In the history of Britain the Second World War was an event that touched and altered 
the lives of every man, woman and child who lived through the experience of the war 
years.

The impact the war had however depended very much upon which part of the 
country you lived in.

"You would be hard put to know that there was a war on at times. Living next to the 
farm, food was never in  short  supply and we never 'suffered' the way they did in 
those places that were heavily bombed. You read about it in the newspapers and 
listened to it on the radio. You sometimes heard the sound of aircraft passing 
overhead, but that was about all really."

So recalled a resident of Addiewell, in West Lothian.

However, there was one experience for those people who lived in the villages of West 
Lothian between 1939 and 1945 that would have made the war very visible to them. 

That was the presence of prisoners of war.

There were two prison camps in West Lothian, both of which held Italian POWs. One 
was near Livingston Village  and  the  other  at Kirknewton. Each camp had the 
obligatory spotlight towers, surrounded by barbed wire fencing, with basic amenities 
for the inmates. 

The Geneva Convention forbade that they be involved in work that would directly 
help the war effort. So the prisoners would be marched out, marked out by yellow 
circles that were sown on to the backs of their uniforms, for work mainly on the local 
farms. For this they would be paid in tokens that could be 'spent' back on camp.
Now and again, special events brought these POWs to the attention of the locals. In 
February of 1944 the Midlothian Advertiser reported an event that occurred in the 
village of East Calder.

"An unusual sight  was  seen  in the village on Sunday last when a contingent of 
prisoners  of war marched through the street en route to attend Mass at St Theresa's 
Church. The men, 34 in number, were from an Italian prison camp at Livingston 
Village. Rev. Dr Joseph Healy celebrated the Mass and preached  a  short  sermon to 
the men in their own language."

Relations between the Italians and locals were usually extremely good.

“There was an Italian soldier working at the farm. We used to bring him home for 
something to eat at lunchtime. At the end of the war, before going home, he gave my 
mother a cross that he had made in the camp, by way of saying thank you for his 
treatment."

Sometimes relations were more than friendly !


In January 1944 the Midlothian Advertiser highlighted the case of a Livingston 
woman who had harboured three escaped Italian prisoners in her home.
"The Fiscal, Mr George S MacKnight,  said Italian prisoners of war were engaged on 
war work in  the  district  and  after their daily work was over they were kept in an 
encampment.  On  December 25 a roll call was taken at midnight and three prisoners  
were  found to have escaped. As the accused had frequently been seen  speaking to 
prisoners through barbed wire, it was suspected  that  they  would  be  at  her  house 
which was surrounded and the men were found there."

And just in case you think that the life of an Axis prisoner in Scotland was a 
comfortable one compared to the rigors of the front line, you should not forget that 
attempts to escape were made.

The 1940, 1st of March edition of the West Lothian Courier told the 'dramatic' story 
of two German POWs who were discovered in the vicinity of Linlithgow.

"Keen observation on the  part  of  Mr Robert Henderson, Threemiletown, Linlithgow, 
led to the capture  of  the  two  German prisoners who had escaped from an east of 
Scotland prisoner camp at the week-end."

Mr Henderson and two friends were walking to Bo'ness when they saw "two men 
skulking by the side of a hedge." Their suspicions were aroused when the suspects 
made of into a local wood. Mr Hendrson went of to get help from the 'military 
authorities', returning to find the men in the company of his friends.

It was soon established that they were German POWs and the army arrived to escort 
them back into captivity - but not before they had sampled one of our more traditional 
delights!

"Before the Germans were taken  away  Mr  Thomas Reape appeared on the scene 
with his fish and  chip  van.  Mr  Henderson and his friends bought chips for the two 
men who devoured the meal voraciously."

"It was not a chip at a time they were taking", said Mr Reape, "it was half a dozen. 
They were starving."

By Wednesday the two men had been returned to their POW camp and all thoughts of 
reaching a port and boarding a ship for Norway were put behind them. Indeed, in the 
whole course of the war, only one German soldier ever successfully mounted an escape from mainland Britain and returned to his homeland.

Whatever differences lay between them, there is no doubt that POWs in West Lothian 
were treated well by civilians and many an enduring friendship was made. The 
experience of Helen Gow is a common one.

"I worked with German prisoners. I  was  about  16 years old. when the second world war started. I  was  classed  as  a lady gardener. It was work for the forestry commission and we  heard that we were getting so many POW's. They worked side by side  with  the rest of us. There were two soldiers with them with guns,  in  case  there were any trouble or escapes."

"I can tell you that we all got on very well. They used to get me to speak German words and to this day I can remember what they said to me. I know  they  were  prisoners  but  what  could  one  do but be sociable."

After the war, whilst most chose to return to their homeland, a few had built new 
relationships in the land of their imprisonment and chose to stay.

As Helen recounts, "I am now 74 years old.  I  often meet one of the Germans. He 
married a Scottish woman. Some of them after the war didn't go back to Germany."

In the history books the Second World War will go down as a bloody and momentous 
event. For many of the POWs of West Lothian it marked the beginning, not the end, of a new life.