Guttman, Ludwig (Oral history)

German Jewish civilian worked as medical orderly in Königshütte, Germany, 1917-1918; neurologist in Breslau and Hamburg, Germany, 1924-1933; worked as Director of the Neurological Neurosurgery Department and Medical Director of the Jewish Hospital in Breslau, Germany, 1933-1939; neurologist worked at Balliol College, University of Oxford, GB, 3/1939-9/1943; worked as Director of National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, GB, 9/1943-5/1945

REEL 1 Aspects of period as hospital orderly in Königshütte, Germany, 1917-1918: duties at the Accident Hospital; reason for learning Greek; story of contracting septic throat and operation to insert glass tube in throat; rejection for military service. Aspects of period as medical student and neurologist in Germany, 1918-1933: medical studies at University of Breslau; story of contracting Spanish Influenza and removal of glass tube from throat; call-up for military service, 11/1918; obtaining medical degree from University of Freiburg, 1924; amusing story relating to Professor Ludwig Aschoff; reasons for change from paediatrics to neurology; persecution of family; work as assistant to neurologist Professor Otfrid Foerster at municipal hospital in Breslau, 1924-1928; work as neurosurgeon in psychiatric hospital in Hamburg, 1928-1929; return to Breslau, 10/1929; refusal to work for Nazis and leaving hospital, 6/1933. Recollections of period in as neurologist at Jewish Hospital in Breslau, Germany, 1933-1939: appointment as Director of the Neurological Neurosurgery Department; attitude to rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazis; examples of increasing anti-Semitism; opinion of Nazis policy towards the Jews. REEL 2 Continues: awareness of concentration camps; opinion of Germans; Adolf Hitler's influence over German people; sight of books being burned in front of University of Breslau; appointment as Medical Director, 1937; system of sheltering people from the Nazis in the hospital; impact of racial laws, 1935; story of treating Guatemalan Ambassador; story of saving sixty people from being sent to concentration camps during Kristallnacht, 9/11/1938-10/11/1938; requirement to report every hospital admission to Gestapo; sight of local synagogue being set on fire; prevention of deportation of Jewish patients to concentration camp; story of woman with brain tumour; story of flying to Portugal to treat doctor, 12/1938; Academic Assistance Council offer of grant to work at University of Oxford; story of preparations and emigration to GB, 3/1939. REEL 3 Continues: opinion of treatment of Jews in Germany; reaction to treatment of fellow doctors in Buchenwald Concentration Camp; attitude to leaving family in Germany. Recollections of period as refugee neurologist at Balliol College, University of Oxford and Director of National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in GB, 3/1939-5/1945: arrival at Balliol College, University of Oxford, 14/3/1939; opinion of tribunal and classification system for 'enemy aliens'; reporting to Oxford City Police; exemption from internment, 8/1940; story of kindness shown by immigration officer to children; accommodation in Balliol College, University of Oxford; education of children; reason for not going to United States of America; reaction to outbreak of Second World War, 3/9/1939; research and medical work as neurologist; appointment as Director of National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, 9/1943; naturalisation, 1945; contribution of refugees to war effort in GB; story of visit to clinic in Kassel, Germany, 1947.