Lilo Milchsack
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Dame Lilo Milchsack DCMG |
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|---|---|
Dame Lilo Milchsack
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| Born |
Lisalotte Duden 1905 Frankfurt, Germany |
| Died | 7 August 1992 Düsseldorf, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Known for | Improving post-war Anglo-German relations |
| Spouse(s) | Hans Milchsack |
Dame Lilo Milchsack hon. DCMG (1905 – 7 August 1992) was a German promoter of post-war German-British relations. Lilo founded an association which created an annual conference of British and German decision makers. She is said to be one of the architects of post-war Europe. She was the first German to join the British Order of St Michael and St George.
Lisalotte Duden was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1905. She came from a family who opposed the rise of Nazism, but their opposition gained them no benefit. Her education in Frankfurt, Geneva and Amsterdam University instilled in her an awareness of international affairs. Lilo married Hans Milchsack, a Rhine barge owner. Visiting Britain before the war, she pleaded with Britons to resist Hitler, only to be ignored and labeled a traitor. During the war, her family withdrew from public life. After the Second World War her husband was asked to be mayor of Düsseldorf. Lilo was keen to improve relations between Britain and Germany. She met Robert Birley who was an education advisor to the British military in Germany. With Birley's assistance she formed an association in 1949.
The first meeting of the Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft was in March 1949 in Wittlaer. This Anglo-German Association was assisted by six leading German citizens: the teacher Theo Albeck, Headteacher Anne Franken, Prof. Dr Haas from Essen, Prof. Dr Emil Lehnartz of Münster, the painter Georg Muche, and the lawyer Dr Dietrich Stein. Robert Birley went on to be the headmaster at Eton College, but he continued to take an interest.
This organisation created the Königswinter Conference in 1950 which is an annual conference for decision makers from both countries. The conference, and its successors, took its name from the German riverside town of Königswinter where the first fourteen were located at the Adam-Stegerwald-Haus. The cost of the conference was partly met by Milchsack and her husband. The conference was chaired by Birley and later by Milchsack. The conference attracted Hans von Herwarth, ex soldier, General Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin, future German President Richard von Weizsäcker and other leading German decision makers as well as leading British politicians like Dennis Healey, Richard Crossman and the journalist Robin Day.
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