Recently, I was studying an article concerning the Spanish Civil War and the various reasons why so many soldiers volunteered from overseas. My attention was immediately alerted to a reference to George Orwell and one of his friends, Georges Kopp
Kopp was born in St Petersburg at the start of the twentieth century, but fled Russia with his parents at the onset of the Russian Revolution He settled in Belgium, living under the German occupation and married a Belgian girl. They had five children before divorcing on the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War,
Originally he had joined the Belgian Army, but as a committed Socialist he joined and fought for the Republican side in the Spanish conflict. He rose through the ranks and when George Orwell arrived in Barcelona he was immediately placed under Kopp’s command.
The details are sketchy, but after surviving eight months on the front line, Kopp was eventually jailed by his own troops. Orwell was allowed to visit him on more than one occasion.
As Russia prepared for the original treaty with Hitler, Kopp managed to escape Spain and briefly resided in france before sailing to England, where he was looked after by the Orwell family.
He married for a second time to Orwell’s Sister-in-law Dorothy Hunton, but returned to France in 1940 and volunteered for the French Foreign Legion. He fought in Marne, but was later wounded and captured by the Germans.
Amazingly, he escaped from a Military hospital and linked up with British Intelligence from unoccupied Marseille. He monitored shipping patterns and reported to the Naval Intelligence.
The details of his work are a bit vague, but we can assess the importance by the fact that the British flew him out of France in September 1943 after hearing that the Gestapo had alerted the Secret Police.
According to his biography, Georges and Dorothy lived in London and Scotland before moving to Shallcross Manor in Whaley Bridge in early 1949
They lived in Whaley for a year, but eventually moved to Marseille in 1950.
Georges Kopp died in 1951.
Does anyone remember him?
