Description
Object description
Austrian Jewish civilian in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1922-1942; inmate in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 8/1942-10/1944; Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 10/1944; Oederan Subcamp, Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, Germany, 11/1944-4/1945 and Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 4/1945-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Vienna, Austria, 1898-1922: family; education. Recollections of period as civilian in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1922-1942: marriage and move to Prague, 1922; divisions within Czech population; anti-Semitism experienced; Czech census on nationality, 1933; evacuation of her children on Kindertransport to GB, 1939; fate of husband; effect of Munich Crisis, 9/1938; attempt to flee from Czechoslovakia, 3/1939; commandeering of family home by Germans, 1939; help received from German Schutzstaffel (SS) man; introduction of anti-Jewish restrictions.
REEL 2 Continues: attitude of Czechs to German occupation; restrictions on Jewish civilians; employment making paper flowers; degree of knowledge of war's progress. Recollections of period as inmate in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 8/1942-10/1944: preparations for move into camp; train journey to camp; initial work in sawmill; employment in art and crafts department of camp; camp currency; visit to camp by Swiss Red Cross; art work; death of husband, 3/1944; description of camp; insufficiency of rations.
REEL 3 Continues: attitude towards incarceration; illness of nephew; procuring blackout candles; cultural life; punishment for smoking; disappearance of inmates; selection for transport to Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp in Poland. Aspects of period as inmate in Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 10/1944: selection procedure on arrival; lying about her age; daily routine. Aspects of period as inmate in Oederan Subcamp, Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, Germany, 11/1944-4/1945: conditions and kindness of guards during train journey to camp; accommodation; contracting pneumonia.
REEL 4 Continues: work aiding doctor in sick bay; employment making Christmas decorations; speculation on sexuality of female warden; receiving news of progress of war; food rations and deterioration of diet; Allied air raids; sabotage of work; aid received from male overseer. Aspects of train journey to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 4/1945: nature of train journey into Czechoslovakia; arrival at camp, 4/1945; conditions on train journey; bombing of railway lines by Allies.
REEL 5 Continues: Recollections of period as inmate in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 4/1945-5/1945: initial problem gaining entry into camp; problems walking to camp and reaction to being back; quarantine period; reunion with mother; liberation by Soviet Army and spread of typhoid in camp, 5/1945; her responsibility for eighty women; disposal of dead; gradual dispersal of inmates; effects of typhoid epidemic; return to Prague; long-term effects of imprisonment; relations between inmates.
REEL 6 Continues: disappearance of nephew; arrangements for transportation out of camp; medical problems; inmate rumours; loss of Star of David from clothes; behaviour of German guards; camp language; liberation of camp, 5/1945; treatment of Germans after liberation; impact of imprisonment on attitudes; visit by Swiss Red Cross to camp during first period of incarceration.