Christabel Bielenberg (18 June 1909 - 2 November 2003) was a British woman married to a German lawyer, Peter Bielenberg. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. She described her experiences living in Germany during the Second World War in two books: The Past is Myself (1968) and The Road Ahead. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
Christabel Mary Burton was born in Hertfordshire of Anglo-Irish parents. Hertfordshire (ˈhɑːtfədʃə(r, abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of " Anglo-Irish " was a term used historically to describe a privileged Social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Her mother, Christabel (née Harmsworth),[1] was the sister of Lords Northcliffe, Harmsworth and Rothermere. Alfred Charles William Harmsworth 1st Viscount Northcliffe ( 15 July[[ 865]] - 14 August[[ 922]] rose from childhood poverty to become a powerful British newspaper Cecil Bisshopp Harmsworth 1st Baron Harmsworth ( 23 September 1869 &ndash 13 August 1948) was a British Liberal Harold Sidney Harmsworth 1st Viscount Rothermere ( 26 April 1868 – 26 November 1940) was a highly successful British Newspaper
She won a scholarship to Oxford but decided to study music in Germany. The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the While there she met Peter Bielenberg (1911-2001), two years her junior, who was studying law with a view to joining his father's practice in Hamburg. Hamburg (English, German: ˈhambʊɐk local pronunciation Low German / Low Saxon: Hamborg) is the second-largest city in Germany They married in 1934 and she took German citizenship, which, at that time, would have required her to relinquish her British citizenship.
The Bielenbergs lived initially in Hamburg, then moved to Berlin and had three sons, Nicholas, Christopher and John. Hamburg (English, German: ˈhambʊɐk local pronunciation Low German / Low Saxon: Hamborg) is the second-largest city in Germany The heavy Allied bombing raids led Mrs Bielenberg and her children to leave the city and they eventually settled in the village of Rohrbach in the Black Forest. Rohrbach can refer to Heidelberg-Rohrbach, a district of the city of Heidelberg in Germany Rohrbach Switzerland, in the For the suburb of Adelaide, please see Black Forest South Australia; for the CDP in Colorado, please see Black Forest Colorado.
Both Christabel and Peter Bielenberg were opposed to Nazism and following Hitler's rise to power in 1933, participated in anti-Nazi activity. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Her experience of attempting to shelter Jews hiding from persecution was described by her in the television series The World at War in 1974. The World at War is a 26-episode television documentary series on World War II, including the events leading up to it and following in its wake
Peter Bielenberg was a close friend of Adam von Trott zu Solz, who was involved in the von Stauffenberg bomb plot against Adolf Hitler of 1944, and as a result of his suspect political views and this close association was arrested, interrogated and imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp following its failure. Adam von Trott zu Solz ( August 9, 1909 – August 26, 1944) was a German Lawyer and Diplomat who opposed Ravensbrück (ʁaːvənsˈbʁʏk was a notorious women's Concentration camp during in World War II, located in northern Germany 90 km north of Berlin In an effort to secure his release, Christabel Bielenberg asked to be interviewed by the Gestapo in order to convince them of her and her husband's political naivety and innocence. The ( contraction of ge heime Sta ats' po' lizei: "Secret State Police" was the official Secret police of Nazi Germany She was successful and he was released to a punishment unit but mistakenly allowed leave before joining it. He managed to slip away and remained in hiding near his family until the fighting ended.
After the war, she returned to the UK with her children, visiting Germany as a war correspondent.
In 1948, the family settled in Tullow, County Carlow, Ireland, buying a dilapidated farm called "Munny House", which they transformed into a commercial success . Tullow ( is a town in County Carlow, Ireland. It is located on the River Slaney where the N81 road crosses County Carlow (Contae Cheatharlach is a County in Ireland located towards the south east of Ireland, in the province of Leinster. As well as writing her autobiography she became involved with the Irish Peace Marches of the 1970s and lectured in Germany.
She was made a Commander of the German Federal Order of Merit and was also awarded a Gold Medal of Merit by the European Parliament. The European Parliament ( Europarl or EP) is the only directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU
Her experiences in World War 2 were made into the TV drama Christabel by the BBC in 1988. Christabel is a four-part British drama series made in 1988, starring Elizabeth Hurley in the title role (in one of her first starring performances Christabel was played by Elizabeth Hurley. Elizabeth Jane Hurley (born 10 June 1965 is an English model and former actress who became known as a girlfriend of Hugh Grant in the 1990s imdb entry
Gerald Dawe has dedicated a poem to Peter and Christabel, 'The Bay Tree', in his 2008 collection, Points West. Gerald Dawe (born 1952 is a Northern Irish Writer and Poet. Biography He was born in north Belfast and attended Orangefield
References
- ^ http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article37403.ece obituary in The Independent
External links
BBC interview with Christabel Bielenberg and with Elke Acherley, daughter of the Bielenbergs' neighbour Carl Langbehn, who was executed following the plot to kill Hitler.
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