The Light We Left Behind is the first novel to explore one of British Intelligence’s most audacious WW2 operations. Author Tessa Harris shares how she discovered the extraordinary true story on which her novel is based.
Many years ago, I used to be a reporter on a newspaper in north London called the Barnet Press. Even at the time it was wonderfully old-fashioned. It was founded in 1859 and was owned by the same family for well over a century. No computers, of course, and there was a room set aside for all the back issues (many now digitised.) It was also here that I first came across a mansion called Trent Park in neighbouring Enfield.
I’d heard rumours at work from someone on our sister newspaper, the Enfield Gazette, that Trent Park was something important during the second world war. On a weekend stroll through the grounds of the elegant mansion, I became more intrigued and found out that while it had been converted into a college after the war, during the conflict something ‘top secret’ had gone on within its walls. Local residents talked of German prisoners being held there, but it was all very ‘hush-hush,’ even in the 1980s.
Fast-forward to 2001, when a German professor, Sönke Neitzel, discovered an extraordinary set of transcripts in the British National Archives. Unbeknown to many, during World War II British Intelligence recorded German prisoners of war in secret as they enjoyed comparative luxury inside Trent Park. Their conversations were taped using microphones hidden in light fittings, under windowsills and even outside in bushes. Thousands of pages of transcripts resulted and revealed more than anyone could have imagined about how German officers truly felt at the time.
Then in 2016 I turned on the radio one morning to hear that the mansion and the park had been bought by Berkley Homes, who planned to turn the mansion into luxury apartments, but a public campaign had been launched to turn at least some of the mansion into a museum and reveal the truth about the eavesdropping that went on at Trent Park.
I started my own research with a call out on a local Facebook page to see if I could find any residents who remembered what Trent Park was like in wartime. I had several replies from people whose parents had told them of rumours, or who had served at the park in some civilian capacity.
The personnel permanently stationed there who secretly recorded the German prisoners’ conversations were mainly members of the Pioneer Corps. The men and women who played such a vital role in recording and transcribing these conversations between Germans were themselves mainly Jewish emigrés. They had all signed the Official Secrets Act and the last official papers were only declassified 18 years ago, by which time most had passed away.
It struck me how utterly terrible it must have been for many of those Jewish secret listeners to hear these shocking accounts of barbarity. How strong must they have been to listen to what was happening to their own kind yet remain silent because they knew they were helping the Allied cause?
And what of the British staff who ran the operation? I was fascinated to read there was a team of psychologists at Trent Park. They formulated interrogation tactics and looked after mental well-being at the camp. But the science of psychology was still in its infancy, so, who were these pioneers? The character of Maddie Gresham is, of course, fictitious, but her professional journey is perfectly plausible. Like Maddie, I myself went to St Hugh’s College, Oxford, but until I did some research, I had no idea it had been converted into a brain injury hospital in the second world war. Maddie was then recruited to Trent Park after signing the Official Secrets Act.
There are many parallels between Trent Park and the more famous Bletchley Park, but some historians have argued that Trent Park is almost as important.
Thanks to these ‘secret listeners’ British Intelligence learned about the V1 and V2 rocket projects, as well as troop movements, new technologies and the Valkyrie plot to kill Hitler. (Remember the Tom Cruise film?) Most shocking, however, were the accounts of massacres of Jews in Eastern Europe and of the death camps. Many of the officers discussed the mass killing of Jews with a chilling indifference.
Many of the transcripts were published in Professor Neitzel’s book, Tapping Hitler’s Generals. Some of the conversations that took place between high-ranking German officers were almost unbelievable and certainly inhuman. As I read them, I became even more horrified about the attitudes and opinions aired by these men as they sat enjoying their brandy or playing cards while millions were being murdered by their colleagues in Europe.
That’s why I dedicated my novel to the ‘secret listeners’ of Trent Park. Most of them died without ever having spoken of their courage and the vital role they played in the war against Hitler. I am indebted to Trent Park’s historical adviser Dr Alex Henry for his help and support and feel immensely privileged to be the first novelist to share the story of these unsung heroes of wartime. The new museum at Trent Park, scheduled to open next year, will be a fitting memorial to them. Personally, I can’t wait to visit it.
For more information visit https://www.trentparkhouse.org.uk/
Tessa Harris’ new novel The Light We Left Behind is out now in paperback, e-book and audio.
