Doreen Warinner's War

Doreen Warriner's War is a book by Henry Warriner about his aunt, Doreen Warriner.

It tells the captivating story of an extremely gifted and talented young woman.

She was a young academic who gave up her Rockefeller Scholarship for travel in the West Indies in 1938. Instead she departed for Prague.

Once there she joined up with a tiny but dedicated group of like-minded people who were to be credited with the rescuing of thousands of anti-Nazi men and women.

But she did more. With Nicholas Winton, Jewish children. For this in 1941 she was warded an OBE.

This bbok is also the biography of her subsequent life, the loves and losses, all retold by her nephew using the words of her own diaries, letters and contemporaneous accounts.

Doreen joined the Political Warfare Executive in London. She subsequently worked for the Middle East Supply Centre in Cairo, then becoming Head of Food Supplies, a Belgrade-based job, for the United Nations relief effort created to prevent starvation in war ravaged Yugoslavia.  Both were male dominated words. But this did not cause any pause for Doreen. She took everything in her stride.

After the war's conclusion Doreen returned to the life of an academic, working at University College, London, where she served as a Professor there until she retired in 1866.

She built up considerable expertise as an expert on economics and agrarian difficulties in developing countries. Writing extensively on these issues, working on secondment, to a number of international organisations.

Last year, in 2018, 45 years after her death, Henry Warriner was able to collect, on her behalf, a 'British Heroes of the Holocaust' medal which was awarded by the British government.

It's an extremely well-written and well-researched work, which is a very fitting tribute to Doreen Warriner, a most extraordinary woman.

It will be a perfect Christmas present for anyone interested in the history of World War 2 or in strong, independent women.

It's published by the Book Guild at £10.99.