Description
Object description
Dutch civilian in Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1940; member of Dutch Resistance in Netherlands, 1941-1944; inmate of Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp, Netherlands, Ravensbrück and Dachau Concentration Camps, Germany, 6/1944-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1917- 1939: family circumstances; employment as teacher. Aspects of German invasion of the Netherlands, 10/5/1940-14/5/1940: role with air raid precautions during German Air Force bombing; reaction to bombing of Rotterdam, 14/5/1940. Aspects of German occupation of Netherlands, 1940-1944: initial German attempt to conciliate Dutch population; persecution of Dutch Jews; German recruitment of Dutch labour and evasion of labour conscription; methods of defeating German ration card system.
REEL 2 Continues: residence permit system; forging and stealing identity cards. Recollections of period as member of Dutch Resistance in Netherlands, 1941-1944: diverse origins of Dutch resistance; role of women in resistance; role within resistance and handling firearms; tensions between different types of resister; motivation of traitors; pro-German sections of Dutch population; concealment of men who had gone underground; work carried out for resistance.
REEL 3 Continues: influence of terrain on Dutch resistance; attitude of Dutch Jews to German persecution; incident of Jewish civilian in hiding who insisted on seeing wife; assistance given to shot down Allied aircrew; failure of Germans to conciliate Dutch civilians. Aspects of arrest by Germans and interrogation in Amsterdam and Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp, Vught, Netherlands, 6/1944-9/1944: betrayal by Dutch collaborator in Amsterdam, 13/6/1944; eating incriminating book; rivalry in German security services.
REEL 4 Continues: character of interrogation and accusation of espionage. Recollections of period as inmate in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp, Germany, 9/1944-10/1944: nature of train journey to camp; use of coloured triangles for inmates; refusal of former resistance prisoners to work for Germans; heavy work women inmates obliged to do for Germans; guard dogs used by Germans; incident of winning over guard dog.
REEL 5 Continues: selection for factory work at Dachau Concentration Camp. Aspects of period as inmate in Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany, 10/1944-4/1945: sabotage activities of prisoners; question of who liberated inmates; march out of camp and liberation by American troops; return to Netherlands. Aspects of period as inmate in Ravensbrück and Dachau Concentration Camps, Germany, 9/1944-4/1945: strike by Dachau Concentration Camp inmates over food; go-slow tactics and sabotage employed by concentration camp workers.
REEL 6 Continues: German divide and rule tactics; precautions against informers; conditions in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp; question of degree of knowledge of German civilians about concentration camp conditions; conditions on journey to Dachau Concentration Camp; attitude of German civilians to camp inmates; attitude to Jehovah's Witnesses to captivity; use of acorns to alleviate dysentery.