Joyce Parkinson worked as a relief worker in Germany just after the Second World War. She was sent to Recklinghausen in the Ruhr Valley and, despite times being as terrible as they were, Joyce had a Christmas experience she has never forgotten…

Joyce Parkinson worked as a civilian relief worker in Germany between 1945 and 1948. She worked for the Red Cross and lodged in Recklinghausen, a mining town in the Ruhr Valley.

Many people were under nourished and Joyce was involved in the Red Cross feeding programme. She became friendly with headmistress of a local girl school who asked her if she would like to spend Christmas Day with a German family, an invitation which Joyce readily accepted.

Mr and Mrs Thiele

The family was called Thiele, the father had been an officer in the Wehrmacht and they had three children of 7, 6 and 4. But says, Joyce, "the miracle about this home was the mother". She had had cancer and her right arm had been amputated at the shoulder. "But what she did with her left arm was unbelievable. She even knitted Fair Isle patterns". Mrs Thiele was endlessly inventive.

"My conscious was much concerned that they didn't suffer by having me there". Joyce managed to get some tins of meat and raided the NAFFI for toilet soap, combs, toothbrushes, hair grips, sewing materials, washing powder plus emergency rations of chocolate. She made up a parcel and got it delivered to them a week before Christmas.

The Thiele's Christmas Crib

The Thieles were a devout Catholic family and had their own special Christmas ceremony. The living room was divided into two halves. The father sat in one half with a huge Bible, and the rest of the room was shrouded in white sheets. The son read from the Bible, then a carol would be sung and Mrs Thiele would pull back one of the sheets. First to be revealed was a little Christmas crib with carved figures. This was clearly very precious because many people lost objects like this during the War.

After the next carol the children's dolls, which had been secretly taken away in November, were given back to the children having been given new hair and new clothes. "The girls couldn't have been more thrilled with new ones".

For Christmas dinner there was no question of a goose or turkey, but the butcher had kept aside some bratwurst (pork sausages).

Joyce now

After her Christmas visit, Joyce didn't keep in close touch with them. She says, "I had to have some regard to their reputation". She was in Khaki and there was bad feeling towards Germans who "sucked up to the Brits".

But Joyce went back to visit them five years later. They received her very warmly and put on a coffee morning for her in the Town Hall. Part of Joyce's Red Cross duties had been to operate an advice centre. During the coffee morning, Joyce was approached by a woman she didn't remember. She asked the woman how she had been able to help her. The simple reply came: "You listened".