Description
Object description
British civilian living in Hamburg, Berlin and Rohrbach, Germany, 1932-1945; foreign correspondent for The Observer newspaper in Germany, 1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1909-1932: family; education; decision to pursue a singing career. Recollections of period as civilian living in Hamburg, Germany, 1932-1939: description of singing training; meeting future husband Peter Bielenberg, 1932; attitude towards singing career; position of women in Nazi regime; influence of mother's feminist beliefs; story of how background helped her cope with her interrogation by the Gestapo in 1944.
REEL 2 Continues: further details of interrogation by Gestapo, 1944; attending Nazi rallies with landlady's son; British attitudes towards Germans; marriage to Peter Bielenberg, 29/09/1934; impact of Nazi policies on Hamburg; friendship with Jewish doctor banned from practising; witnessing violence of Sturmabteilung (SA); opinion of Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'; ignorance of political situation.
REEL 3 Continues: political apathy in Hamburg; meeting Adam von Trott zu Solz; political influence of Adam von Trott zu Solz on husband Peter Bielenberg; attitude of Adam von Trott zu Solz towards Great Britain; refusal to contemplate that war was imminent; attitude towards Munich Agreement, 9/1938. Recollections of period as civilian living in Berlin, Germany, 1939-1943: decision to stay in Germany and move to Berlin; opposition groups in Germany; reaction to outbreak of Second World War, 9/1939; attitude of Germans towards her after outbreak of Second World War; rumours of peace negotiations.
REEL 4 Continues: dangers of civilian life; rationing; effect of Royal Air Force bombing raids on Berlin, 1941; reaction to celebration of German victories; letters received from family in GB; first meeting with von Stauffenberg family; listening to Pastor Friedrich Niemöller's sermons; throwing party to celebrate wedding of Adam and Clarita von Trott zu Solz; argument between friend and Nazi woman. Recollections of period as civilian living in Rohrbach, Germany, 1943-1945: reasons for moving to Rohrbach in Black Forest; degree of awareness of fate of Jews; prior recollection of briefly sheltering Jewish couple in cellar in Berlin, 1941.
REEL 5 Continues: relations with villagers; last meeting with Adam von Trott zu Solz before July Bomb Plot, 7/1944; story of meeting with Latvian Waffen-SS man on train during air raid whilst returning from Berlin, 1944; learning of July Bomb Plot, 20/7/1944; learning of husband's arrest; reaction of eldest son to her husband's arrest; protection received from villagers.
REEL 6 Continues: attitude of villagers towards Adolf Hitler; journey from Rohrbach via Munich and Berlin to find husband; visiting husband in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp, 1944; discovering visitors room was bugged, condition of husband and conveying news that Adam von Trott zu Solz was dead in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp, 1944; interrogation by Gestapo, 1944; requesting Gestapo interrogation to facilitate husband's release from Ravensbrück Concentration Camp, 1944; desertion of husband from German Army; arrival of defeated German Army in area; how eldest son witnessed execution of young deserter and old villager by German Army; liberation by First French Army.
REEL 7 Continues: reaction to end of Second World War, 5/1945; question of her loyalty to both Great Britain and Germany. Aspects of period as civilian in GB, 1945: return to GB; amusing story of youngest son's first use of English language; difficulties of being separated from husband. Aspects of period as foreign correspondent for The Observer newspaper in Germany, 1945: return to Germany as foreign correspondent; attitude of husband towards Allies; attempt to help Germans; fate of children of participants in July Plot; attitude towards living in Germany; decision to settle in Ireland.