Description
Object description
German schoolchild in Düsseldorf and Wolfenbüttel in Germany, 1933-1943; plotter served with German Air Force in Germany, 1943-1945; civilian in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, 1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Düsseldorf, Germany, 1925-1933: family; education. Recollections of period as schoolchild in Düsseldorf, Germany, 1933-1938: father's political beliefs; political character of city and reaction of populace to revoking of Versailles Treaty; membership of League of German Girls; status of Christianity under Nazis; Nazis promotion of pagan religion; influence of regime on education.
REEL 2 Continues: anti-Jewish propaganda; her Jewish friends and their fate. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, 1938-1943: background to family move to Wolfenbüttel; political complexion of town; father's listening to British Broadcasting Corporation; Nazi Party Winter Relief (Winterhilfswerk) programme; father's political outlook; question of organised opposition to regime; degree of knowledge of concentration camps; how Nazis' leaders were regarded; anticipation of coming war; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 9/1939; beginning of rationing; growing shortages as war continued.
REEL 3 Continues: six month period with Arbeitsdienst. Aspects of period as plotter with German Air Force in Germany, 1943-1945: joining German Air Force; duties as plotter guiding night fighters; attitude to service life; state of health of female air force personnel; Allied air activity in Münster area, 1944-1945; move eastward on approach of British Army, 2/1945. Aspects of period as civilian in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, 1945: relations with occupying United States Army troops; arrival of British Army troops.
REEL 3 Continues: fraternisation between German civilians and British Army troops; living conditions in immediate post-war period. Aspects of period as plotter with German Air Force in Germany, 1943-1945: hearing news of war's progress; hopes for outcome of war; orders for Germans about relations with foreign workers; bomb damage in Münster, 1945; reasons for anti-regime attitude in Münster.