Gentle Johnny Ramensky: The Extraordinary True Story of the Safe Blower Who Became a War Hero

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While successfully obtaining key documents to aid the war effort, there are claims he also helped himself to some Nazi treasures. Born in Glenboig to Lithuanian immigrants in 1905, Ramensky lost his father at an early age but followed in his footsteps by working in the local mines, where he learned how to use explosives – a skill which would prove useful, albeit illegally, in his adult years. However, Ramensky's local MP John McGovern, who represented Shettleston, protested at what he saw was barbaric treatment of his constituent He escaped from Peterhead in 1952, and three times in 1958, feats that really did elevate him to the status of living legend.

The public sympathised with the young prisoner once it emerged he had escaped following the death of his beloved wife, Margaret, who passed away just three years after they married, and he was refused permission to attend her funeral. The driver attempted to reverse close up against the side door, but was unable to manoeuvre properly because of the crush. Now, don’t tell anyone that you have seen me. You can tell your mother, but don’t tell her until the night.There has also been talk more recently of a movie about his life featuring Peter Mullan and James Cosmo. In 1959, The Ballad of Johnny Ramensky, was written by Norman Buchan, later to become a Labour Party member of parliament, and recorded by singer Enoch Kent, Buchan's brother-in-law. [4] While successfully obtaining key enemy documents to aid the war effort, there are claims he also helped himself to some Nazi treasures. But it was an American safe and he used too much explosives and the blast blew out every window in the building. Unfortunately, the explosion was so loud that officers in the local police station heard the blast. Leitch would eventually spend time in jail with Ramensky years after his Carfin raid, and he recalled: “Johnny just gave me a look and said: ‘So that’s where it ended up?’

He initially worked down the coal mines, similar to his father who had been a clay miner, and it was there he became familiar with the uses of dynamite. [3] [4] Criminal career [ edit ] I went to speak to this small, squat man with blue eyes who told me his name was John Ramsay from Rutherglen. In 1958, Ramensky cemented his celebrity status when escaping from Peterhead three times in a year. Yonas' father was a miner, brought to Scotland as cheap labour to break a 10-month strike at a local pit in 1901. He changed his name, first to Johnny Ramensky, then John Ramenski and finally John Ramsay and it was 1934 when he became known to the public after breaking out of Peterhead for the first time.

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Johnny was the bravest man I’ve ever met,” recalled Dennis Whitcombe, a Welshman who was part of the commando unit with Ramensky.

In January he avoided capture for 24 hours. In October, he used a home-made ladder and a grappling hook to go over the wall again. Don’t tell the police. If you don’t tell them, you will be doing me a favour and, perhaps, I will be able to do a favour for you some day.” In 1962 Detective Chief Superintendent Robert Colquhoun, a retired cop who knew Ramensky well, received a letter from his old adversary. No one had put him behind bars more times.After his release he changed his name again, this time to John Ramsay and married Margaret McManus in October 1931. Dennis Whitcombe, now in his 90s and living at Cwmbran recalled his Scottish commando colleague: “Johnny Ramensky was one of our number, a pleasant bloke you never would have guessed was one of the most notorious safebreakers in British history. Such was the respect Ramensky had, both sides of the law attended the war hero's funeral at St Kentigern's Cemetery in Glasgow's Lambhill and his obituary appeared in every Scots newspaper. In Italy, he blew open the safes of 14 foreign embassies in Rome - all in one day. That feat earned him a medal.. Ramensky's friend Sonny Leitch, also a career criminal who served in the armed forces, said that Ramensky told him that he had stolen a hoard of Nazi plunder during the Allied march on Rome in 1944, and that this hoard was later kept at the Shepton Mallet military prison in Somerset, and the Royal Navy supply depot at Carfin, Lanarkshire, after the war. He claimed that the hoard contained portraits of Hitler, Eva Braun, Göring, Goebbels and Himmler, and a treasure trove of jewellery and gold. [7] Legacy [ edit ]

Rumours persist to this day that some loot plundered by Ramensky included a treasure trove of artwork, jewellery and gold which ended tip in a military storage deport in Carfin, Lanarkshire. He spent most of his time after the war in and out of jail, eventually dying in Perth Royal Infirmary in 1972, after suffering a stroke at Perth Prison. Whatever the reason, the year after his release, now aged 20, he was in more bother. Appearing in court under the name Johnny Ramensky for the first time, he was sentenced to 18 months for a string of 16 robberies in the West End and South Side of Glasgow. A huge manhunt was mounted, and he was caught the following day, having travelled 22 miles in foot,

‘He canna live on neeps for nine days’

Again, it was loud blast and he hampered making his getaway because the haul was largely in old half-crown coins. He had no chance of outrunning the police.