Willy Field

Willy Field was born Willy Hirschfeld in Bonn in 1921. After Kristallnacht he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp before securing release on condition that he left Germany. He reached Britain in 1939, but after war began he was interned as an enemy alien and transported to Australia aboard the Dunera.

Field volunteered for the British Army, returned to Britain and eventually transferred into the Royal Armoured Corps. He landed in Normandy shortly after D-Day and fought through western Europe into Germany. Willy Field, born Willy Hirschfeld, was a German-Jewish refugee who survived Dachau, was interned as an enemy alien and later fought for Britain as a tank soldier. Willy Field was born in Bonn, Germany.

Helen Fry’s From Dachau to D-Day is the full biography of Willy Field, born Willy Hirschfeld, following his arrest after Kristallnacht, imprisonment in Dachau, escape to Britain, internment and deportation aboard the Dunera, then his return to serve in the British Army and land in Normandy after D-Day. Fry’s Churchill’s German Army places Field within the larger experience of German and Austrian refugees—many of them Jewish—who were first classified as enemy aliens and later used their language, military and intelligence skills against Nazi Germany.