Dearden, Elizabeth Townley (Oral history)

British civilian social worker in London, GB, 1938-1941; worked with Friends War Victims Relief Society in GB, 1941-1944; worked with Relief Team 100, Friends Relief Service in Belgium, Germany and Poland, 1944-1946, including Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Bungay and Ditchling, GB, 1915-1938: family; education. Aspects of period as children's social worker in London, GB, 1938-1941: training in child welfare; nature of work prior to and during Second World War. Aspects of period as relief worker with Friends War Victims Relief Society in GB, 1941-1944: reason for joining organisation; nature of work placing problem evacuees; description of training with Friends Relief Service at Mount Waltham; assignment to Relief Team 100. Aspects of period as relief worker with Relief Team 100, Friends Relief Service in Belgium, 12/1944-4/1944: journey from GB to Belgium, 12/1944; work in Middelkerke and Antwerp, 12/1944-4/1945. Recollections of period as relief worker with Relief Team 100, Friends Relief Service in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945-5/1945: description of journey to camp, 4/1945; arrival and initial impressions of camp and conditions; reason for non-pacifist stance; story of inmates mistaking Quaker's grey clothing for German uniform. REEL 2 Continues: description of camp complex; problem of typhus; providing help for orphaned children; duties in charge of 150 patients in camp hospital; problem of providing adequate nursing care; smell of typhus; protective measures for relief workers; description of the 'human laundry'; problem of camp inmates working as medical volunteers; physical condition of inmates and high mortality rate; attempts to normalise living conditions for inmates; opinion of priority given to female inmates; evidence of medical experiments on some inmates; story of gypsy woman dancing in national dress. REEL 3 Continues: improvement in camp conditions; problem of repatriation of Jewish Eastern European former inmates; camp clothing store and effect on morale of inmates; story of religious ceremony taking place; problem of national status of Polish Jews; memories of religious personnel in camp including Rabbi Leslie Hardman and Rabbi Issac Levy and French priests; use of German nurses in camp hospital and question of reconciliation; language problems; memories of VE Day celebrations in camp, 8/5/1945; story of helping Jane Levy take stateless Poles to Lingen Displaced Persons Camp, 6/1945; story relating to child inmate. REEL 4 Continues: amusing sketch performed by former inmates at Lingen Displaced Persons Camp during camp concert; story of return of stateless Poles to Bergen-Belsen; changes in Relief Team 100 during five week period in camp; attitude to working in camp and question of motivation; relations with military personnel in camp; memories of Gerald Gardiner and Friends Ambulance Unit; system of tracing relatives. Aspects of period as relief worker with Relief Team 100, Friends Relief Service in Poland, 1946: move to Kozienice, Poland; description of work with feeding scheme for Polish children; distribution of supplies; political situation; problem of anti-Semitism in Poland; story of visit to synagogue in Kraków; description of destruction in Warsaw. REEL 5 Continues: Reflections on wartime relief work: elements of post-war life; attitude to 50th anniversary celebrations of end of Second World War; story of celebrating with German neighbour who had served on Eastern Front; reason for joining Quakers; attitude to pacifism; story of meeting for worship in Belsen, Germany.