D ominic Clark’s grandparents were always lively, with a mischievous sense fun

His grandmother was never less than beautifully turned out and, at parties, the two of them would easily out-dance their grandchildren. But Dominic only knew the bare bones of his grandparents’ life story. He knew Stanley went to war as a teenager and met Anneliese swimming in a German river, just after peace was declared in 1945. But not much else.

So when Dominic’s wife Jenn presented him with a published account of his grandparents’ lives on his 40th birthday, he declared it the best day of his life. Jenn had dug out photos, spoken to family, found old tape recordings of his grandparents discussing their experiences, and sent them to family biographers Story Terrace. Professional writers had turned their story around, unearthing heart-rending details from the past. He held in his hands an extraordinary love story.

On one of their first dates, Anneliese snuck out of her parents’ home against their wishes to change into a silky party dress

It began a month after the war ended, when Annaliese emerged from a dip in the river near the German village where she was staying, to find Stanley and another British soldier talking to her friend. Grabbing her towel, she gave them a piece of her mind; her home had just been requisitioned by British forces and her family had no food. Stanley was smitten. They went on to meet every day until Stanley had to move on.

After an idyllic early childhood, fun-loving Anneliese had already experienced her fair share of suffering during wartime Germany. Her handsome fiancé, a pilot in the Luftwaffe, had been shot down during the war; another boyfriend was killed in 1944. She and her family had survived an intense night of bombing – after Dresden and Cologne, her home of Magdeburg was the third most severely damaged city in Germany.

Love at first sight: as soon as Stanley met Anneliese, he was smitten

Stanley, the eldest brother of five, had left a steady job at Debenhams to join the Royal Horseguards in 1942 at 18. He’d been sent to Syria, where he was charged with scouting behind enemy lines, and on through Italy, where he’d seen vehicles blown up in front of him. “Fear rode with you, and it sharpened [your] wits,” he remembered.

They spent an intense fortnight together. On one of their first dates, Anneliese snuck out of her parents’ home against their wishes to change into a silky party dress. “I have always, ever since that night, liked to dress nicely for Stanley,” she remembered.

Anneliese urged her parents to escape, but they wouldn’t leave their home. 'In the end I chose to go without them'

Both had found moments of happiness amid the cruelty – Stanley gazing at stars in a Damascus sky or successfully manoeuvring men and machinery across fast-flowing European rivers. For Anneliese it was standing up to authorities, decorating rooms with wild flowers or concocting novel meals from scant rations. Both saw the horrors of Nazi Germany.

After Stanley’s regiment moved on in 1945 to make way for Russian occupiers, Anneliese was faced with an agonising decision – stay with her parents, or follow Stanley. He begged her to leave with him. She declined; he left her with a photo. Anneliese urged her parents to escape, but they wouldn’t leave their home. “In the end I chose to go without them,” she remembered.

Love conquers all: Stanley and Anneliese's love story is a true inspiration

She left with virtually nothing, accompanied by a friend and bound for the British-controlled zone, dodging patrols in the night-time woods to avoid capture, with shots ringing out behind them. They crossed into safe territory but it took a week for word to reach Stanley, who returned and stowed her away in an army truck, risking his life to smuggle her to safety. Reunited, they stayed together, eventually stopping in Bonn, where Stanley found Anneliese lodgings. She made one last daring visit to her parents in the Russian zone, once more fleeing Russian patrols as she crossed back to the West “sprinting to the border like rabbits”.

In 1946 Bonn, Stanley and Anneliese became engaged – only to be told marriage between English and German citizens was banned. And so they returned to settle in Lewisham as Mr and Mrs Greene, after a quiet English wedding ceremony. Annaliese’s mother, despite living in terrible poverty in the rubble of Germany, went on sending presents to her daughter and her new family.

Stanley returned and stowed her away in an army truck, risking his life to smuggle her to safety

They had two daughters and Stanley went on to set up his own business as a fashion agent. When they eventually left the smog of London for village life in Kent, Anneliese insisted on having a car – a Mini – to get out and about. She adapted to her new home, but never came to terms with kippers, or mint sauce.

“The sheer scale of their life does blow me away,” says Dominic, who named his first daughter after Anneliese. “They were wonderful grandparents. When you read everything they went through, I understand how much they made the most of their lives. I hadn’t realised what a deep love story theirs was. The war formed who they were.”

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