Author’s book on Biberach inspired by visit to Guernsey
AN author who has written about a great escape from a German camp in the Second World War has said he was inspired to write it by a visit to Guernsey.
Stefan Rasser moved to Biberach, his wife’s home town, on his retirement.
He saw a meeting of the town’s Friends of Guernsey promoted in a newspaper and decided to attend.
Many Guernsey people were deported to a camp in Biberach during the Occupation.
During the meeting, an attendee mentioned a memorial at the end of the tunnel which 26 British officers dug to escape the camp in Biberach in September 1941.
‘They said that they couldn’t find the memorial, and I said I could. Looking for it reminded me of The Great Escape,’ said Mr Rasser.
It set him off on a task of investigating the story and ultimately writing a book of the story.
As part of his research, which involved speaking to German journalists and the authorities in Biberach, he visited Guernsey and spoke to some deportees, including Tom Remfrey, now in his nineties.
‘He understood 100% of what I was saying to him and he spoke German to me,’ he said.
‘It is a great story for Brits that 26 officers managed to escape, but really only four actually did. Twenty-two got taken back. The German officers were punished too, they were sent to a camp with Russian soldiers,’ Mr Rasser said, adding that the 22 officers who were recaptured were moved to another camp, with the commander recognising that they would try to escape again.
‘He said to them that if any attempts were made, they would be shot. A 21-year-old lieutenant tried and shot a German soldier in the head, then he got shot in response.’
Mr Rasser said his book We Are Through!, was based on real life stories, written both during the war and many years after.
‘I hope that the way it is written, the reader feels part of it. All of the digging and the fears.’
He recently held a private reading of his book at the Bailiff’s Chambers.
‘I had promised Tom Remfrey that he would have the first reading in Guernsey, and he said it had made his day,’ said Mr Rasser.
‘There are many locals here who either suffered or know someone who suffered during the time and in the camp,’ he said.
The site is now a police training centre.
n We Are Through! is available to purchase online.
