19/04/2025
Norwich, GB 15 C
Researching and reporting on the lives of some really interesting people (RIP)

ROSE GIRONE, aged 113

A victim of the Nazis she was a refugee in China and the USA, eventually setting up her own business in knitwear. She was the oldest Holocaust survivor.

GALINA BROK-BELTSOVA, aged 99

Recruited to the air force when the Nazis invaded the USSR, she became part of the Night Witches and had many close shaves. After the war she joined the KGB.

CAPTAIN VYVYAN HOWARD, aged 102

A Second World War bomber, he was shot down over Norway and sent to the notorious POW camp, Stalag Luft 3, where he contributed to the Wooden Horse and the Great Escape – the last survivor of that famous incident.

BOB LE SUEUR, aged 102

An insurance salesman who was active in the resistance in Jersey in the Channel Islands during the war, rescuing Russian slave labourers from the occupiers.

LORNA COCKAYNE, aged 97

Recruited to Bletchley Park during the war she became one of the first ever computer operators – and read Hitler’s messages.

HAANAH PICK GOSLAR, aged 93

She grew up in Amsterdam, a close friend of Anne Frank. They ended up in the same concentration camp but she survived to tell Anne’s story.