Henry Metelmann

Who was Henry Metelmann?

Henry Friedrich Carl Metelmann was a German soldier, peace activist and writer who was best known for a book about his experiences growing up in Nazi Germany and in World War II entitled Through Hell for Hitler.

Metelmann was born in Altona near Hamburg where his father was a railway worker and socialist and his mother a committed Christian. His church scout group was incorporated into the Hitler Youth and in 1941 at the age of 18 he joined the Wehrmacht and was posted to the Crimea with the 11th Army. As a tank driver in the 22nd Panzer Division which was virtually destroyed in 1942, he was briefly captured by Red Army soldiers and was involved in the Battle of Stalingrad. He attained the rank of Obergefreiter and towards the end of war he was posted to the Rhineland and was captured by the Americans.

After spending time in a prisoner of war camp in the United States, in 1948 he settled in England, living in Hampshire and then Godalming, Surrey, working as a railway signalman and then a groundsman at Charterhouse School. He was a member of the Communist Party and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, becoming a committed peace activist.