A plucky underground “traitor” who was locked up in Nazi Germany for sharing leaflets calling for a coup against Adolf Hitler has died aged 101.

The remarkable Waltraud Hollman, who survived her harrowing ordeal as a prisoner of war, went on to marry an Englishman after the conflict and live out her days in the quiet village of Staple, near Canterbury.

Following her death on August 10, her daughter Barbara Daniel paid tribute to the great-grandmother-of-nine - known to many as Val - on behalf of her family.

"Val had resilience, determination and a positive attitude," she said.

"She was not showy or loud and these traits run like a thread all through her life.

"Born during a turbulent time, she faced the horror of war and dealt with months in bed with a collapsed lung from TB caught in prison during the last months of the war.

"Coming to a new country and starting again, she was the supporting act to her beloved Bill."

Born Waltraud Fischer on May 14, 1921, she grew up in Wilmersdorfer Straße, Charlottenburg, in Greater Berlin.

She previously told how she had been spurred into action against the evil Third Reich after witnessing the horrors of Kristalnacht.

It was December 1944 when Nazi stormtroopers burst into Waltraud's office in Berlin to arrest her for “sabotage”.

To the people of the city, it had become clear their country would lose the Second World War.

But Waltraud was asked by a fellow anti-Nazi to distribute illegal leaflets calling for a coup against their government and to stop the war.

She previously told KentOnline: “I got involved in the group with friends, but I had to move away from them because I was evacuated from Berlin.

“Then I met up with one of them again, Ernst. He said to me ‘Come on, help us. We have got to get rid of them’.

“We handed out leaflets which said the public should start a revolution to end the war.

“I was told to hand the leaflets to as many people as possible, but it was so dangerous.”

But on a cold night in December 1944, when the ever-vigilant Gestapo came for her, she thought she was done for.

While most of those found to be undermining the regime were executed, Waltraud managed to escape death.

After being arrested she was thrown in a crowded prison cell in Stendal with six other suspects.

“Someone split on me,” she said. “I was picked up by the police and held waiting for something to happen. You were just locked in a cell and I thought, ‘oh my god, how do I get out of here?’.”

There were just two beds and the other prisoners had to sleep on mattresses on the floor.

To add to the squalid misery of the scene, they had to use a bucket as a toilet, which was emptied once a day.

“You had dinner, usually soup, which had maggots floating on it already,” Waltraud said. “But we were all hungry so we ate it.”

By an incredible stroke of fortune, in the chaotic final weeks of Nazi Germany, the prison was liberated by soldiers from the Ninth United States Army in April 1945 and she was released.

There was no room in the busy train back to Berlin, so she and the other prisoners rode on the roof.

Waltraud also recalled how her parents sheltered a young Jewish mother and her child from the brutal Nazi regime.

One of her father’s customers was caught out after 8pm - breaching a curfew imposed on Jews - and went missing.

The customer’s wife was afraid to go to her house with their baby, so Waltraud’s family hid them in their home.

“The trouble was that every time there was an air raid, we had to go in the cellar and we were afraid to take her,” she said.

“Then one day she went out; we told her to be careful. She went out with the baby in the pram and we never saw her again.”

In her later years, Waltraud continued to wonder what happened to them both.

Her amazing life story took another twist after the war, when she met Benjamin Hollman, who had been demobilised from the British army a week before, and they fell in love.

After what Waltraud called “a little bit of fiddling” on the British side, she got a passport which allowed her to visit England for three weeks.

She arrived on July 1, 1948, and went to the register office with Benjamin, but had to wait a fortnight for a marriage licence, and a further week to get married.

On July 21, 1948, on the day she was supposed to travel back to Germany as her passport was due to expire, Benjamin and Waltraud married.

The couple lived in Kent for the rest of their married life and were known for running a fish and chip shop in Potter Street, Sandwich, for about eight years.

Benjamin passed away on April 1, 2007, aged 89.

She shared her secrets with KentOnline on reaching her 100th birthday, which included an acquired delicacy she eats like sweets in front of the television.

“My friends always say it’s telling the truth and pickled garlic,” she said.

“I am just lucky, and obviously being busy and active in every respect, because I’ve never been lazy.”

Waltraud also liked to keep her brain active and enjoyed crosswords, sudoku and the odd quiz show.

A memorial service will be held for her at the St James the Great Church, Staple at 2pm Saturday, October 29.