Description
Object description
Czechoslovakian Jewish civilian in Berlin, Germany and Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1928-1939; civilian in Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Czechoslovakia, 3/1939-7/1943; inmate of Theresienstadt Camp, Czechoslovakia, 7/1943-9/1943 and Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 10/1944; forced labourer in Vereingte Deutsche Metallwerke AG factory, Friedland Subcamp, Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp, Germany, 10/1944-5/1945; emigrated to GB 1946
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Berlin, Germany, 1928-1938: family circumstances; languages spoken in home; character of education; effect of Nuremberg laws on family fortunes, 1935; quality of teaching at Jewish Reform School; reasons why family did not try to leave Germany until 1938; barriers to migration from Germany; question of Zionist sentiments in his family; question of his own national consciousness; sight of anti-Semitic cartoons in Berlin streets; rumours of fate of those sent to concentration camps; anti-Semitic manifestations including Kristallnacht, 9/11/1938-10/11/1938.
REEL 2 Continues: sense of impending war, 1938. Aspects of period as civilian in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1938-1939: family's move to Prague, 5/1938; atmosphere in city, 1938; sight of German Army entering city, 3/1939. Aspects of period as civilian in Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Czechoslovakia, 3/1939-7/1943: increasing German restrictions from 3/1939; food available in early war years; occasion when he broke curfew, 1941; effects of declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; lack of knowledge of what was happening to Jews in Europe, 1939-1942; effect of Munich Agreement on Czech morale; question of Czechs hiding Jews; Gestapo visit to home at time of Reinhard Heydrich's assassination, 6/1942; Gestapo investigation of father; confiscation of radios, musical instruments and valuables; apprehensiveness after Reinhard Heydrich assassination.
REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of period as inmate of Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 7/1943-10/1944: deportation to camp, 15/7/1943; living conditions in lofts; work as apprentice smith; mother's hospital treatment after gallbladder problem; father's jobs; role of ghetto police; individuals he knew and how his education continued; music in camp; presence of Karel Ancerl; leaving camp with mother, 9/1944. Recollections of period as inmate in Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 10/1944: arrival by train at camp; separation from mother; robbery of new arrivals and issue of clothing.
REEL 4 Continues: theft of shoes by kapos; sight of crematorium; question of unfairness of older men being beaten by younger men; his selection as metalworker; selection of other skilled men. Recollections of period as forced labourer in Vereingte Deutsche Metallwerke AG factory, Friedland Subcamp, Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp, Germany, 10/1944-5/1944: nature of employment in factory; digging anti-tank ditches; treatment recieved from guards of different nationalities; plight of Polish prisoners of war; sound of approaching Soviet Army, 4/1945; work on burial squad, 4/1945; lack of possibility of deliberately spoiling work; farewell speech and actions from guards, 8/5/1945. Recollections of liberation by Soviet Army, 5/1945: impressions of Soviet Army and their attitude towards newly liberated camp inmates; problems adjusting after camp diet.
REEL 5 Continues: state of health; problems of acquiring new possessions; return to Prague, Czechoslovakia, 5/1945; refusal to be directed to an orphanage. Recollections of period working in engineering industry in GB, 1946-1951: background to metalwork apprentice in Czechoslovakia and his choice to migrate to GB, 1945-1946; arrival in GB, 5/1946; establishing himself in engineering industry, 1946-1950; gaining employment with Ministry of Works as engineer, 1950; naturalisation as British citizen, 1951; question of discrimination against foreign workers in GB; question of his not returning to Czechoslovakia.
REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of period as civilian in Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Czechoslovakia, 1942-1943: work as gardener; German shooting of teachers as Communists.
