Goodman, Dennis John (Oral history)

German Jewish schoolchild in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1933-1936; refugee schoolchild at Whittingehame College in GB, 1936-1939; internee in GB and aboard HMT Dunera during voyage from GB to Australia, 5/1940-10/1941; private served with Pioneer Corps in GB, 1940-1943; trooper served with 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, 7th Armoured Div in North West Europe, 1944-1945; NCO served with Special Investigation Branch, Corps of Military Police in Germany, 1945-1946

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1923-1936: father's banking career; family circumstances; education; interruption of education due to anti-Semitism; growing awareness of Nazism; parent's decision to send him to GB. Recollections as period as refugee schoolchild at Whittingehame College, Brighton, GB, 1936-1939: arrival in GB; reaction to being sent to Whittingehame College; emigration of parents to Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1937 and their fate during Holocaust; opinion of British Government's policy of Appeasement; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; anglicising name; visit to parents in Amsterdam, Netherlands just prior to outbreak of Second World War, 1939; problems faced by parents moving from Germany to Netherlands; leaving school. Aspects of period as refugee in GB, 1939-1940: employment with Universal Leather Goods Coy in Blackburn; friendliness of people in Blackburn. REEL 2 Continues: move to London, 5/1940; arrest, tribunal and internment in Kempton Park Racecourse and Huyton Internment Camps, 6/1940-7/1940. Recollections of voyage aboard HMT Dunera from GB to Australia, 10/7/1940-6/9/1940: reasons for selection; embarkation on board ship; behaviour of guards; accommodation and food; ignorance of destination; taking aboard German Nazis internees in South Africa; contrast in attitude of younger refugees to older ones aboard ship; incidents of stealing by guards; unwillingness to claim compensation for theft of possessions; arrival in Australia, 6/9/1940. Recollections of period as internee in Hay Internment Camp, Australia, 9/1940-10/1941: transport to camp; description and organisation of camp; camp money; participation in lectures and giving English lessons to Australian guards; organising Boy Scout group. REEL 3 Continues: effect of Major Julian Layton's visit, 25/3/1941; daily life and conditions in camp; result of Major Julian Layton's visit; voyage from Australia to GB, 11/1941-12/1941. Recollections of period with Pioneer Corps in GB, 1942-1943: character of sections composed of 'aliens' in unit; enlistment in Ilfracombe; role of unit; attitude to serving in unit; change in British policy towards former refugees/internees. Aspects of operations as trooper with A Sqdn, 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, 7th Armoured Div in North West Europe, 6/1944-5/1945: landing on Gold Beach, Normandy, France, 9/6/1944; opinion of Cromwell Tank; incident when tank was knocked out at Cauville-sur-Mer, France, 8/8/1944; death of squadron leader, Major Guy Threlfall MC, 25/7/1944; desire to fight the Germans; attitude to entering Germany. Recollections of period with 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars in Germany, 1945: attempts to re-educate fanatical young Germans. REEL 4 Continues: participating in British Victory Parade, Berlin, 21/7/1945; impressions of Berlin and visit to Fuhrer Bunker; guard duty during Potsdam Conference, 7/1945-8/1945; reaction to Prime Minister Winston Churchill's general election defeat, 7/1945; sight of Josef Stalin; opinion of Soviets; celebration with Soviet personnel; hearing of concentration camps; compassionate leave to find out about fate of parents in Netherlands; survival of grandmother in hiding in Netherlands; lack of celebrations on VE Day, 8/5/1945; experiences interrogating German officers. Recollections of period as NCO interpreter with Special Investigation Branch, Corps of Military Police in Germany, 1945-1946: move to Hamburg; posting to former concentration camp at Neuengamme; role interrogating suspected Nazi war criminals; case of SS Gruppenfuhrer Ludolf von Alvensleben who escaped from Neurengamme, 1945; lack of understanding of war crimes. Lack of resentment about his internment, 1940-1941. Contact with Nazi war criminals in Germany, 1945-1946.