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This account relates to my father-in-law Charles Rohrbach and a particular incident that occurred at the end of the war. Charles died in 2002 but in his later years he often talked about the old days and I became familiar with his family experiences during the war. Some background family history may be of help in appreciating his story. Charles’ father was German and his mother English; after they were married they settled in London and they had three children in quick succession. Charles was the youngest born in May 1912 and he had two sisters, Nellie and Freda, who were born in the January and December of 1910. At the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 Charles’ father, Karl Rohrbach, was interned at Knockaloe Camp on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien, the remaining family members faired little better. In England anti-German sentiment was high and Charles’ mum, Ellen, returned home with the children one day to find all their belongings unceremoniously dumped on the street. The landlord had taken it upon himself, in line with the prevailing mood, to evict the family from his property even though all four were English by birth. It is unclear where they lived after this but eventually they settled in Germany with relatives of Charles dad. When the war ended and Karl was released from internment he made the family home in Koblenz, Germany.

At age 14 Charles left school and found work as a waiter, the same occupation as his dad. He learnt his trade in various hotels in Germany and France before moving to London where he worked at the Savoy and Grosvenor House hotels before meeting and marrying Doris in 1938. Charles and Doris made occasional trips to Koblenz to see his parents.

When WW2 began the family again faced many years of forced separation. Charles said he had wanted to enlist in the RAF or Navy but he was told by the authorities that this was not possible due to his German ancestry. His family background was subsequently vetted by the War Office and he eventually joined the Pioneer Corps in 1941. He became the ‘batman’ of a British Officer called Colonel Alexander because of his experience as a waiter which meant that he possessed many of the attributes required to care for the needs of a gentleman officer. He saw active service in North Africa and Italy before finally reaching Germany at the end of the war. With the war over he sought permission from his commanding officer to visit his parents home in Koblenz to find out how they had fared during the 6 years of war. It is doubtful if Charles even knew what had become of his parents at this point, following the heavy aerial bombing of Germany in the latter stages of the war. There was also the post-war food crisis affecting the German civilian population. Food was in extremely short supply at this time with many on the verge of starvation. The commanding officer gave Charles permission to visit Koblenz to find his parents and in a heart-warming gesture, he told Charles to collect a food parcel from the army stores and give it to his parents when he found them. So it was that Charles finally found himself knocking on the front door of his parent’s house. He was greeted by the sound of his dad’s voice gruffly shouting aloud that whoever it was would have to wait as he was busy. When his dad eventually answered the door and he saw his son standing there with a food parcel he was completely overwhelmed and fell onto his knees crying a prayer of thanks. Charles parents had been having a hard time of it with food very scarce and this parcel brought to them by a son whom they had not seen for almost 7 years was a wonderful deliverance for them. Charles enjoyed a short stay with his mum and dad but then he had to return to his unit. Even though the war was over Charles duties were not finished, his German and French language skills were required as an interpreter at a displaced persons camp near Frohnleiten, Austria and his duties at the camp delayed his final return to England until September 1946. One of Charles possessions that the family still have is a wooden plate that was presented to him by the burgermeister of Frohnleiten in recognition of his services during this period.

On his return to England he found employment as a bus conductor on London Transport and he and Doris eventually had two daughters. Charles parents eventually returned to England too and lived out the rest of their lives with Charles sisters in London. Charles' last trip abroad was in 1986 with his daughters and grandchildren when he visited his parents old house and met some old neighbours who still remembered the family.

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