Description
Object description
Austrian Jewish schoolchild in Vienna, Austria, 3/1938-12/1938; emigrated from Vienna, Austria to GB on Kindertransport, 12/1938; refugee in GB, 1938-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Vienna, Austria, 1924-1938: family circumstances; parent's political views; change in family circumstances after mother died in 1932; contrast in mother and father's attitude to Jewish religion; education; relations between Jews and non-Jews; sporting activities; Jewish cultural life; division in Jewish community regarding assimilation; political-military disturbances, 1930s; clash between Jewish and non-Jewish boys in park, 1937; Zionist youth clubs.
REEL 2 Continues: father's links with Zionist movement; mother's lack of interest in politics. Recollections of period as schoolchild in Vienna, Austria, 1938: effects of Anschluss, 3/1938; sight of policeman ignoring Jews being beaten; persecution of Jews by Austrians; incident were German Army officers' intervened to protect Jewish civilians; suspension of Jewish schools; skirmishes with non-Jewish boys, 1938; attending council school, 10/1938-12/1938; events of Kristallnacht, 9/11/1938-10/11/1938; problems of Jews leaving Austria in finding host country; how father's wartime sabre scar helped him get priority for emigration to GB, 12/1938. Recollections of emigration from Vienna, Austria to GB on Kindertransport, 12/1938: leave taking from father and sister; train journey from Vienna to Netherlands, 12/1938; examination by Germans customs police; reception in Netherlands.
REEL 3 Continues: crossing English Channel to Harwich. Recollections of period as refugee in GB, 1938-1939: move to Dovercourt Refugee Camp, 12/1938-1/1939; move to girl's boarding school at Southwold and thence Barnham House, Ipswich; settling with Jewish family in Preston, 1939; introduction to swear word in Preston; reception he received from schoolchildren in Preston. Recollections of period as garage mechanic in Preston, GB, 1939-1945: advice not to speak German, 9/1939; becoming garage mechanic; progress in his trade especially when American troops arrived, 1942.
REEL 4 Continues: establishment of financial independence and education; reasons for not being interned, 1940; volunteering for Fleet Air Arm; fate of family; reasons for not migrating to Palestine, 1945; reasons for changing name after Second World War; reasons for missing German Air Force bombing. Description of experiences in Blumenstrasse, Vienna, Austria during Kristallnacht, 9/11/1938-10/11/1938.