Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Woman who fled Germany dies, 93
JUTTA Scrimgeour of Dundee, who has died aged 93, grew up in Germany under the Third Reich.
She witnessed the adulation of crowds as Adolf Hitler’s motorcade drove past but also experienced the grinding privations of post-war Germany.
Jutta watched as starving and injured refugees fled west across the roads of the defeated nation.
She eventually made the decision to start a new life in Britain.
Jutta arrived unable to speak the language, married a Scot and built a family in Dundee to which she bequeathed a legacy of love.
Her early experiences remained with her for life. Jutta made sure no food was wasted and put great store by hard work. It was only aged 75 she eventually retired.
She also remembered her German roots, meeting with German friends, watching German TV and listening to radio stations.
According to her family, Jutta, who spent almost 60 years as a widow, really appreciated her life and took nothing for granted. She was born on August 13 1930 in Jena, south-west of Leipzig, the fourth of five siblings raised by their aunt and uncle, Elise and Otto Langenhahn.
The oldest of the siblings, Gerhard, died fighting in the Second World War and his body was never returned.
Her childhood was spent further west at Bretten, where earlymorning milking of cows was a daily requirement.
In 1950, aged 20, Jutta left the hardships of Germany for the comparative prosperity of Britain.
It was in Tunbridge Wells that she met the young man who would change the course of her life; John Scrimgeour of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers. They married in the town where their first child, Marion, was born
They later moved to John’s home town of Dundee and, when the couple’s second daughter, Agnes, was only six weeks, Jutta developed TB and had to spend a painful 18 months in Ashludie Hospital separated from her beloved family.
She later told her family that windows were left open in the hospital day and night and she would often waken to find snow on the ward floor.
However, she made a great friend there, Margo McRitchie, and, when she was discharged, the family was allocated a new house in St Edmund Terrace, with the luxury of an indoor bathroom.
The family continued to grow with the birth of Hilde, Andrew, Carol and Grant, and the Scrimgeours enjoyed a settled and happy life in St Mary’s, Dundee.
However, life changed on Christmas Eve 1964 when John died suddenly but the community rallied round and even the family doctor, Marjory Hogg, arrived with a car boot full of presents for the children.
Jutta then began raising the six children herself, teaching them the value of money and the dangers of debt. When she was able to, she began work at Burndept-Vidor before joining the domestic staff at Maryfield Hospital and then Dundee Royal Infirmary.
She also took on a part-time job in the Odeon cinema in Hilltown where her children enjoyed free tickets and ice creams.
In later life, Jutta became a cleaner at Martex where she worked until she was 75.
She also loved the social side of work and relished nights out with her colleagues.
After a move to Turnberry Avenue, Jutta settled in Caird Avenue where she was at the centre of her extended family.
It was in Caird Avenue during the Golden Jubilee of 2002 that Jutta came face to face with the Queen, whom she greatly admired.
Her son, Andrew, said: “She had always been a big fan of the Queen and admired her work ethic.
“When I phoned her to say the Queen would be driving up Caird Avenue on her way to open The Space, she could not get out to the street fast enough.
“As the car came up the avenue, my mother stood and waved. The Queen looking straight at her and waving back with a smile made her day.”
Andrew added: “Our mum never lost her command of her native German language and would telephone her sisters several times a year, always at Christmas and on their birthdays.
“She did begin to teach us all German as youngsters but our father put a stop to it, presumably because he had some irrational fear or dislike of us learning it which seems ludicrous now looking back.”
Despite being diagnosed with macular degeneration and scleroderma, Jutta remained active until she was hospitalised with a stroke early last year. She returned to live at home for six months before being moved back to Ninewells where she died after nine days.