Research for my biography of Herbert Sulzbach began when I found a plaque on a brick gate post in a field in Northumberland. It reads:
'Here was the entrance to POW Camp 18 where thousands of German officers were held in the years 1945 – 48. The interpreter since January 1946 was Captain Herbert Sulzbach OBE who dedicated himself to making this camp a seedbed of British-German reconciliation. Our two nations owe him heartfelt thanks. The friends and members of the Featherstone Park Association of former inmates of Camp 18 1982.'
Since then, I have journeyed through Germany, England and Scotland to walk in his footsteps, hear his voice, and ensure that his work for Anglo-German reconciliation lives on.
Nowadays, I walk in the footsteps of Henny Hartog, Ethel Chapple, Emily Hepburn, and Ethel Reeve to understand the stories of their lives. It is a long journey through Germany, Belgium and France; into the small villages and hamlets of Shropshire; and along the lesser-known streets of south and east London. It is not an easy journey because the footprints of relatively poor and 'insignificant' women such as these have faded over time and their lives are rarely documented.
