Description
Object description
British civilian conscientious objector served with Friends' Ambulance Unit in London, GB and Italy, 1940-1945; served with British Red Cross in Austria, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Kenley, GB, 1914-1939: family; education; pacifist influences received from mother; visit Germany; basis for pacifist beliefs; attending University of Cambridge; attitude towards Spanish Civil War and threat of Communism; opinion of appeasement policy; effect of First World War on pacifist beliefs; reaction to Oxford Union 'King and Country' debate; employment as solicitor and European travel; reaction to news of declaration of Second World War in Hungary, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period as concientious objector with Friends' Ambulance Unit in GB, 4/1940-4/1944: joining Friends' Ambulance Unit, 4/1940; registration as conscientious objector and attending tribunal, 16/6/1940; attitude to military life and discipline; training and work in East End of London
REEL 2 Continues: nature of hospital work with unit; training with Royal Army Medical Corps in County Durham; relations with military personnel. Aspects of period as conscientious objector with Friends' Ambulance Unit in Italy, 4/1944-5/1945: journey from GB to Italy, 4/1944; work in Rome and at Forte Aurelia; journey to Austria via Assisi and refugee work carried out in Assisi, 4-5/1945. Recollections of period with Friends' Ambulance Unit and British Red Cross in Austria, 5/1945-9/1946: role in Villach and Klagenfurt; description of repatriation system; visit to Viktring Displaced Persons Camp; work in parcel distribution at Villach.
REEL 3 Continues: employment of Hungarian countess as secretary; question of greater demand for clothing than food; conditions and facilities for refugees at frontier; opinion of refugees from Baltic States; question of defining a Soviet citizen; relations with Soviets; reaction to reports of forced repatriations of Soviets and Yugoslavs; role of Friends' Ambulance Unit and British Red Cross in attempting to prevent forced repatriations; problem of situation in Carinthia; role of Ted Bryant in helping Soviet refugees; reaction to lack of response from Headquarters, Friends' Ambulance Unit in Gordon Square, London over report on forced repatriations.
REEL 4 Continues: role as interpreter with United Nations Russian Repatriation Mission; relations between Soviets and refugees from Baltic States; story about Hungarian refugees being sent to Soviet Union; relations between Austrians and Soviets; relations with British Army; involvement with legal case against Polish camp police; story about British Army officer's attitude to reconciliation; attitude to violence and use of force; work with British Red Cross in Austria following withdrawal of Friends' Ambulance Unit, 6/1946; story about helping dying girl return to Italy; attitude to breaking rules.
REEL 5 Continues: financial situation; problem of adjusting to home life on return to GB, 9/1946. Reflections on period with Friends' Ambulance Unit during Second World War: attitude to forcible repatriation of Soviets and Yugoslavs after Second World War; opinion of Nikolai Tolstoy's book 'Victims of Yalta' (1977) and legal implications; comparison of treatment of conscientious objectors in First and Second World Wars; opinion of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and attitude towards nuclear war.