Clydebank man's lasting friendship with German POW

Peter Dempster was just 16 when he met Karl Hauter, a German POW, who has since been included in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Peter, a long serving member of Clydebank Swimming Club, spotted Karl training in Clydebank Baths in 1942; his talent was clear to see.

That was because Karl was a German Youth Champion swimmer who had Olympic potential.

Desperate for this talented swimmer to join competitors on the town’s swimming team, Peter soon found out there was a reason the talented boy never spoke to anyone at the baths.

Peter said: “One day I was in swimming at the same time as him and rather than jog back to my work I walked beside him and said 'you’re a fantastic swimmer, I see you swimming here, who are you’? He stopped and that’s when I heard the accent.

“He said 'from one swimmer to another, I am a prisoner of war’.

“I said fair enough. That was it; I never told anyone who he was.” Prevented from attending public places as a POW, Karl donned an over-sized black coat to cover his distinctive prisoner’s uniform to get into Clydebank Baths. Here, once a week, he could continue to do the one thing he loved and was especially good at it.

Karl was just 19-years-old when he found himself at Hardgate Prisoner of War Camp having served with the German Luftwaffe for six months.

In 1941 he was captured by allied forces at Cherbourg in Normandy. He was shipped to America for a time before being sent to Scotland.

Karl spent much of his time as a driver during his two years as a POW in Clydebank.

But his first love was never far from his mind.

So when war ended and the POWs had more freedom, Karl continued to swim at Clydebank Baths.

“That’s when I said to Karl 'why don’t you come to our club on Thursday and Friday nights and train with us’,” Peter said. “This is where I have great respect for Karl because he said 'the last thing your boys returning from war want to see is a German POW in their club’ and he wouldn’t come to our club and he never did.

“We used to walk over the hills to Carbeth on Sundays [to swim]. He came with us but he would not join the club. I think that was quite a respectful thing to do.” But Karl, like so many German POWs, was accepted by Clydebank people who lost their homes in the blitz.

Karl’s own home of Pirmasens, a village near the French border, had also been heavily bombed during the war by the Americans who had targeted factories supplying soldiers with boots.

He returned there when POWs were allowed to return home.

Peter said: “I received a letter from his father, which Karl had translated, thanking me for befriending his son under the circumstances.” Karl went back to university and became an industrial chemist whilst swimming recreationally. It wasn’t until 1973 that he became a serious competitor again when he was asked to compete in the Masters National Championships as part of a relay. His relay team won the gold medal and from then on Karl continued to compete in the Masters – a series of tournaments for swimmers aged 30 and above.

Explaining the war had perhaps stolen Karl’s best swimming years, Peter added: “I think he would have made the Olympics, without a doubt if he had continued his training. There was the 1936 Olympics but then there was war. The first real Olympics after that was in 1948 in London and I think he would have made the team.

“But that was too soon after the war. I don’t remember any Germans being there. He definitely would have made the German team the way he was swimming in Clydebank.” Karl gave up international swimming a few years ago, but had always sought out swimmers from the west coast of Scotland at European and international events. He would ask them to bring one of his many medals back to Peter, a symbol that helped forge friendship decades ago.

Describing his good friend, Peter said: “He was a quiet fellow but you couldn’t meet a nicer chap.” The quiet man has returned to Clydebank twice since the war, visiting his former home – unrecognizable to him now as Hardgate Golf Course.