Don was very active in the community and was instrumental in Dartford becoming twinned with the German town of Hanau, home of the Brothers Grimm.

Always an eager supporter of charities for servicemen, he was President of the Royal British Legion's Greenhithe and Swanscombe branch in London Road, Greenhithe for more than 20 years.

Branch treasurer George Craig said: “Don was very highly esteemed and he will be sorely missed by the Royal British Legion family.

“He lived and died every ounce a soldier.”

Every November for the last 50 years, Don and Christel would go out in Dartford town centre with collection boxes handing out poppies.

Unfortunately due to Don’s ill health, this year the couple were unable to continue.