My Grandfather grew up in the Greenacres area of Oldham. He was born in 1937 and would often tell us about his memories of the Second World War. As children (and as adults) we hung on his every word and thought we had a window into a time that for us was a world away. One fact that always fascinated me when he mentioned it was that Glenn Mill in Oldham was a German Prisoner of War camp.
My Great-grandfather (who I was fortunate enough to know) was a prisoner of war in Japan. He was rightly recognised as a hero by family and friends. I grew up with his tales of how terribly he was treated by the Japanese during his time in captivity. So the notion that Oldham held prisoners of war was even more intriguing to me and I would often ask my Grandfather about what their lives were like.
My grandfather told us that the prisoners of war held at Glenn Mill would attend church services of a Sunday. That they would be marched down and attend Catholic mass if this was their faith. He clearly remembered sitting in church and looking upon the prisoners during mass. They would then be marched back to Glenn Mill when Mass ended.
In the late 1950’s, my Grandfather was called to complete National Service. In fact, his cohort was among the last to complete their Service before the practice was abolished. My Grandfather was posted to Germany where he worked as a mechanic maintaining military vehicles. He would often tell us about his first Christmas in Germany. Like some of his peers, he was a young, newlywed man who had left his pregnant wife back home.
One of the men who he worked with was a native German. Knowing these British men were struggling over the Christmas period, he invited my Grandfather and his colleagues to his home to celebrate Christmas with his family. When discussing their homeland, my Grandfather mentioned Oldham. To his surprise, his host knew of Oldham. In fact, he knew it very well, for he had been a prisoner of war held at Glenn Mill during the War. What a strange coincidence!
Since my Grandfather’s passing in 2020, his stories are even more dear to me.
Glenn Mill
Glenn Mill was built in 1903 and was one of many cotton mills in the area. Production at the mill ceased in 1938. In autumn 1939, it began its life as one of England’s first Prisoner of War camps until 1947. The mill could house around 6,000 prisoners who slept across four floors of the mill. Each of these floors measured around 72,000 square feet. 1https://web.archive.org/web/20120301022514/http://www.mcrh.mmu.ac.uk/pubs/pdf/mrhr_10_moore.pdf. p. 49.
Most of the inmates were either German or Italian. There will be another opportunity for a more detailed discussion of the inmates and their lives at Glenn Mill in the future. But for now, I want to focus on a single incident which appeared in the news at the time. An incident I would love to ask my Grandfather if he remembered!
Escape Foiled By Woman Porter!
A headline from the Rochdale Observer dated 10th February 1945 read: Nazi Stormtrooper in Escape Bid: Foiled by Castleton Woman Porter.
The headline had me intrigued!
The details are not entirely clear, but, as the story goes, 7 German prisoners at Glenn Mill made a bid to escape. Two prisoners were captured in Wakefield, four made it to Leeds. One remaining prisoner, Erich Breuss, was spotted sleeping at Castleton Railway station (approximately 5 miles from the Mill) by a Miss Mary Emery, a porter at the train station. She immediately alerted the police and the man took off. He was eventually captured by the police who questioned him. Breuss spoke little English but told them he was 18 years of age and had joined the German army when he was 16 and a half. He was later returned to camp authorities.
However, it would seem this was not the end of the story. At about the same time, and it seems as a result of the escape of these men, a disturbance broke out at Glenn Mill.
A Prisoner Shot Dead at the Camp
The headline from the Manchester Evening News on 10th February 1945 read: Prisoner Shot Dead and Four Injured in North West Camp.
The Yorkshire Evening Post reported that upon the arrival of some young German prisoners. These young men were full of enthusiasm for Nazism and a disagreement broke out with some older German prisoners who were not particularly ardent followers of Hitler. One of these individuals had apparently been asked to swear an oath on the Bible. He threw the Bible across the room and declared his belief that there was only one God, and that was Hitler. One can imagine the attitude of the older German troops to these Nazi fanatics!
A disturbance breaks out and the guards warn the prisoners that firearms will be used. The warning was not heeded and 4 men were injured and one shot dead. The man who was killed was named Paul Hartmann. One witness to these events was Mr Walter James, who was the commander of the prisoner-of-war camp. His son, Walter diligently committed his father’s account to paper and it offers a valuable insight into the operations of the camp. 2W. James, ‘Glenn Mill – A Prisoner of War Camp’, Bulletin of the Saddleworth Historical Society, XXIV, (1994), pp. 1-12.
According to Mr James, Paul Hartmann was a member of the SS. Mr James later explains that the SS were particularly brutal towards British prisoners of war. Hartmann was a member of the medical staff and thus a protected person under the Geneva Convention. Mr James states that this was something of a scheme cooked up by the Germans as Paul Hartmann, like many others, had no medical training. Hartmann had been provocative all afternoon and Mr James described him as a ‘well known troublemaker’. 3W. James, ‘Glenn Mill – A Prisoner of War Camp’, Bulletin of the Saddleworth Historical Society, XXIV, (1994), p. 7.
Seconds before the incident, he was ordered not to leave ranks but had done so. ‘The prisoner was almost unrecognisable as the shot at such close range had blown the top of his head off…Two other men were slightly injured with cuts on the face, which I learnt later were caused by fragments of bone from Hartmann’s head.’ 4W. James, ‘Glenn Mill – A Prisoner of War Camp’, Bulletin of the Saddleworth Historical Society, XXIV, (1994), P. 7. Some of the inmates then gave a Nazi salute as Hartmann’s body was removed.
The Aftermath
An inquiry soon followed and Glenn Mill was flooded with authorities. Police, a representative of the Swiss Ambassador and the Papal Legate along with his assistants investigated the shooting. The inquest’s verdict was eventually Justifiable Homicide after a troublesome 2 months for Mr James and his staff.
Paul Hartmann’s funeral service took place at the Non-conformist Church in Greenacres Cemetery. He was then buried in Greenacres cemetery which is close to Glenn Mill and the resting place of my Grandfather and his forebearers. We were able to find his grave. There is no headstone to mark the spot. (Indeed many graves are without a headstone in that cemetery). Some say his body was removed and later reburied in Germany.
The Daily Herald, one of many newspapers that followed this story, reported that at the funeral, Paul Hartmann’s fellow inmates gave the Nazi salute. It is also said that his coffin was draped with a Nazi flag.
Glenn Mill eventually closed as a prisoner-of-war camp in 1947. The building was demolished in 1970. We went on a little outing to try and find the site where the mill once stood.
Little remains now apart from some brickwork.
The site is now a nature reserve and a beautiful walking spot.
There are many other tales associated with Glenn Mill which will be the subject of future posts!
For similar posts from me, see my post on Oldham Parish Church.
