During and directly after the Second World War, the Reid family at Wester Kittochside, East Kilbride, employed Italian and German prisoners of war (POW) to work on their farm.

One of these prisoners was Heinrich Lückel, born in Germany in October 1927. He worked on his family’s farm after he left school but had to join the German army in November 1944 when he turned seventeen. 

We tell the story of how Heinrich and fellow POWs arrived at East Kilbride and began working at Wester Kittochside farm and what is now the National Museum of Rural Life.

Heinrich Lückel

Heinrich had only been on the front line for three days when the US army captured him in Siegen, Germany.

While some German POWs stayed in Britain during the war, Heinrich and many others were taken from Germany to America and only returned to Britain once the war had ended. Their journey took them through America, through the Panama Canal by ship and on to Liverpool, where they were handed over to the British army. By the end of 1946 there were over 400,000 POWs in the UK, many of whom had been employed on farms in an effort to help rebuild Britain’s post-war economy.

Arrival in Scotland

Heinrich arrived at the East Kilbride POW camp in the spring of 1946. Sent with approximately eight other German prisoners to farms in the local area, he began full time work at Wester Kittochside in April 1946. 

At first, Heinrich walked or cycled daily between the farm and the camp. By autumn 1946 he was staying in the bothy next to the farmhouse.

Walter and Werner

Later, a second POW named Walter Kühn joined Heinrich at Wester Kittochside farm. They both lived in the bothy together but took their meals with James Reid and the housekeeper at the farmhouse. Both were farmers' sons and so were well suited to the work at Wester Kittochside. 

The authorities released Walter in September 1947. Soon after another POW, named Werner Rockstroh, arrived from the main prison camp at Thankerton to take his place in the bothy.

Freedom of movement

Living at the farm instead of the camp afforded Heinrich more freedom. He worked six days a week, from 06:30 to 17:30 each day. On Sundays, apart from an hour or so in the morning and evening, his time was his own. James Reid gave him permission to go almost wherever he wished. Heinrich often went to the cinema in Glasgow and spent time reading British newspapers and writing letters.

The wartime farm

Heinrich was released in April 1948 and Werner was released two months later. 

For many years James Reid kept in touch with the POWs that he had employed at his farm. Heinrich had happy memories of his time in Scotland and returned to visit the country in 1972 and again in 1991 with Werner. Likewise, members of the Reid family visited Heinrich and his family in Germany.

Heinrich attended the opening of the National Museum of Rural Life in July 2001. He recalled James Reid having about 36 dairy cows and just as many young cattle. Although a milking machine was in place, Heinrich remembered James and his farmhands milking by hand. About 300 to 360 litres of milk were produced each day and cooled with water immediately. A truck picked up the milk daily.

Heinrich also remembered two horses on the farm, Archie and Daisy, and two hen houses containing around 80 hens. There were usually about ten acres of grass, four to six of oats, a few for potatoes and the rest for turnips. A Fordson tractor was used on the farm and James Reid drove an old Vauxhall car.

The present day farm

Today Wester Kittochside farm is part of the National Museum of Rural Life. The farmhouse belonged to the Reid family for more than 400 years and was left to the National Trust for Scotland. The farmhouse, and the bothy where the POWs stayed, have been preserved to show farm life in the 1950s.