Ursula :
Pain and prejudice

This moving book tells the story of Ursula Sherratt, who was born in the North German port of Hamburg, in the 1920s. Her mother was Jewish but gave up her faith to marry a gentile. Sadly, the marriage did not last.

Ursula’s childhood was spent between an abusive stepfather and a children’s home, and under the brutally anti-Semitic Nazi regime she suffered for the fact that she was half-Jewish - "an undesirable, worthless human being". A soldier who rashly applied to marry her was immediately posted to the Russian front never to be heard of again. Her mother was eventually sent to a concentration camp and although she survived, her health was irreparably damaged and her nerves were shattered. As the war went on, Ursula witnessed the horrific fire-bombing of her beloved Hamburg when "there was no sky, no stars and no world, just a form of hell".

Then when the city was occupied by the victorious Allies, Ursula fell off her bicycle literally into the arms of the love of her life, English soldier Frank Sherratt. She was scorned by her fellow countrymen as a disloyal slut, especially when she became pregnant and had Frank’s baby.

When she eventually got permission to join him in Yorkshire, in 1949, she was treated as an ‘enemy’ by many local people, suffering comments like "the only good German is a dead German". The clacking of tongues never stopped and she learned to build an invisible wall around herself to ward off offensive remarks - although this sometimes led to allegations of arrogance.

This is a remarkable story by a remarkable, brave woman who has been scarred by the worst side of the human race, but also known its generosity and love.

Ursula says: During the latter years of life with my husband Frank, when his many hospital stays became more frequent, I decided to enrol at nearby Dearne Valley College for a creative writing course to give myself a creative outlet. Helen Ruddock became my tutor. I wrote short stories and poems, and in 1998 I won an award as student of the year for a poem I had written dedicated to my beloved Frank. He was so proud. Helen then gently bullied me into writing my autobiography.

As Frank became more seriously ill, I managed through the days and nights with the help of nurses and carers. Social Services eventually allowed me a sitter to be with Frank to give me some time to myself.

After Frank’s death, I completed my story. Susan, our minister’s wife, kindly put it together for me on her computer, and at around this time a leaflet popped through the door about a local leisure group meeting together socially and inviting different speakers. I went along because the next speaker was a lady from Germany. As I got to know the members, I was asked to tell my story and I read my manuscript to them. I am thankful to Stewart Fawthrop from this group who subsequently put me in touch with Léonie Press. I found there was great interest in what I had to say and was subsequently asked to tell my experiences to another ladies’ group.

Although I can't get to the college for classes nowadays I attend a creative writing group at our local library for the pleasure of meeting others and writing poems and short stories.

As I live life alone now, I have many dear friends surrounding me and I wish to express my deepest gratitude to all of them.

Whilst watching German television at home recently, I saw this Irish proverb and thought it so right: "God gave you a face, but you have to do the smiling - so smile!" We all cope with life and sorrow in different ways. My story is about my life and the gauntlets that were thrown down for me - I took on the challenges and tried to smile.

In its "The Diary" section on Wednesday, 22nd November 2006 the Sheffield Star carried a review of the book by Martin Dawes.

Click on the image to see the original of this review.

The Rotherham Advertiser carried a half page interview and review of Ursula Sherratt's book "Ursula - Pain and prejudice" by their feature writer Howard Poucher. Appropriately it shared the page with an article about the Mayor and Mayoress of Rotherham, Cllr and Mrs Peter Wooton, signing the Rotherham Book of Remembrance for National Holocaust Memorial Day (27th January) and inviting their fellow citizens to join them as a mark of respect and remembrance for all the victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution.

Click on the image to see the original of this review.

In the March 2015 edition of Aroundtown, South Yorkshire's premier free lifestyle magazine, there is a lovely double page spread feature on Ursula, who is now 92 years young.

In the interview she describes her life in Germany and England, and her happy marriage to her beloved Frank, who died more than ten years ago.

We have offered readers of the magazine a post-free special offer on printed copies of the book, and we worked all over one February weekend to convert this so that it is now available as an Amazon Kindle e-book too. The photos come out particularly well in the e-book, as we were able to use many in their original colour rather than black and white. We also added some more pictures of pre-war Hamburg to illustrate what a beautiful city it was before the Operation Gomorrah fire-bombing in 1943. These photos come from a book published in the 1930s by a company which no longer exists. We have credited all the photographers, where they are known.

One quote in the article underlines Ursula's motives behind the writing the book: "Older people are often overlooked in life. But we are the last of our generation who can relay the stories of those days."

Click on the image to see the original of this review.