Description
Object description
Documents (mostly in French) pertaining to his membership of the Resistance and of the 'Forces Francaises de l'Interieur' (FFI) in the Lot-et-Garonne region of France during 1943 – 1944, his arrest by the Germans in May 1944 and deportation to Germany, imprisonment in various concentration camps including Dachau and Buchenwald, and his efforts after the war to gain official recognition as a former deportee on the grounds of Resistance membership rather than as a political deportee – the collection consists of correspondence with French government authorities, testimonials, identity documents and similar items [See full collection listing]. English translation (97pp ts) of his memoir, recording the circumstances of his arrest (along with many others) by the occupying Germans at a roadblock in May 1944, confinement in primitive conditions in barracks in the main town of the area, interrogations and ill-treatment, transportation by rail to Compiègne (including a failed attempt by local 'maquis' to derail the train with explosives) where he was held in a camp to await deportation to Germany (? 'Polizeihaftlager Compiègne'), the impact on the prisoners of news of the Normandy landings in June 1944, the train journey into Germany and arrival at Dachau concentration camp, the relative relief of the first days there after the nightmarish journey, detachment to a working party at a ? sub-camp (unnamed) of Dachau some miles away, helping to construct new buildings at the camp, the brutality of the prisoner overseers (Kapos) and German guards, witnessing the hanging of two Russian prisoners, small acts of resistance / sabotage, transfer to another camp at Eisenach (satellite camp of Buchenwald) as labour for a BMW aircraft engine factory, the physical and moral degradation of the prisoner population, increasing frequency of air raids and the means of shelter from them, the prisoners’ rejoicing at the destruction caused despite the danger to their own lives, transfer to the main camp at Buchenwald, the grim conditions there, being sent out on work parties to Weimar, scavenging for food, and the last days of imprisonment in April 1945.
Content description
Documents (mostly in French) pertaining to his membership of the Resistance and of the 'Forces Francaises de l'Interieur' (FFI) in the Lot-et-Garonne region of France during 1943 – 1944, his arrest by the Germans in May 1944 and deportation to Germany, imprisonment in various concentration camps including Dachau and Buchenwald, and his efforts after the war to gain official recognition as a former deportee on the grounds of Resistance membership rather than as a political deportee – the collection consists of correspondence with French government authorities, testimonials, identity documents and similar items [See full collection listing]. English translation (97pp ts) of his memoir, recording the circumstances of his arrest (along with many others) by the occupying Germans at a roadblock in May 1944, confinement in primitive conditions in barracks in the main town of the area, interrogations and ill-treatment, transportation by rail to Compiègne (including a failed attempt by local 'maquis' to derail the train with explosives) where he was held in a camp to await deportation to Germany (? 'Polizeihaftlager Compiègne'), the impact on the prisoners of news of the Normandy landings in June 1944, the train journey into Germany and arrival at Dachau concentration camp, the relative relief of the first days there after the nightmarish journey, detachment to a working party at a ? sub-camp (unnamed) of Dachau some miles away, helping to construct new buildings at the camp, the brutality of the prisoner overseers (Kapos) and German guards, witnessing the hanging of two Russian prisoners, small acts of resistance / sabotage, transfer to another camp at Eisenach (satellite camp of Buchenwald) as labour for a BMW aircraft engine factory, the physical and moral degradation of the prisoner population, increasing frequency of air raids and the means of shelter from them, the prisoners’ rejoicing at the destruction caused despite the danger to their own lives, transfer to the main camp at Buchenwald, the grim conditions there, being sent out on work parties to Weimar, scavenging for food, and the last days of imprisonment in April 1945.
History note
Cataloguer SWW