A 103-year-old woman who lived on the same apartment block as Hitler took "a lively interest in everything around her". Alice Frank Stock's niece Judy Willmott has paid tribute to her following her death earlier this year.
In an interview with BristolLive back in 2020, Mrs Frank Stock spoke about how, growing up, Adolf Hitler was one of her neighbours. The German dictator lived in Munich until he became Chancellor in 1933 and Mrs Frank Stock said they were neighbours for about a decade.
She also remembered seeing the dictator going in and out of the apartment block a couple of times and, on one occasion, she saw two SS guards escorting Hitler out of a car, rushing him inside the apartment block. Mrs Frank Stock also saw him once as a teenager in a small opera house in the city.
Read next: The Jewish 101-year-old woman who used to live on the same apartment block as Hitler
Paying tribute to her, Ms Willmott said: "With pressure on Jews in Germany increasing, Alice relocated to London in 1937 at the age of 19 and was subsequently naturalised.
"Fluent in English, in 1942 Alice secured a position in the ‘Y’ Unit of the BBC’s Monitoring Service which was set up to monitor German controlled radio broadcasts. Alice’s job was to keep a log of broadcasts and translate where necessary, highlighting anything she considered may be of interest, which could immediately be flashed to London.
"Alice noted the music played, particularly listening for two songs, ‘J’attendrai’ and ‘Can You Hear My Secret Calling?’ because the titles of the songs played immediately afterwards could form part of a coded message."
The niece said that Mrs Frank Stock was brought up in a liberal, non-practicing Jewish family with her older brother Richard. She said that music was always a very important part of family life and that she soon developed a life-long love, and depth of knowledge of classical music.
"After over forty years together, Alice married Roy Macdonald Stock MC, ‘Mac’ in Paris," she added. "In retirement they met and collaborated with Henry-Louis de la Grange on his extensive biography of Gustav Mahler, visited many countries including Russia and China and spent happy summers walking in the Dolomites.
"Their final years were spent in Bristol, Mac’s home city. Mac died in 2011 but Alice continued to take a lively interest in everything around her, wrote a memoir of her eventful life and characteristically, developed several new friendships which brought her great comfort and pleasure."
Read next:
- The Jewish 101-year-old woman who used to live on the same apartment block as Hitler
- Clean Air Zone temporary exemptions extended as launch date nears
- Mixed Bristol house price prediction as UK forecast to fall into recession
- Five highly recommended Bristol takeaways
- Tributes to 'gentle giant' BLM campaigner with 'very big heart'
