Following yesterday's post, today a story from the other side. Henry
Lalane came from the small village of Guinarthe-Parenties, halfway between Pau
and Bayonne, in the south of France.
After the German occupation of France in 1940, Lalane was made a
forced labourer, a farmhand at the Maurer's farm in Berschweiler. Father Willi
Maurer had died, so widow Maurer and her 5 and 6 year old sons could well do
with the help. Lalane was treated as a member of the family, only having to
return to the parish hall at night to sleep with fellow forced labourers. He
was familiar with the work on the farm; feeding the animals, ploughing the
fields, get firewood from the forest and harvesting the crops.
March 1945 his long-term captivity ended and Henry returned home,
to France.
All the Maurer family had to remember him by was a photograpph, Basque beret on
his head, cigarette hanging from his mouth and the two boys at his hands.
Until 2010...
Read the full story here (in German).
Oh no - I can't speak German so I'll never know how this story ends!
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