A little Christmas cheer

In these days so full of bad news it is good to be reminded of the inherent kindness of most people. The account that follows centres on the experiences of two German prisoners of war incarcerated in Scotland during World War 2.

Alfred Biermann  was from the textile manufacturing town of Bielefeld in Germany. He finally reached home in March 1948 having been held captive in Britain for a number of years.
Alfred spent part of his captivity in Aberdeenshire working on Cultercullen farm at Udny Station in Aberdeenshire. During that time he formed a close friendship with the farmer, Alfred Marr, and his family. The warmth that he felt for the family can be judged from a letter that he sent to them from a transit camp in England in March 1947. He wrote: 'How are you dear family? Once more, many thanks for the kindly welcome I received in your house and specially for you Mrs Marr for your motherly love and goodness. You have much helped me in this loveless and hard time and I will never forget it. May God reward you for it.'
At Christmas 1946, Alfred had made a Christmas card for the Marrs. It contains 4 water colour paintings of great quality, particularly given the problems that a POW must have encountered in obtaining supplies of paper and paints in the immediate post-war years. The scene in one of the "extras" is Alfred's interpretation of the Scottish countryside in Winter. Not surprisingly, given his circumstances, Alfred had clearly never seen a Scottish red deer and instead has substituted a moose!

This week it was announced that Heinrich Steinmeyer, a former member of the German SS, has left £384,000 in his will to the Perthshire village where he was held as a prisoner of war during World War Two.
Heinrich Steinmeyer was 19 when he was captured in France and held in the PoW camp at Cultybraggan, by Comrie, in Perthshire. Mr Steinmeyer, who died in 2013 aged 90, bequeathed the money in return for the kindness he was shown there. He said in his will he wanted the money to benefit the village's "elderly people".
Part of his will reads: "Herewith, I would like to express my gratitude to the people of Scotland for the kindness and generosity that I have experienced in Scotland during my imprisonment of war and thereafter."