Description
Object description
German civilian schoolchild in Breslau, Germany, 9/1939-1/1945, evacuee in Dresden, Germany, 2/1945; civilian in Wrocław, Poland, 1945-1946; escaped to British Zone of Occupation, Germany, 1946
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as schoolchild living in Breslau, Germany, 9/1939-1/1945: family; education; collections of winter clothing for soldiers; hearing of military casualties; rationing systems; provisions for health of German children. Recollections of evacuation from Breslau to Dresden, Germany, 1/1945-2/1945: evacuation of civilians from Breslau, 19/1/1945; arrival in Dresden, 10/ 2/1945; situation at Central Railway Station, 13/2/1945; sheltering in station air raid bunker during Allied bombing, 13/2/1945; disintegration of air raid bunker under impact of bombing, 13/2/1945; flooding of air raid bunker; how rescuers broke into air raid bunker; her escape from burning Dresden, 2/1942; how she was reunited with her mother; move to Aussick, spring 1945. Recollections of period as civilian in Wrocław, Poland, 1945-1946: orders to return to Breslau/Wrocław; sufferings of German civilians under Soviet occupation; behaviour of Soviet Army troops; occasion of Soviet Army soldier sharing bread with her party; devastated state of city.
REEL 2 Continues: foraging for food on route to city; acquiring empty flat; registering with Polish authorities; mother's work clearing rubble; foraging for saleable items to sell on black market; Soviet Army soldier's stealing of her father's coat; typhoid danger in city; sight of German prisoners of war being marched eastwards; corpses floating in River Oder. Recollections of escape from Wrocław, Poland to British Occupation Zone, Germany, 1946: orders from Polish authorities to either take Polish nationality or leave Wrocław; thefts from German refugees by Soviet Army troops; impression made by initial contact with British troops at Wahrendorf, 2/1946; settling down with German family in Wahrendorf; how her mother worked in Soviet Occupation Zone, Germany, then settled in Bavaria just prior to border being closed; receiving report that father had been missing since 6/1944; prior recollection of fate of those who died in station air raid bunker in Dresden, Germany, 2/1945; attitude towards Allied bombing of Dresden, Germany.