Tributes paid to celebrated pilot who helped interrogate senior Nazis, dies aged 97
Holocaust education chiefs have paid tribute to the “remarkable” Royal Navy pilot who helped interrogate Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Goering after the liberation of Belsen, following his death at the age of 97, writes Stephen Oryszczuk
Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown, who acted as interpreter during the interrogation of high-ranking Nazi officials, last year accompanied Queen Elizabeth II to the site of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, working closely with the Holocaust Educational Trust.
“He was a remarkable man who had the most extraordinary career,” said an HET chief executive Karen Pollock. “I had the privilege of accompanying him to Bergen-Belsen last year as he met Her Majesty the Queen and it was a great honour to have the chance to hear just some of his incredible stories.”
Capt. Brown, born in Scotland in 1919, was the Royal Navy’s most decorated pilot, piloting more than 2,400 aircraft carrier landings. His record for having flown 487 different types of aircraft is yet to be beaten, despite the United States employing someone for the specific purpose of doing so.
Known as ‘Winkle’ on account of his small size, Capt. Brown was one of only two men (out of 24) to survive his ship being torpedoed by a German U-boat, later piloted Britain’s first supersonic flight, and always believed flying was in his blood, having first flown on his father’s knee aged 8.
Overheard speaking German by a British medical officer, Capt. Brown was asked to translate during the questioning of Belsen’s former camp commandant, Josef Kramer, and the warden of the women’s section, Irma Grese.
In 2014, interviewed for BBC Radio’s Desert Island Discs, he relived the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he sensed a “blanket of evil, something underlying that was very wrong”.
During that interview he described Goering, the commander of the Luftwaffe and Hitler’s right-hand man, as “quite charismatic in many ways… he had a presence, no doubt about that, and he was very straight-forward”.
Of Belsen, he said: “I’ve never seen such desecration of human beings. When we went in there were piles of bodies as high as the roof, mostly female, all in grotesque positions, and they were bulldozed with a bulldozer.”
The Belsen barracks were originally designed to house 60 people, but Brown said there were 250 people per barrack when he arrived, with one toilet at the end.
“There were three tiers of bunks. The ones at the top messed on the ones below. The stench was utterly, utterly appalling. That lives with me to this day. They were all lost souls, they were dying, there was no way back, they’d gone too far. There were zombies walking outside. But even if I stopped and tried to help them, they didn’t respond, their minds had gone.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
