Having just seen the documentary 'Churchills German Army' and mention of some of the Austrian and German refugees from Nazi Germany going into amongst other British Military divisions, the Commandos, I am interested to try and find out more about a probable relative, Werner Porzig (born 16/6/1919). The National Archives have an SOE record of his service which has been classified not to be opened until 1/1/2024.
Understandably this is to protect him as it is will not be opened until he and others in the file are at least 100 years old or probably until well after his death. My request under FOI has (understandably) been refused.
Accepting that I will probably depart this mortal coil before the document is made public, I would like to try and find out something about this person outside of his SOE activities. Did he come over as a refugee? It is unlikely that he was Jewish so I assume if he was a refugee it was because of political views. As a refugee or POW would there be records of this person. The excellent German Porzig family genealogist can find no trace of a Werner Porzig born around those dates.
I have also read that SOE used German POWs as decoys by sending them back into Germany on supposed missions with the hope that the returned German POW 'operatives' would immediately alert to Gestapo to nonexistant plots.
If anyone has any idea as to how I might find out more about Werner's time in the UK (as opposed to his SOE exploits which I accept will not be revealed) I would be grateful. I would mention that during WW11 there was a British Porzig family living in the UK who were my great aunts.
Thanks in advance for any help.
