RARE Last Letters from RAF Specal Operator German Jew Killed on Ops

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A number of personal letter from Sgt. George Kesten, a German Jew killed on an Air Operation to Bochum with 166 Squadron. Royal Air Force 101 Sqd. (d.4th Nov 1944). I picked these letters which were in the back of a book a few years ago. The proceeds from this sale will thus go to Help for Heros / Jewish Charity in the name of George. 1897268 Flight Sergeant George Kesten, parents perished in Poland in Holocaust, cousin of B. Marguiles, 20 High Street, Waddesdon, Aylesbury, volunteered 12 July 1943, trained at Madeley. Killed in action 4 November 1944 aged 22 in Lancaster 1 ME865 SR-K over Bochum, take-off 1738, buried Rheinberg. Please see BBC report of 2011 on George Kestenhttp://www./news/uk-england-lincolnshire-14167086 George served with the Squadron in 1944, George and the rest of his crew took off from Ludford Magna at 17.38 on 4 November 1944, en route for Bochum. The aircraft was Lancaster 1 ME865 SR-K on ABC duties. Six of the crew of eight were Canadians. George was the specialist operator. All eight perished that night and are buried in Rheinberg War Cemetery. The crew comprised: F/O G. T. Weiss (R.C.A.F.) pilot Sgt. D. F. G. Day Flt. Engr. F/O W.F. Moran (R.C.A.F.) Nav. F/O J. H. Quirt (R.C.A.F.) Air Bomber F/O A. N. Gould (R.C.A.F.) W/Op AG Sgt. G. Kesten Specialist Operator P/O W. J. Cpommins R.C.A.F. Air Gnr. P/O J. L. Gallant (R.C.A.F.) Air Gnr There still is a lot of secrecy about what was going on at Ludford Magna at the time, and those with obvious Jewish names were encouraged to change their names accordingly to English names, George was a Polish Jew born in Berlin. A German-speaking eighth crew member was included in the crew of especially fitted Lancaster bombers. He was known as the Special Duty Operator, ‘Spec. Op.’, or SO. All were volunteers from various aircrew trades. Since the enemy often gave phoney instructions to divert the jammers, it was essential that they know German reasonably well. In addition, if the Germans changed frequencies the SO would have to be skillful enough to do likewise. The SO had to recognize German codewords – such as Kapelle , for ‘target altitude’ - and log any German transmissions for passing on to Intelligence at the post-flight debriefing. Jewish veteran Flight Sergeant Leslie Temple recalls the Germans trying to distract the SOs by using screaming female voices or martial music. Some sources allege that the SOs were trained in ‘verbal jamming’, that is giving false information in German, but this was very little used. The Gestapo forced George and his family out of their home in Berlin at a moment’s notice. His sister got to Switzerland and George managed to get to London. His parents perished in Poland in the Holocaust. George responded to a call for volunteers for special duties who could speak fluent German went on to Lancasters at Ludford Magna. Sitting in the bomb bay as a Specialist Operator, George would listen in to German night flighter communication. If shot down over Germany and captured these specalist operators would face instant execution if discovered.See also /jsource/ww2/sugar1.htmlI have emailed the journalist who made the report but with not luck.There are four letters in the lot.1. Letter from G.Kersten. from Ludfort-Magna Lieber Gert, Please forgive me for not writting to you before but in the last few days I have been in several stations and have finally landed at this squadron. Life here is pretty good as we are now fully operational, the food here is good only we are deep in the country. I do hope that you finished your leave off with a lot of old singing events, the nearest town from here is Lincoln but that is 23 miles away and the town is pretty deathly. Heliig (likely to be 1892246 Flight Sergeant Gerhard Heilig, son of Bruno Heilig, 2 Windsor Court, Moscow Road, London W2, volunteered 12 March 1943) who we all believed dead is here at this station having done 16 Ops. How is work after having such a good leave. ... read more

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