Wallich, Walter (Oral history)

German Jewish internee at Huyton Internment Camp, Huyton, GB and Central Promenade Internment Camp, Douglas, Isle of Man, 5/1940-7/1940; internee in Internment Camp L, Cove Fields and Internment Camp N, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, 7/1940-12/1940

REEL 1 Background in Potsdam, Germany, 1918-1933: family; discrimination under Nuremberg Laws for being classified as half Jewish. Aspects of period as refugee in GB, 1933-1940: continuing education in GB, 1933. Aspects of arrest at University of Cambridge, GB, 5/1940: attending tribunal and classification as 'enemy alien', 1939; arrest at university, 5/1940; in transit at Bury St Edmunds. Aspects of period as internee in Huyton Internment Camp, Huyton, GB and Centreal Promenade Internment Camp, Dougals, Isle of Man, 6/1940-7/1940, march through Liverpool; reception on arrival in Huyton Internment Camp; problem of provision of kosher food; question of status as internee; anomalies amongst internees; character of some of fellow internees including Prince Frederick of Prussia. REEL 2 Continues: camp hierarchy; friction between different groups; events leading to internee being sent to a German camp; brief removal to Central Promenade Internment Camp, Douglas, Isle of Man, selection of internees for deportation to Canada. Aspects of period as internee aboard HMT Ettrick during voyage from GB to Canada, 7/1940: conditions on board; method of internees keeping lavatories clean; arrival in Quebec; suspicion that Catholic priests were spies. Aspects of period as internee in Internment Camp L, Cove Fields, Quebec, Canada, 7/1940-10/1940: theft of internees' possessions in camp; appeal for loss of possessions; rations and lectures; memories of Hans Kahle and Klaus Fuchs. REEL 3 Continues: description of camp; living conditions; self-administration and lack of military regulations; intellectual character of camp society; advantages of having Prince Frederick of Prussia as camp leader; question of impracticable nature of intellectuals; hearing of internment debate going on in GB. Aspects of period as internee in Internment Camp N, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, 10/1940-12/1940: move to camp, 10/1940; rapid improvement in camp facilities; story of internee's attempts to get to United States of America; intervention of Sir Alexander Paterson; his release, 12/1940; voyage aboard SS Thysville from Canada to GB, 12/1940. REEL 4 Continues: social life in internment camps; lack of contact with Canadians; contact with family; family's emigration from Germany; establishment of camp canteens; role of camp intelligence officer; camp rations; keeping diary; opinion of artificial nature of camp society; unsympathetic attitude of younger internees towards older internees' problems; reception on arrival in GB and removal to Huyton Internment Camp, Huyton; background to joining Pioneer Corps and later Royal Artillery on return to GB; attitude towards administration and policy of internment; attitude toward period of internment.