Our brilliant Trade Sales Manager relays the stories he was told as a child – about wartime North London from his father, and the harrowing tales from his mother’s childhood in Paris during the occupation.
I: Father (North London)
My Dad was a child in North London when the war broke out. Like many other children he was evacuated to the countryside when the Blitz started. He hated it and couldn’t wait to get back to London. The only thing of interest he remembers was seeing an early, he claims the first, V1 to land on London from the vantage point of Primrose Hill. After the war he did his National Service in Palestine and has memories of being shot at by the Irgun and the Stern Gang. He was also within earshot of the King David Hotel being bombed.
II: Mother (Paris)
My Mum’s story is perhaps more interesting as she was a child in Paris during the occupation. She was one of seven children so my grandad just kept his and his families’ heads down although he used to collect tobacco coupons and go into the countryside to exchange them for meat from local farmers to feed the family. Because of the 10.00pm curfew my grandmother would be at her wits end until he got home as he was often late. My Mum remembers seeing the Germans everywhere and being told not to catch their eyes and basically avoid them. On one occasion her younger brother Pierrot, who sadly died of TB at the age of seven, saw some Germans marching pass and shouted sales Boches to everyone’s horror. My grandmother rushed the kids into the house, scared of repercussions. A much closer shave for my Mum occurred when the Germans evacuated Paris. Some of the German soldiers were losing their heads and shooting at anything and everything. My Mum and her friends were playing in a derelict house when a German appeared spraying the place with his machine gun. My Mum and her friends managed to get away unscathed but it was a close call. When the Germans were gone, General De Gaulle took charge and famously marched down the Champs Élysées in triumph. The whole of Paris was there, including my Mum. There were still some German snipers around and one took a shot at De Gaulle. Everyone hit the deck except the General who stood his ground. My Mum has never forgotten that. She was 10 at the time. She told me how people were constantly on edge and wary of the Germans as they couldn’t be trusted not to react to anything deemed untoward, however innocent they might be. Genuinely dangerous times.
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