Description
Object description
Austrian Jewish schoolchild and student in Vienna, Austria, 1921-1938; refugee in Belgium and France, 1938-1940; in hiding in Paris, France, 1940-1943; member of French Resistance in France, 7/1943-9/1943; inmate of Drancy Internment Camp, France, 10/1943-11/1943; inmate in Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Auschwitz III-Monowitz Concentration Camps in Poland, 11/1943-11/1944 and Mittelbau-Dora and Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camps, Germany, 12/1944-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Vienna, Austria, 1921-1938: family circumstances; education; experiences of anti-Semitism; reaction to rise of right wing political parties in Austria; question of level of anti-Semitism in Austria; membership of Socialist Highschool Boys' movement; Austrian attitude to German Anschluss, 11/3/1938; treatment of Jews after take-over; knowledge of concentration camps; incidents of being forced to clean streets.
REEL 2 Continues: reaction of Jewish community to destruction of Kristallnacht, 9/11/1938-10/11/1938; growing restrictions of Jewish civilians; decision to leave Austria; queueing at foreign embassies for visas; reaction to leaving; period at tailoring college, 11/1938-12/1938. Recollections of period as refugee in Belgium, 1938-1940: entering Belgium illegally, 12/1938; move to Antwerp; accommodation in hostel; receiving money from relatives; move to childrens Merksplas Refugee Camp, near Brussels; playing cello in adult camp orchestra at Erksaarde Refugee Camp. Recollections of period as refugee in Belgium and France, 5/1940: anticipation of German invasion in Belgium; uprooting of camp.
REEL 3 Continues: effects of German Air Force attack on refugee column; crossing French-Belgium border; taking train to Orléans. Recollections of period as refugee in France, 1940: arrest by French Police and imprisonment in Orléans Prison; internment as 'enemy alien' in camp near Spanish border; reaction to treatment by French authorities; conditions in internment camp; level of awareness of German treatment of Jews; reaction to cholera outbreak in camp and escape; separation of Jewish and German nationals in camp; character of escape from internment camp; move to relatives in Limoges.
REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period in hiding in Paris, France, 1940-1943: move to Paris, late 1940; meeting with French Jew; acting as guide to German soldiers in Paris; accommodation in hotel frequented by prostitutes; relationship with pimps and prostitutes; acquiring false papers; contact with homosexual German civilian; arrest, interrogation and release by Gestapo, late 1941; German round ups of Jewish civilians. Recollections of membership of French Resistance in France, 7/1943-9/1943: interview with resistance leader.
REEL 5 Continues: character of second interview with resistance; liaison role between different resistance groups; plans to attack Schutzstaffel (SS) barracks; level of support from civilians for resistance; German treatment of captured resistance members; courier work; character of air drops; resistance activities; lack of contact with Jews; character of resistance group. Recollections of arrest and interrogation by Gestapo, France, 10/1943: arrest on train; move to jail in Paris.
REEL 6 Continues: character of interrogation by French Police; move to Gestapo headquarters; character of interrogation by Gestapo; reasons for decision to confess to being Jewish; removal to Drancy Internment Camp. Recollections of period as inmate at Drancy Internment Camp, France, 10/1943-11/1943: accommodation and conditions in camp; lack of work regime; attempts to construct escape tunnel; rations; attitude towards Jewish administration and to nature of transports; camp sanitary arrangements; inmate's reaction to being placed on transport.
REEL 7 Continues: Recollections of transport from Drancy Internment Camp France to Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 11/1943: treatment by Schutzstaffel (SS) guards; organisation of inmates in carriage; arrangements for journey; plans to escape from wagons; relationship with Dr Robert Weiss; atmosphere in wagon; sanitary arrangements in wagon; sight of dead bodies removed from wagons. Recollections of reception at Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 11/1943: reception in camp; sight of inmates in stripped clothing; undressing in cold weather conditions; Schutzstaffel (SS) guard's treatment of baby; reaction to arrival in camp; selection process; shaving of arrivals hair.
REEL 8 Continues: allocation of number and clothing; tattooing and issue of inmates triangles; issue of bowl. Recollections of period as inmate in Auschwitz III-Monowitz Concentration Camp, Poland, 11/1943-11/1944: speech by Schutzstaffel (SS) officer regarding inmates' status; reception on the Appellplatz; allocation of Dr Robert Weiss to hospital and rations he gave Knoller; nature of rations; question of importance of maintaining personal morale; lack of social life; organisation of barracks; monthly selection procedures.
REEL 9 Continues: daily routine including washing, appell and allocation to work kommando; work with cement kommando; attempt to get into camp orchestra; attitude of German civilian supervisor; description of lunch break; punishment by Schutzstaffel (SS) man for talking to friend; return to camp in evening; relations between Schutzstaffel (SS) and German civilian workers; nature of evening count.
REEL 10 Continues: evening rations in barrack; receiving extra soup from Dr Robert Weiss; inmate boxing matches and other entertainments; witnessing execution of escapees; inmate suicides on electrified fence; question of escaping from camp; inmate who escaped in Schutzstaffel (SS) uniform; inmates' reaction to escapers; effects of Allied bombing on factory; inmates' reaction to bombing of factory; hearing news of progress of war; reaction to leaving camp, 11/1944. Recollections of journey from Auschwitz III-Monowitz Concentration Camp, Poland to Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp, Germany, 11/1944-12/1944: arrangements for march; Schutzstaffel (SS) shooting of marchers; footwear worn.
REEL 11 Continues: Schutzstaffel (SS) disposals of bodies; change in kapo's attitudes; night stop in factory near Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp; arrival at Katowice railhead; nature of rail journey; water supply on train; throwing dead bodies out of train wagons. Recollections of period as inmate at Mittlebau-Dora Concentration Camp, Germany, 12/1944-1/1945: fatigue on arrival at camp; character of V weapon factory in mountain; lack of contact with German civilian workers; nature of construction work; hearing of sabotage activities; witnessing execution of saboteurs; leaving camp, 1/1945. Aspects of train journey from Mittlebau-Dora Concentration Camp to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 1/1945: march to railway station; reaction of inmates to second move. Recollections of period as inmate of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, 1/1945-4/1945: accommodation in Schutzstaffel (SS) barracks; treatment by Hungarian guards; lack of food and searching for food; reaction to sight of starving inmates.
REEL 12 Continues: mixed attitude to forthcoming liberation; disappearance of Schutzstaffel (SS) guards and attitude of Hungarian guards; breakdown of discipline in camp; sight of Allied aircraft. Recollections of liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945: inmates' reaction to arrival of British Army troops; reaction of British Army troops to sight of inmates; advice from Red Cross not to overeat; acquiring food from German farmhouses; attitude of British Army troops to Germans; shooting of German farmer and his wife after finding picture of Adolf Hitler and weapons in their barns; revenge taken by inmates on kapos; talk given by British Army rabbi; medical aid given by Red Cross; wish to return to France. Recollections of period recuperating in France, 1945: flight to Belgium and interrogation to check identity; interrogation by French Resistance and police; attempts to get in contact with brother in United States of America; recuperation in country village.
REEL 13 Continues: VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; meeting with brother serving with United States Army; period of recuperation in South of France; meeting with cousin who had worked as forced labourer in Germany. Relections on Holocaust experience: contrast between different Jewish nationalities survival rates in camp; question of effects of experience.