Bruegel, Josephine (Oral history)

Czechoslovakian civilian medical student at Prague University, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1932-1936; civilian in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1936-1939; emigrated to GB, 1939; refugee in London, GB, 1939; nurse and medical student in GB, 1939-1942; doctor in GB, 1942-1945; civilian in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1946; emigrated to GB, 1946

REEL 1 Background in Austria-Hungary and Czechoslovakia, 1914-1939: family; education; family's German origins; relations between Czechs and Sudentenland Germans; policy of Czechoslovakian Government towards Sudetenland; effect of unemployment on behaviour of Sudetenland population; effect on attitudes of youth to rise of Nazis during early 1930s. Aspects of period as medical student at Prague University, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1932-1936: decision to study medicine; student political activity; reasons for not finishing her university course. Aspects of period as civilian in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1936-1939: contact with German Social Democrats; burning of incriminating anti-Hitler leaflets, 1/1939. REEL 2 Continues: obtaining permission to leave Prague, 3/1939; her political connections in Prague; arrangements for leaving Czechoslovakia, 1939. Aspects of period as refugee in London, GB, 1939: Communist influence amongst Czech émigrés; employment in London; memories of Czech Communist. Aspects of period as nurse in GB, 1939-1941: evacuation from London to become nurse at Whipps Cross Hospital; how she was directed to work in convalescent home in Bognor Regis; suspicion of her being a spy at Bognor Regis; return to London, 8/1940; start of German Air Force raids, 9/1940; appearance before Royal Air Force recruiting board. Aspects of period as medical student at Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead, London, GB, 1941-1942: resumption of medical studies, 1941. REEL 3 Continues: qualifying as doctor, 12/1942. Aspects of period as doctor in GB, 1943-1945: first job at Royal Marsden Hospital in London; birth of son; evacuation to Rhondda, 1944; husband's work for Czechoslovakian Government-in-Exile in London; treating American casualties of V1 Flying Bomb raids at Royal Marsden Hospital; husband's return to Prague, Czechoslovakia, 5/1945 and why she stayed in GB; Communist influence on Czechoslovakian Trust Fund in London; husband's attitude towards Communists; expulsion of Sudeten Germans from Bohemia, 1945. Aspects of period as civilian in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1946-1948: return to Prague; her husband's government position and work in defence of anti-Nazis Germans in Czechoslovakia; reasons for return to GB, 1948; financial problems on return to GB, 1948.