Description
Object description
German Jewish schoolchild in Berlin, Germany, 3/1933-2/1934; refugee in London, GB, 2/1934-9/1939; evacuee from London to Tintagel, GB, 9/1939-5/1940; student with London School of Economics in London and Cambridge, GB, 9/1940-6/1943; refugee in London, GB, 7/1943-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Berlin, Germany, 1923-1933: family; education. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Berlin, Germany, 3/1933-2/1934: unpleasantness towards her at school, 1933; police search of home, 1933; father Robert Rene Kuczynski's flight to Czechoslovakia, 3/1933; father's settling in London, GB. Aspects of period as refugee in London, GB, 2/1934-9/1939: move to GB, 2/1934; question of ease of adjusting to English life; education at Quaker run school in Belsize Park.
REEL 2 Continues: fall in family living standards on arrival in GB; her mother's work in aiding refugees get out of Germany; lack of experience of anti-Semitism in London; education. Aspects of evacuation from London to Tintagel, GB, 9/1939-5/1940: her evacuation, 9/1939; hearing news of outbreak of Second World War on route to Cornwall, 3/9/1939; opinion of Tintagel being a political and cultural backwater; her requirement to leave a coastal area as 'enemy alien', 5/1940; question of resentment at brother's internment. Recollections of period as student with London School of Economics in London and Cambridge, GB, 9/1940-6/1943: start of studies.
REEL 3 Continues: sheltering from German Air Force raids; life of those sheltering in London Underground; degree to which she witnessed casualties and destruction; attitude towards German Air Force aircrew; question of her loyalties during war; evacuation of London School of Economics students to Cambridge, 1940; her sense that students should be involved in war effort; voluntary work at British Restaurant and in factory; fire watching duties in Cambridge; bombs which fell on Cambridge, 1942-1943.
REEL 4 Continues: organisation of National Union of Student conferences relating to war; her work organising student farm camps; her own work on sugar beet farm as part of student farm camp, 1942. Aspects of period as civilian in London, GB, 7/1943-5/1945: prior recollection of Free German Youth organisation for German refugees in London; father's work with Free-Germany Movement; question of return of German refugees to Germany after end of war.
REEL 5 Continues: question of her return to Germany, 1945; how marriage to Englishman settled the question of return to Germany, 3/1945.