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POW SOS In 1946 a 16 year old Sheila Bedford was working on a farm in Warter near Pocklington, North Yorkshire when she met Dieter Albrecht. She loved him then and loves him still... Sheila made tea and sandwiches for the POWs who were working on the farm and Dieter was one of them. She shared as much time as she could with him, despite being told not to fraternise with him. They might hold hands and have a peck on the cheek but that was as far as it went.
Dieter was moved because of their friendship, but found a way to write to write to her. However, people were generally unsympathetic about their relationship. The farmer took her aside and told her off and she lost her job. Her father was furious. He took the belt to her and also grounded her - which meant she had no prospect of money.
Sheila couldn't bear the thought of losing Dieter, and begged her father to allow he to see him but was told to choose between home and Dieter. She left. She decided to go to Pocklington and get a job and digs. Dieter had promised to come back which he did, but he was told that Sheila was happily married and didn't want to hear from him.
Sheila went to Melbourne Camp which was where the POWs were based. But no one there would help her. A family friend came after Dieter had been up to her home, giving his home address and a letter. She sent about 5 or 6 parcels but never heard from him. There are, she found, a lot of people called Dieter Albrecht.
Sheila's been married twice and has two sons from her second marriage. Looking back she wonders why she married because she always loved Dieter.
In the millennium year she won a £1000 holiday voucher. She went with a friend to Tenerife. In the back of her mind was the knowledge that a lot of Germans holiday in Tenerife and that she might just meet Dieter there.
Sadly, her friend turned out to be zealously anti-German and the holiday was a bit of a nightmare. One day looking down from their balcony, she saw a man who she was sure was Dieter waving at her. A falling-out with her friend meant she didn't go down. When she did go downstairs later she was told that there had indeed been a Dieter Albrecht staying there, but he'd just left.
MORE INFORMATION
German Prisoners of War in Britain
BBC Timewatch: The Germans we kept
German Armed Services
Sheila is still desperate to make contact with Dieter, so if anyone can help
let us know... | |
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