Brave Mabel honoured for wartime endeavours

WALES’ 25th Purple Plaque has been unveiled to mark the achievements of a woman who survived years of Gestapo harassment and bravely fought fires caused by falling bombs.

- IAN LEWIS

Mabel Wulff lived and worked in the German city of Hamburg for more than four decades, including through its most turbulent period of history during World War II.

She was a dedicated caretaker of the English church in the city for 40 years, from 1924 to 1964.

Mabel is credited with saving the city’s church, a listed building, after a fire during one of the many bombing raids that devastated Hamburg.

And she stood her ground against the Gestapo who frequently tried to intimidate her and questioned her about the whereabouts of the church’s Union Jack flag and artworks. She had hidden these away, at great personal risk.

Born in 1887, Mabel was living with her family in Newport when she met and married a German man, Max Wulff, whose job in the Merchant Navy had brought him to the city.