They Were All Some Mother’s Sons Documentary Screening

Our screening of the award winning documentary 'They Were All Some Mother's Sons' offers a unique insight into the lives of German prisoners of war, during the time that they were housed in a camp situated on The King George V playing field from 1946 - 1947 immediately after the second world war.

Rolf Rheinlander (“Panza” armed Tank Division), Eric Kirste (Luftwaffe) and Frederik Kooper (Sub Mariner) were captured in 1945 and after being moved to transcript camps across Europe they were transferred to Huyton where they found themselves detained as prisoners of war.

Far from home, living on our own doorstep, and labelled as “Aliens” they could have counted the days until they could return to Germany. Instead, something remarkable happened.

They met, and fell in love with Liverpool Girls. And when they were released and they were free to go home, they made an extraordinary choice; They stayed – and they married their sweethearts.

This is their story, through filmed interviews with Rolf, Eric and Frederik, more than half a century later, together with the stories and memories of local people, previously unseen film footage discovered through The Imperial War Museum and declassified secret documents related to life in the camp researched from The National Archives in Kew.

We are proud to present their moving and heart warming story, as an introduction to our theatre production ‘They Were all Some Mother’s Sons’ at The Shakespeare North Studio Theatre on April 30th, 1st and 2nd May.