Description
Object description
Polish Jewish schoolchild in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, 9/1939-12/1941; inmate in Bielsko-Biala Ghetto, Poland, 12/1941-6/1942; forced labourer in Sosnowiec, Sakrau, Laurahütte, Gross Paniow, Brande, Gross Sarne, Gross Masselwitz, Ludwigsdorf, Gröditz and Blechhammer Labour Camps in Poland and Germany, 6/1942-4/1944; inmate in Blechammer Subcamp, Auschwitz III-Monowitz Concentration Camp, Poland, 4/1944-1/1945; inmate in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Ohrdruf Subcamp, Buchenwald Concentration Camp and Flossenbürg Concentration Camps, Germany, 2/1945-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of life in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, 1927-1939: divisions within Jewish population; Germany community; family background; father's attitude towards religion; relationship with father.
REEL 2 Continues: degree of religious practise; anti-Semitism; Pogrom, 9/1937; reaction to events in Germany and Austria, 1938; question of emigration; expulsion of Jews from Germany; increase in popularity of Zionist organisations.
REEL 3 Continues: speculation on war with Germany; sense of patriotism shown towards Poland; decision not to leave Poland; air raid practise. Recollections of period as schoolchild in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, 9/1939: hearing Adolf Hitler's speech on radio; abortive attempt to flee Poland; reaction to German invasion of Poland; attitude of German speaking population towards arrival of German Army.
REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of period as schoolchild in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, Poland, 9/1939-12/1941: reaction to German occupation and fears for future; burning down of synagogue; woman who witnessed shooting of Jewish men; arrest of father by Germans.
REEL 5 Continues: wearing of armband stamped with Star of David; closure of Jewish shops; plans for Jews to move to autonomous Jewish region of Lublin; impact of situation on father and mother; loss of Polish maid; daily routine; witnessing Nazi parade; attempt to escape Bielsko-Biala and eventual decision not to go.
REEL 6 Continues: rationing; wearing Star of David; impact of German Occupation on Poles. Recollections of period living in Bielsko-Biala Ghetto, Poland, 12/1941-6/1942: forced removal from Bielsko in western part of the city to Biala in east; reaction of neighbours to their leaving; sharing flat with another family; treatment by German police; psychological impact of situation on father; blackout regulations.
REEL 7 Continues: fear of German police; Polish friends; relationship with mother; reaction to German invasion of Soviet Union, 6/1941; knowledge of concentration camps; working for market gardener; rumours of deportation; decision to work for German war effort to avoid deportation.
REEL 8 Continues: work producing equipment for Afrika Korps in Teschen; sexual relations; conditions; reaction to impending deportation from ghetto, 6/1942; preparations; inability to avoid deportation; gathering of Jewish civilians in field.
REEL 9 Continues: whips carried by Gestapo/Schutzstaffel (SS); confiscation of mother's suitcase; counting procedure; march to railway station; whipping of father; division of Jewish civilians into various groups and separation from parents; reaction to leaving parents.
REEL 10 Continues: Aspects of period as inmate in Sosnowiec Labour Camp, Poland, 6/1942: rations; procedure on arrival; description of camp; meeting cousin; clothing. Aspects of period as inmate in Sakrau Labour Camp, Poland, 7/1942-8/1942: initial impressions; presence of women; work building autobahn; conditions; relations with guard; rations.
REEL 11 Continues: accommodation; sanitation. Aspects of period as inmate in Laurahütte and Gross Paniow Labour Camps, Poland, 8/1942-9/1942: work on construction site; guards; conditions; internment in Gross Paniow Labour Camp, 9/1942. Aspects of period as inmate in Brande Labour Camp, Germany, 10/1942-11/1942: guards; work songs; memories of German Jewish doctor; selection for work duties. Aspects of period as inmate in Gross Sarne Labour Camp, Germany, 12/1942: work on autobahn; physical condition; hunger.
REEL 12 Continues: attitude towards internment. Aspect of period as inmate in Gross Masselwitz Labour Camp, Germany, 12/1942-1/1943: work duties; organisation of camp; food rations; contact with outside world; working with free German Jews.
REEL 13 Continues: beating; decline in physical condition and appearance; reaction to his bread being stolen. Aspects of period as inmate in Ludwigsdorf Labour Camp, Germany, 1/1943-2/1943: working in ammunitions factory; accommodation; physical condition; relationship with friend, Robert. Aspects of period of internment at Gröditz Labour Camp, Germany, 2/1943-4/1943: accommodation; meeting with distant relative; period in camp hospital; reaction of villagers to inmates.
REEL 14 Continues: Recollections of period as inmate in Brande Labour Camp, Germany, 4/1943-10/1943: period in sick bay and recovery; job as camp gardener; reunion with friends from home town of Bielsko-Biala, Poland; selection of inmates for other camps; treatment for oedma; killing of inmates by camp guard; improvement in physical condition; selection to report on barrack inspections. Recollections of period as inmate in Blechhammer Forced Labour Camp and Blechhammer Subcamp, Auschwitz III-Monowitz Concentration Camp, Poland, 10/1943-1/1945: organisation of camp; work on building site; arrival of British prisoners of war.
