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'Enemy alien'
Ilse Muscio talks about being perceived as an enemy alien.
Meeting love
Ilse Muscio talks about meeting her husband, an Italian POW.
Multiple identities
Ilse Muscio talks about how the war changed her sense of national identity.
Ilse Muscio, a 16 year old Austrian schoolgirl learning English at a boarding school in Eastbourne, found herself as an enemy alien when war broke out in September 1939. She escaped internment but was under constant surveillance and had to report all her movements. She had a naturalised uncle in London but to escape the bombings they rented a bed and breakfast in Gloucestershire where she worked, albeit illegally. During the war, her father died and she had very little news of the fate of her family in Austria. At one point the British Government attempted to conscript her into the Women’s Services!
It was not uncommon for Prisoners of War to fraternise with women even when it was strictly forbidden. Whilst in Gloucestershire, Ilse met an Italian Prisoner of War whom she later married. For Ilse, the war turned her life upside down but being in England was better than being in Austria in the Russian zone where the rest of her family were. Being reunited with both her husband and family at the end of the war proved difficult and she undertook a perilous journey with her one year old daughter across Europe to be with her family.
Inspiring to hear someone like Ilsa talking about all that she has been through and experienced to say that she has been fortunate. A wonderul woman and may we all learn from her wisdom. Thank you
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