Description
Object description
Polish civilian nurse in Warsaw and Białystok, Poland, 1939-1942; officer served with Home Army (Armia Krajowa) in Warsaw, Poland, 1942-1944 including Warsaw Uprising, 8/1944-9/1944; prisoner of war in Stalag XI-C, Bergen-Belsen and Oflag IX-C, Erfurt in Germany, 10/1944-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Poland, 1918-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as nurse in Poland, 1939: reaction to outbreak of Second World War, 1/9/1939; work as nurse in hospital in Warsaw; German Air Force attacks on civilian refugees; arrival of Soviet Army troops in Białystok, 17/9/1939; arrest by Soviet authorities in Białystok; hospital work in Białystok; making illegal crossing from Soviet to German occupied zones, 12/1939. Recollections of period as nurse and member of Home Army (Armia Krajowa) in Warsaw, Poland, 12/1939-7/1944: return to Warsaw, 12/1939; training as nurse in underground university; joining Home Army (Armia Krajowa), 1942; conditions in occupied Warsaw.
REEL 2 Continues: avoiding German round ups; preparations for Warsaw Uprising, 1944. Recollections of period as officer with Home Army (Armia Krajowa) during Warsaw Uprising, Warsaw, Poland, 8/1944-9/1944: orders to report to Old City on first day, 1/8/1944; narrow escape from German Army soldier; mistaken order that uprising was cancelled; aid from civilians to build barricades; memories of Captain Roman; state of extreme exhaustion; nature of fighting.
REEL 3 Continues: shortage of weapons; Allied air supply drops; lack of help from Soviet Army; fate of wounded; move out of Old Town to Warecka using sewers, 2/9/1944; fighting in Middle Town of Warsaw; explosion of captured German tank on Kilińskiego Street, 13/8/1944; opinion of Andrzej Wajda's film 'Kanal' (1957); change in attitude of civilians towards uprising; capitulation and German recognition of Home Army (Armia Krajowa) personnel as prisoners of war.
REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Stalag XI-C, Bergen-Belsen, Germany, 10/1944-12/1944: processing on arrival at camp; organisation of camp; conditions in camp; relations with German guards, 12/1944. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Oflag IX-C, Erfurt, Germany, 12/1944-4/1945: move to camp, 12/1944; danger from United States Army Air Force attacks in Erfurt area, 3/1945-4/1945; liberation by 89th Infantry Div, United States Army, 4/1945; background to emigration to GB, 1946. Aspects of period as officer with Home Army (Armia Krajowa) during Warsaw Uprising, Warsaw, Poland, 8/1944-9/1944: escape of patient from collapsed house; incident of being chased by German Air Force aircraft; German use of human shields in Old Town.
REEL 5 Continues: last words of dying Home Army (Armia Krajowa) fighter; prior recollection of German mass evacuation of children from Zamość to Warsaw, 1943; question of Polish resistance to occupation.