Bruges: Springtime Three Night Visit

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March 18th 2022

Published: March 18th 2022

Bruges Belgium December 2021, all booked up and ready for a train journey from Newcastle upon Tyne UK to Bruges Belgium. Three nights away in beautiful old city. Omicron hits and plans are delayed until.......... March 2022, our changed arrangements go ahead. On a train leaving a little later in the morning from Newcastle than we would like, but all in hand. The trip to London is on a new Azum... Read Full Entry

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6th August 2022

Anežka Vrbová
non-member comment

Question about Emmerich Machold and your father's book
Dear Ken Patterson, I am Anežka Vrbová, 16 year old student from Bruntál. I am interested in the book your father wrote about his experiences as a soldier in WWII. I had stumbled upon your blog about your journey in his tracks on the internet and I got very interested in the history of my town that I have never been taught about. So I did a bit of a research and told our history teacher about you and your journey to Bruntál. He was very surprised and pleased that I am interested in these things. He suggested that I write a study about Emmerich Machold, leader of the POW camp in Bruntál. I agreed and started to gather information. I went to a historian who wrote a book about Bruntál in the years of WWII and he too thinks of the idea of the study fondly. Which brings me back to the request I wanted to adress to you. I sadly couldn't find any contact of you on the internet, so I had to contact you this way. Are you willing to send me a .pdf or a .doc version (or any other format that can be opened on computer, even photos of pages) of your father's book, if the book is available in those formats? I would be very glad and share any informations about Emmerich Machold and his factory, if you want, in return. I look forward to your answer, Anežka Vrbová P.S. I had some problems with internet conection, so I hope this wont be sent two times. If so, please sorry my lack of IT skills and our conection.

14th June 2023

Kentpatterson
Ken Patterson

Emmerich Machold
Hi Anežka. I must apologise that I rarely log in to my blog when I'm not travelling, and Covid has stopped me getting abroad so much. I'll send a pdf of the book to your e mail address. There are are a few paragraphs about Bruntal and the linen factory. I've tried to research the Machold family but found nothing on the internet. But may be you can discover more about the family, locally. There is also this comment on the blog: "My great aunts were slave laborers here. My great aunts Beilu and Rachel Herskovits both were slave laborers in this factory starting in January, 1945. Being selected to work here most likely saved their lives as it got them out of Auschwitz, where they had spent about 7 months in Barrack Z. Beilu told me that Mr. Machold tried his best to treat the laborers humanely. She told me that they were liberated by the Russians on May 5, 1945. The Russian troops included many Jews, some of them orthodox Jews who were davening. The Russian captain, who was Jewish, instructed the troops to "leave these girls alone." After liberation, the women had to remain in Bruntal for several weeks. They were able to walk around the town which was largely abandoned. Beilu spoke of a cosmetics store in the center of town that they basically ransacked and enjoyed themselves". Let me know what your research finds. Kind regards, Ken Patterson

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Bruges: Springtime Three Night Visit

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