Description
Object description
61 letters (260pp, ms) written to his wife by a projectionist with 37 Kinema Section RAOC between July 1944 - August 1945, containing excellent descriptions of his experiences with the unit, beginning with the Normandy landings in June 1944, the advance through northern France, Belgium and northern Germany, commenting on civilian conditions in these areas with particular reference to refugees and ex-POWs, and relating stories of life under German occupation, also interesting observations on the `non-fraternisation' policy and its effects in practice, and East-West relations in the immediate post-war period; of particular value is a series of letters written from Belsen in May and June 1945, a month or so after the liberation of the former concentration camp, in which Charters describes conditions there in poignant and often moving detail; a poem and photograph of a painting executed by him after the war, portraying a burial in Belsen, have been placed with the letters.
Content description
61 letters (260pp, ms) written to his wife by a projectionist with 37 Kinema Section RAOC between July 1944 - August 1945, containing excellent descriptions of his experiences with the unit, beginning with the Normandy landings in June 1944, the advance through northern France, Belgium and northern Germany, commenting on civilian conditions in these areas with particular reference to refugees and ex-POWs, and relating stories of life under German occupation, also interesting observations on the `non-fraternisation' policy and its effects in practice, and East-West relations in the immediate post-war period; of particular value is a series of letters written from Belsen in May and June 1945, a month or so after the liberation of the former concentration camp, in which Charters describes conditions there in poignant and often moving detail; a poem and photograph of a painting executed by him after the war, portraying a burial in Belsen, have been placed with the letters.
History note
Cataloguer SWW
History note
Catalogue date 1995-05