REEL 15 Continues: description of work given to British prisoners of war; relations between various groups of inmates; relations with German civilian foreman; daily routine; dysentry among inmates; rations and reaction of orthodox Jews presence of meat in soup; question of religion in camp; washing facilities.
REEL 16 Continues: washing facilities; discipline within camp; accommodation; incorporation of Blechhammer Labour Camp as Blechhammer Subcamp into Auschwitz III-Monowitz Concentration Camp, 4/1944; tattooing of inmates; issue of different clothing; confiscation of all belongings; presence of Schutzstaffel (SS) guards; change in organisation of camp; non-Jewish kapos; women's camp; illness; selection of inmates for gas chambers.
REEL 17 Continues: hospitalisation; working for Jewish doctors in hospital, 5/1944; homosexual advances made by doctor; accommodation in hospital; rations; daily routine; helping to cremate bodies in crematorium.
REEL 18 Continues: reaction to working in crematorium; execution of fellow inmates for suspected sabotage; treatment of patients with gangrene and boils; helping other inmates; bombing by United States Army Air Force of construction site near camp, 8/1944; dealing with inmates killed during bombing; reflection on inmates that survived the camps.
REEL 19 Continues: arrival of non-Jewish Frenchmen; symbols worn by different categories of inmates; change in hospital guard. Recollections of journey from Blechhammer Subcamp, Auschwitz III-Monowitz Concentration Camp, Poland to Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 1/1945: physical condition on march away from camp; accommodation and rations on march; German guards' shooting of those who couldn't continue; weather conditions; three night stay in Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp, Germany; train journey to Buchenwald Concentration Camp including stacking dead bodies from train on station and reaction of civilians to this sight. Aspects of period as inmate in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 2/1945: procedure on arrival.
REEL 20 Continues: dreams of food and revenge; delousing process; weight loss; accommodation; arrival of carts to collect dead in mornings; death of friend; use of political prisoners as kapos. Recollections of period as inmate in Ohrdruf Subcamp, Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 2/1945-4/1945: working in Kaiseroda Salt Mine; Soviet prisoners of war resistance; denying Jewish identity; anti-Semitism.
REEL 21 Continues: behaviour of Russian foreman; accommodation in Kaiseroda Salt Mine; treatment of Soviet prisoners of war; news of Soviet Army's advance to River Oder; reaction to coming up from mine; march back to Buchenwald Concentration Camp including execution of Soviet prisoner of war for stealing cattle food and length of march; two night stay in camp. Aspects of journey from Buchenwald Concentration Camp to Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945: bombing of station; speculation on destination; marching with members of German Home Guard (Volkssturm). Aspects of period as inmate in Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945: speculation on whether camp to be taken over by Red Cross; rations of grain and milk for march.
REEL 22 Continues: evacuation of camp. Aspects of march away from Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945: attitude towards march; rations; German shooting of those that couldn't march; stealing of food from the dying; avoiding close relationships with other inmates; escape attempts; counting of prisoners; attitude towards Schutzstaffel (SS) guards. Aspects of liberation by United States Army, 23/4/1945: arrival of American tank.
REEL 23 Continues: escape of Schutzstaffel (SS); receiving American K-rations; encouragement by American troops to take items from German homes; refusal of offer of revenge towards captured Schutzstaffel (SS) man; reaction of civilians to released inmates; attitude towards notion of collective German responsibility for atrocities. Recollections of period of hospitalisation in Germany, 1945: presence of former Nazi nurses in hospital; obsessive need for food; typhus epidemic in hospital; kindness of American soldier.
REEL 24 Continues: return of sexual appetite; speculation on fate of parents. Recollections of period as Displaced Person in Germany, 1945: employment by United States Army; attitude towards German prisoners of war; non-fraternisation order imposed on United States Army; liasing with German girls on behalf of American troops; attitude of German population towards defeat; age limit set by British Government for refugees going to GB; attitude to prospect of return to Poland.
REEL 25 Continues: reasons for deciding to leave Germany; staying at United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation children's camp; anti-Semitism among Poles in camp; relationship with German girl; acceptance of likely fate of parents. Aspects of emigration to and stay at Wintershill Hall, Durley, GB, 1945-1946: arrival, 10/1945; initial impressions of GB; attitude towards staff at reception centre; giving interview to radio journalist; altering papers.
REEL 26 Continues: lack of psychiatric help for refugees; selection for London hostels; friendship with American photographer. Recollections of period as refugee in London, GB, 1946: staying at hostel on Finchley Road; anti-religious feelings; speculation on future; education; contact with relatives in France; confirmation of family's fate by grandmother's maid still living in Poland; attitude towards parents' deaths; acceptance as student into London School of Economics; visiting relatives in France.
REEL 27 Continues: reaction to ignorance about concentration camps; attitude towards talking about camp experience; attitude towards living in London; attitude towards studying at London School of Economics and university life; reaction to first serious relationship; attitude towards family.
REEL 28 Continues: Reflections on Holocaust experience: attitude towards wasting food; attitude towards talking about experience; interest of family in experience; reaction to Nuremberg Trials; attitude towards Germans; return to Bielsko-Biala, Poland.
REEL 29 Continues: question of compensation; attitude towards German atrocities against Jews and question of blame; attitude towards fate of parents; legacy of Adolf Hitler and of Second World War.