It was a meeting between two youngsters who had been on opposite sides of the great divide during the ferocious fighting in the Second World War.
Anne McArthur was just a teenager when she met Helmut Springob, one of the German POWs who was escorted from the camp to work on the Brahan Estate in the Scottish Highlands during the winter of 1947; one of the worst in the last 100 years.
Yet if the conditions were freezing cold for months on end, there was a spark established between the pair, though they knew they could probably never be together.
They both had different ambitions
He wanted to be free from the shackles of captivity, whereas she had set her heart on pursuing a career which eventually took her to Aberdeen University, as the prelude to studying at Auchincruive College in Ayrshire, then, among many other things on her packed CV, working for the Dundee Pasteurised Milk Company and returning to the north and taking up a council job in Ross and Cromarty.
But still, in another time, another place, who knows what might have happened when Helmut asked Anne if she would travel with him to start a new life in the United States?
After she gently replied that she had to concentrate on her career, he prepared to leave Scotland, made the journey to the Muirton Mains farm in Muir of Ord to say his goodbyes and gave her a half crown – two shillings and sixpence or 12.5p in today’s currency – before climbing on his pushbike and heading off into the great blue yonder.
They never saw each other again and she has no idea what became of “the blonde, blonde boy”, who helped her through the months of heavy snow and frozen conditions.
But even now, 75 years later, Anne has never forgotten their time together – and she is determined to find out if she can return the hallowed half crown to Helmut’s family.
The temporary prisoner of war facility had been created on the estate of Brahan, comprising both a guard camp and a fenced prison camp with a recreation field, and it was leased to the Ministry of Works from 1944 to 1957.
It held hundreds of POWs from Germany, Italy and other axis countries, who were delivered with military precision to a number of farms across the region to help provide additional manpower, following the cessation of hostilities in 1945.
But, two years down the line, some of these men were still incarcerated and growing slightly stir crazy. They were searching for a new start after the horror of the conflict, but this was easier said than done in the volatile political landscape of the late 1940s.
Vivid memories
Anne, nee Fraser, who was only 19 at the end of 1946, was eager to study agriculture, but she had to work on a farm before she could make the next step of going to college.
And, although she is now 95 years of age and living in Strathpeffer, she has vivid memories of what transpired when she was battling the winter frost.
Anne said: “It has never left me after all these years and I suppose that it never will. The prisoners used to come to work every day on the farm and they made the journey out on a lorry very early in the morning.
“That winter really was very severe – it snowed for months and it was a hard job – but one day, I was introduced to this young lad called Helmut Springob.
“He was known as Blondie by everybody because he really was very blonde, but we got on well. We never discussed ages, but I think he was a couple of years older than me.
“He wouldn’t talk about the war, but he was a very nice lad, extremely helpful, and I’m not sure I would have coped with all the gruelling farm work that winter without him.
“But, understandably, by the time it came to the end of July in 1947, he was ready for repatriation and the chance to regain his freedom.”
‘I think he was a bit sweet about me’
She had already witnessed the frustration and anguish felt by Helmut, whose life had been placed on indefinite hold, and who had been away from Germany for many years.
On one occasion, Anne recalled him producing a picture of his girlfriend back home and tearing it into myriad pieces, even as she urged him to remain upbeat in adversity.
She added: “He didn’t want to talk about going home, but I remember his girl’s photograph and when he ripped it up and said: ‘She doesn’t care about me’.
“But I told him: ‘How do you know that? Perhaps the mail isn’t getting through’. After all, this was in a period when a lot of the wartime restrictions were still in place.
“After that day, he never spoke about his girlfriend again. I think he actually cared for me, but we were in a impossible situation. I was on my way to a career.”
They had only known each other for a few months, but it’s obvious that Anne had made a significant impact on Helmut and she recalled the last time they spoke before he had left the farm on his way to Inverness Railway Station and thence to Hamburg.
‘I think it would mean a lot to his family’
She said: “He gave me a half crown the day he was leaving and what he wanted to do was store up memories and talk about everything we had done and said together.
“He was standing there one minute, then he kissed me and handed me the half crown and just said goodbye. I knew it was all the money he had in the world that day.
“Straight afterwards, he jumped on this old bike, and off he went. He never looked back, as he turned the corner and I never saw him or spoke to him again.
“But he left an impression on me and I wonder what happened to him and whether he ever did go to America or whether he has loved ones who remember him.
“If there are, I truly want his family to have the half crown, whoever they may be. It meant a lot to me at the time. I think it would mean a lot to his family now.”
Anne hasn’t had much to celebrate in recent times. She lost her husband last year and has had to cope with the Covid restrictions while residing in a care home.
Yet, despite everything, her spirit remains intact and unbowed and she finished by telling me: “I still have things to do and I still want to live my life.”
It was a long time ago, but finding any of Helmut’s relatives and returning the precious half crown to them would be a real tonic for this wonderful old lady.
If you have any information which can help Anne return the coin to Helmut’s family, please contact nostalgia@dctmedia.co.uk
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