La Cock

This is the true story of how Ursula la Cock lived through the bombing of Berlin and hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. Ursula was born in Allenstein in East Prussia (now called Olsztyn in Poland) in 1925. She went to work for AEG in Berlin when she was 17, where she worked on research into infrared technology. From 1942 to 1945 she lived through the allied bombing of Berlin where she hid in cellars and air-raid shelters. Despite this, some aspects of life in Berlin carried on as normal and she went to dance classes, swimming and enjoyed going out with boys. In 1945, when she was 20, the Russians came into Berlin and after a harrowing ordeal she finally managed to escape to the west and rejoin her family.

After the war she married a British RAF engineer and they emigrated to Rhodesia. Ursula had two children and had a varied career in different companies in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe finally concluding with a senior manager role with Nedbank in Harare. After her second marriage she lived in Rhodesia and experienced first-hand the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe under Mugabe’s regime.

Throughout her life Ursula always retained a positive attitude and lived through many difficult times with resilience and humour. When she was 85 she finally returned to England and now lives happily in Kingston-upon-Thames.