Description
Object description
Austrian Jewish schoolchild in Vienna, Austria, 1934-1939; emigrated from Austria to GB on Kindertransport, 6/1939; refugee schoolchild in GB, 1939-1941; refugee in Parbold and London, GB, 1941-1944; private trained with 11th Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt), 140th (London) Infantry Bde in GB, 1944; NCO served as interpreter with Allied Military Government in Belgium and Germany, 1945-1948
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as schoolchild in Vienna, Austria, 1934-1939: family background; memories of assassination of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, 1934; death of mother, 5/1936; father's remarriage to Polish Jewess; beating received by Nazi youths for not wanting to wear Swastika badge; rise of Nazism; attempt to help uncle during Kristallnacht, 11/1938; baptism into Catholic faith, 1936; influence of Jewish grandparents; confiscation of family home.
REEL 2 Continues: move to flat; living conditions; attending Jewish school; anti-Semitism experienced on route to and from school; arrest and release of father. Aspects of emigration from Austria to GB on Kindertransport, 6/1939: preparations to leave Austria; interview with Quaker's Society of Friends; leaving family at railway station; sister's reaction to leaving family; inability to sleep; sight of children taken off train at border; state of mind during train journey.
REEL 3 Continues: psychological impact of leaving family; conditions on board ship; illness from drinking contaminated water; train journey from Harwich to London; refusal to be parted from sister; first night in GB. Recollections of period as refugee schoolchild in GB, 1939-1941: move to Catholic convent in Tottington; meeting Spanish refugee children; distress at not being able to locate toilet and punishment received; helping out on local farm; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; removal to live with Catholic priest in Bournemouth; unnecessary beatings; attempt to run away.
REEL 4 Continues: working for baker in Bournemouth; being forced to give up job by priest; visiting cinema to improve English language; beating received from housekeeper for wearing long trousers, winter 1940; attitude towards behaviour of Catholic priest; being forced to attend Catholic church and be confirmed; joining Finchley Catholic Grammar School; bullying received from other pupils; wetting the bed; kindness of matron and movement into dormitory with Austrian twins; holidaying with Canon Parsons at Bishop's Waltham; meeting first girlfriend.
REEL 5 Continues: story of receiving punishment for refusal to become altar boy; participation in sport; fighting with other pupil; membership of boy scouts. Recollections of period as refugee in GB, 1941-1944: farm work in Parbold; question of exploitation due to refugee status; story of working with borstal boys on farm; background to move to London; kindness of Eileen Baggott at Bloomsbury House.
REEL 6 Continues: anglicising his name; work in chemical factory; medical problems associated with chemical factory work; work as trainee chef at Lyons Corner House in Piccadilly, London; registration as 'Enemy Alien'; reasons for volunteering for army; question of not receiving letters from family; work as Civil Defence Service messenger; lack of aid received from Jewish and refugee organisations; attitude towards being forced into Catholicism and organised religion.
REEL 7 Continues: question of compensation; attitude towards loss of family; writing of experiences; importance of talking about experiences; discovery that brother fought in German Army; post-war reunion with brother in Germany. Aspects of period as private with 11th Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt), 140th (London) Infantry Bde in GB and Northern Ireland, 1944: passing out from basic training; training at Warley Barracks, Brentwood and Ballykinlar Barracks in Northern Ireland.
REEL 8 Continues: Recollections of period as NCO with Allied Military Government in Belgium and Germany, 1945-1948: recruitment; attending interpreters school in Brussels, Belgium; problems with interpretation work; work with 1029 Section, British Military Government in Lippstadt, Germany; visit to former Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; arrest of two British officers with Royal Army Service Corps for misuse of army rations; work relating to war criminals at Soest; attitude towards Germans and actions of Nazis during Nazi period. Aspects of period as NCO with Royal Air Force in GB and Germany, 1948-1952: post-war life: failure of first marriage; enlistment in Royal Air Force, 1948; meeting second wife; visit to mother's grave in Vienna, Austria, 1951.
REEL 9 Continues: Reflections on Holocaust experience: fate of family; arrest and imprisonment of father; relations with grandchildren and children; attitude towards Austria; changing name.