Horace Greasley
{{Short description|British Army soldier}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Horace Greasley
| image = HoraceGreasley.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth-date |25 December 1918}}
| birth_place = Ibstock, Leicestershire
| death_date = {{Death-date and age|4 February 2010 | 25 December 1918}}
| death_place = L'Alfàs del Pi, Alicante, Spain- Costa Blanca
| known_for = Claims to have escaped and returned to his POW camp over 200 times to meet with his love interest
| spouse = Kathleen (????-????) divorced
Brenda Greasley (1975–2010) His death
| children = 2
}}
Joseph Horace Greasley (25 December 1918 – 4 February 2010) was a British soldier in the Second World War who was captured in May 1940 by the German Wehrmacht and later became famous for claiming that he escaped from his camp over 200 times in the conduct of a clandestine love affair, returning into captivity each time.
{{cite news
| title = Horace Greasley – Telegraph
| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/army-obituaries/7223148/Horace-Greasley.html
| accessdate = 8 June 2012
| work = The Daily Telegraph
| location=London
| date=13 February 2010
}}
He was the subject of a best-selling autobiography.{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ken-scott/the-ghostwriters-lament_b_4347770.html |title=The Ghost-writers Lament |date=28 November 2013 |first=Ken |last=Scott |website=HuffPost |accessdate=21 December 2014}} He was also the subject of controversy for having claimed that he was the prisoner of war shown in a photograph staring at Heinrich Himmler, when the prisoner in question is identified elsewhere as a Soviet soldier.{{cite news |url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/newsreview/features/article1197382.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203070521/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/newsreview/features/article1197382.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 December 2013 |title=Blood, tears, sweat and tall tales |newspaper=The Sunday Times |first=Guy |last=Walters |date=20 January 2013 |accessdate=21 December 2014}} {{subscription required}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1939-1941/1939-1941 |title=1939–1941 – Timeline of Events |website=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |accessdate=21 December 2014}}
Autobiography
In early 2008, ghostwriter Ken Scott was introduced to Greasley, aged 89, so he could finally have his World War II memoirs recorded. Scott stated that he only acted as Greasley's fingers to type the book as Greasley suffered from extreme arthritis.Greasley, Horace (2008). Do the Birds Still Sing in Hell?. Libros International. pp. Synopsis. {{ISBN|978-1905988808}}. The book was finished and published by the end of 2008 by Libros International, and gives Greasley's account of his decision to go to war, his capture, struggles, near-death experiences, brutality of the SS, the unique love of Rosa Rauchbach, the escapes, and his liberation. Authors Guy Walters and Adrian Weale have questioned the authenticity of some of the events recounted in the autobiography.{{cite news |author=Jack Malvern |title=Historians debunk claims of 200 escapes in memoir of PoW Horace Greasley |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/historians-debunk-claims-of-200-escapes-in-memoir-of-pow-horace-greasley-bxr8fp7mn |quote= |pages= |work=The Times |location= |date=23 November 2019 |access-date=2023-06-17 }}
Himmler photograph
The February 2010 Telegraph obituary published a photograph{{cite news |url=http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/course-s-Horace-photo-Himmler/story-17815382-detail/story.html |title='Of course that's my Horace in photo of Himmler' |newspaper=Leicester Mercury |date=10 January 2013 |first=Laura |last=Elvin |accessdate=21 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204005319/http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/course-s-Horace-photo-Himmler/story-17815382-detail/story.html |archive-date=4 December 2014 |url-status=dead }} captioned "Greasley confronting Heinrich Himmler (wearing the spectacles) in the POW camp".{{cite web|url=https://www.google.ru/search?q=horace%20greasley%20himmler&newwindow=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=qcqcUva3FYHl4gSQzIHIBg&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=501#newwindow=1&q=horace%20greasley%20himmler%20telegraph&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=ORtoGTP8C15ooM:;mcx3Ipo9YKcVdM;http%253A%252F%252Fi.telegraph.co.uk%252Fmultimedia%252Farchive%252F02376%252Fhorace_2376454b.jpg;http%253A%252F%252Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%252Fculture%252Ffilm%252F9627322%252FBritish-PoW-escaped-200-times-to-meet-German-lover.html;620;387|title=horace greasley himmler – Поиск в Google|accessdate=12 February 2017}} The photograph and its description was republished by other news sources.{{cite news |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/horace-greasley-british-prisoner-of-war-1393453 |title=The great escapist: Film to celebrate British prisoner of war who broke out of Nazi camp 200 times.. to meet girl |newspaper=Daily Mirror |date=23 October 2012 |first=Martin |last=Fricker |accessdate=21 December 2014}}
Guy Walters asserted categorically that the soldier in the picture was not Greasley, stating that the picture is held by the US National Archives and the caption details show it was taken in Minsk (in Nazi-occupied Belarus) in mid-1941, that it was taken by a photographer for a propaganda film and identifies the soldier as a Soviet from his cap, and that the officers in the picture are the same officers who appear in the film with Himmler.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/einsatz/himmlerinminsk.html Himmler in Minsk]
- [http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/NA005312/heinrich-himmler-visiting-russian-pow-camp Heinrich Himmler inspecting Russian POW camp]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greasley, Horace}}
Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
Category:British Army personnel of World War II
Category:People notable for being the subject of a specific photograph