A remarkable true story

In my twenties, as a newly qualified teacher, I worked in a classroom that had a kitchen in it. It was as odd as it sounds: about a third of the classroom had been partitioned off by a half-wall so that cookery lessons could happen there. As you can imagine the noises and the smells were a bit distracting when I was trying to teach but in reality it was only for about a quarter of an hour a day (as most of the lesson happened in the lunch hour). The one advantage of this set-up was that the wonderful woman who led the sessions: Sheila used to sneak me little freshly-out of the-oven treats.

I was in that room for three years. Towards the end of that time Sheila, who was generally a private person, started to open up and chat more and more. I got to the point where I felt I could ask her why, when she was German, her name was Sheila.
'Oh it's not really Sheila, it's Gisella. I felt a need to change it when I first arrived here in England.' And then she told me her remarkable story.

Gisella lived in Berlin during the war in an apartment with her grandmother, her mother and her sister (her father presumably having gone off to fight). At the end of the war, as you probably know, the Russians took Berlin. About 125, 000 were said to have perished in this operation. It is well-known that the Russians treated the Berliners appallingly in the immediate aftermath of this battle. Mass rape, pillage and murder occurred. Starvation also became an issue. Gisella's mother dressed her and and sister to look 'young' in the hope that this would protect them. Gisella admitted to her mother being raped but stifled any further declarations on this matter. It was extremely unsafe to leave the apartment but starvation made them reluctantly decide to send their grandmother out to look for food. They did. And they never saw or heard anything about her again.

A while later when the army of occupation had arrived. Gisella fell in love with a Brit called Eddie. I can see how whirlwind marriages/liaisons would increase in likeliness at such a tumultuous time. Gisella and Eddie were to be married and there was no question about it (Eddie was quite traditional) - Gisella was to move to England. She asked her mum what she should pack. Her mother replied,
'Just take your ball growns. You can buy anything else you need when you get there.' (This was the only clue Sheila gave me about the wealth/status of her family.) So Gisella - armed with a suitcase with three ball-gowns inside arrived at the Larkman Estate in Norwich and settled into her bungalow across the road from the school she would eventually work in. The Larkman Estate, Norwich, is among the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. I suspect it was a bit different back then but in post-war Britain, Gisella would have experienced considerable anti-German sentiment and a name change was probably a protective measure. She remained loyal to Eddie all her life and he to her.

I suspect there was a lot more to tell and I really wish I had asked more questions. I taught her granddaughter and knew her daughter socially but they have both moved away and I am not sure they knew much more than I did. The reality was, it was a very hard story for Sheila to tell but I am glad she shared what she did with me.