Description
Object description
Polish civilian in Poznań and Warsaw, Poland, 1939-1943; member of Wigry Battalion, Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) in Warsaw, Poland, 1943-1944; prisoner of war in Stalag XI-C, Bergen-Belsen and Oflag II-D, Gross Born, Germany, 10/1944-1/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Poznań, Poland, 1925-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as refugee in Poland, 9/1939: German Air Force attacks, 1/9/1939; effect of German Air Force bombing on transport; his flight from Poznań to Słupca; German Air Force Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bomber attack on train at Słupca; trek towards Warsaw; sight of plight of refugees under German Air Force Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bomber attacks on roads; presence of dead horses in fields; sight of aerial combat; reaction to hearing French radio broadcast; arrival of German forces; return to Poznań. Recollections of period as civilian in Poznań, Poland, 9/1939-5/1940: temporary control of city by Polish militia until German authority established, 9/1939.
REEL 2 Continues: shortage of money due to abolition of Polish currency; character of new German administration; mother's bartering of art work for food; start of arrests of Poles by German authorities, autumn 1939; execution of Poles by German authorities, 1939-1940; requisitioning of mother's flat by Germans; discrimination in favour of those of German origins; a German whose role was the liquidation of Jewish property and how Radajewski became acquainted with him; arrest of mother, 12/1939.
REEL 3 Continues: effect of anti-British German propaganda; Polish Resistance security in city; mother's experiences in captivity and how she managed to postpone being sent to Mauthausen Concentration Camp, 1940; mother's release from captivity. Recollections of period as civilian in Warsaw, Poland, 1940-1943: move to Warsaw, 5/1940; attending clandestine underground school from 6/1940; starting work as garage mechanic whilst continuing evening education at secret grammar school, 10/1940; German vilification of Jews on posters; degree of freedom of movement for Jews in Warsaw Ghetto; work in garage and German attempts at supervision; initial contacts with Polish Resistance.
REEL 4 Continues: degree of contact with Warsaw Ghetto; deterioration of Warsaw Ghetto; Jewish deportations from Warsaw Ghetto; different types of police uniform seen in Warsaw; reaction to destruction of Warsaw Ghetto, 4/1943-5/1943; sight of children being killed in Warsaw Ghetto; contracting tuberculosis and convalescence in mountains; joining Faculty of Law in secret Warsaw University; work for Polish lawyer; question of scale of Warsaw Ghetto rising and what he learnt of it from other Poles.
REEL 5 Continues: working for lawyer; German lawyer Dr Edward von Wendorff who helped Poles; story of how Dr Edward von Wendorff later aided him when he was a prisoner of war in Stalag XI-C, Bergen-Belsen, 10/1944-12/1944; Dr Edward von Wendorff's collection of documents from Soviet occupied Poland, 2/1945; German offer for Poles married to Jews to divorce them, autumn 1939; privileges accorded to certain national categories by German authorities; smuggling of intelligence about V weapons by Pole of German origin; reasons for movement amongst Polish intellectuals for Poland to become a British dominion; attempts of Germans to spot Jews in the street.
REEL 6 Continues: sense of purpose and atmosphere in Warsaw. Recollections of period as member of Wigry Battalion, Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) in Warsaw, Poland, 1943-1944: witnessing German massacre of hundred and fifty people, winter 1943-1944; ineffectiveness of German terror tactics on Polish morale in city; German loudspeaker propaganda output; sense of German weakness, 6/19447/1944; German prior knowledge of Warsaw Uprising, 7/1944; German call for workers to build fortifications around Warsaw, 7/1944; provision of enforced route into city by Organisation Todt; degree of knowledge of German concentration/extermination camps; background to joining Wigry Battalion. Recollections of operations as member of Wigry Battalion, Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) during Warsaw Uprising in Warsaw, Poland, 1944: call for him to go to position in Old Town, 31/7/1944; first sight of shooting during uprising, 1/8/1944.
REEL 7 Continues: sight of furniture being thrown out of windows; how telephones still worked during uprising, 8/1944; presence of experienced war veterans in his unit; attempts to obtain more arms and hope for Royal Air Force air-supply drops; selection by commanding officer to lead night action in area of Gdanska Railway Station; how his unit ran into German machine gun fire during night action; crowds entering Old Town from Wola district, 6/8/1944; German attempts to induce surrender; lack of respect shown for Red Cross by German forces; system of manning barricades in Old Town; lack of water to put out fires in Old Town; German employment of scorched earth tactics.
REEL 8 Continues: use of Molotov Cocktails; question of amateur approach of Polish fighters in contrast to professional German approach; attempt of medics to deal with wounded; types of grenades used; issue of 1917 dated Mauser Rifle to support action on barricade against German tanks; reaction to shooting Germans running away; Jews freed from German captivity and work they did during uprising; effects of diet; contrast between Jews from Budapest, Hungary and Jews from elsewhere; discussion with rabbi from Budapest, Hungary; method of extinguishing fires without water.
REEL 9 Continues: how Germans divided Warsaw into different sectors; opinion of communications in Old Town; morale of unit; decision to evacuate Old Town, 30/8/1944; use of identification medallions; failure of attempt at break out from Old Town through German lines; plight of civilians in Old Town; memories of nurse Zoska Nowiak; acquisition of German machine gun; German use of remote controlled Goliath Tracked Mine; taking up new position in corner of Market Square in Old Town, 31/8/1944; taking to the sewers, 1/9/1944; state of Old Town in contrast with rest of city by 9/1944; reaction to radio broadcast from London, GB in view of insufficient arms drops; Royal Air Force air-supply drops, 8/1944; problems Polish officer had obtaining volunteers, 9/1944.
REEL 10 Continues: volunteering for mission to Napoleon Square and casualties suffered by his group; effect of dust on operation of automatic weapons; German use of Polish civilians to dismantle barricades, 9/1944; initial sight of Soviet Air Force aircraft and their dropping ammunition without parachutes; daylight appearance of United States Army Air Force aircraft dropping mass of supplies by parachute, 9/1944; German use of Goliath Tracked Mine and 88mm Gun; wounding of comrade and his medical treatment without anaesthetic; accurate Soviet Army artillery bombardment of German positions, 9/1944; burning down of his headquarters and taking up new position 'The Alcazar' on corner of Marszałkowska Street, 9/1944; news of impending Polish surrender, 9/1944; surrender to Germans and his treatment as 'officer'. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Stalag X-C, Bergen-Belsen, Germany, 10/1944-12/1945: conditions in camp; preparations for Soviet occupation of Poland.
REEL 11 Continues: weight loss in camp; issue of money to each officer by Home Army (Armia Krajowa) prior to going into captivity; demand of Polish officers to be sent to proper officer camp, 12/1944. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Oflag II-D, Gross Born, Germany, 12/1944-1/1945: transfer to camp; evacuation of camp on approach of Soviet Army, 1/1945. Aspects of prisoner of war march from Gross Born to Lübeck, 1/1945-5/1945: weather conditions during march and dependence on contents of American food parcels; punishment he received for bartering expedition; suffering from lice; liberation in Lübeck, 5/5/1945.
