Jenkins, Hugh Montfort (Oral history)

British conscientious objector in GB, 1939-1944; relief worker served with Friends Relief Service in GB and Belgium, 1944-1945, Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp and Braunschweig Displaced Persons Camp in Germany, 4/1945-5/1946

REEL 1 Background in Leicester, GB, 1914-1939: family and Baptist religious beliefs; development of pacifist beliefs; story of signing the Peace Pledge. Aspects of period as conscientious objector in GB, 1939-1944: reason for registering as conscientious objector on outbreak of Second World War, 9/1939; reaction of family; attending tribunal and refusal to be drafted into Royal Army Medical Corps; agricultural work; role in caring for child refugees from Spanish Civil War in Guildford; story of meeting wife Juanita; incident of being refused accommodation due to being conscientious objector; description of agricultural work; attitude to wages and overtime. Aspects of period with Friends Relief Service in GB and Belgium, 1944: reason for joining Friends Relief Service, 1944; training for overseas relief work; role as transport officer; assigment to Friends Relief Service Team RT 100 in Middelkerke, Belgium; move to Antwerp and relief work following air raids, 3/1945. Aspect of period with Friends Relief Service in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945: arrival at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, 18/4/1945; description of conditions and camp inmates; treatment of children; first aid centre in camp; description of 'human laundry'; methods of obtaining food supplies for camp from local farms; problem of looting. REEL 2 Continues: further comments on obtaining food; relations with German civilians outside camp; German inmates; attitude towards Germans and concentration camp; problem of sanitation in camp and outbreaks of typhus and other diseases; problem of refugees on roads; disturbances in camp; further comments on 'human laundry'; burning down of last barrack block; story of concert in camp; improvement of health of inmates. Aspects of period with Friends Relief Service at Braunschweig Displaced Persons Camp in British Zone of Occupation, Germany, 5/1945-5/1946: memories of VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; transfer to camp for Polish Displaced Persons; description of camp and living conditions; story of strike by inmates for better conditions. REEL 3 Continues: role of Friends Relief Service team in mediating during strike; attitude to strikers and demands; story of death of Polish boy; memories of Christmas Day, 25/12/1945; description of repatriation system; story of wife Juanita arriving and role as children's teacher; return to GB, 5/1946. Aspects of period with Anglo-American Quaker Mission in France, 1946: role in repatriation of refugees from Spanish Civil War in Southern France. Reflections on period with Friends Relief Service, 1944-1946: effect of period in Belsen Concentration Camp on pacifist beliefs; attitude to working with military; story of attending conference relating to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp and reunion with former members of Friends Relief Service, 4/1995.