222994 Sammy Louis Marks from:Johannesburg, South Africa I don't know what my father, Sammy Marks' rank was or when he signed up. What I do know is that he was fighting for the allies. He came from Johannesburg, South Africa. He was captured and became a POW in Stalag IVC in Brux, Germany. He became the camp leader of Stalag IVC and at the conclusion of the war he was presented with an illuminated address by his fellow-prisoners in recognition of his services.
The address says: "In appreciation of his untiring efforts to ease their lot as prisoners-of-war-efforts which met with such success that the lager became almost unique in that the Germans never interfered with the internal organization, while mine managers and firm heads; were always respectful and attentive when Herr Marks visited a "job", on which POW's were working. Thank you Sammy."
An uncle sent me a photocopy of a page from a book called "Prisoners of War". It reads: Another prisoner who helped lighten the lot of his friends was Sammy Marks of Johannesburg, who had an extraordinary history. As Camp Leader he consistently burnt all the Nazi propaganda sent to the camp for distribution. Perhaps his crowning achievement was that he was able to rescue a Czech Jewess from deportation to the Eastern Front and to marry her and bring her back to South Africa.
That was my mother, Yola. I adored my dad and unfortunately he died when I was 16 years old. I never heard him talk about the war, except to say that when he saw my mother for the first time, she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. My mother pooh poohed this. "I had no hair and was skin and bone," she'd say. But I knew she was pleased.
|