Interview with Celia Lee

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Description

Object description

German Jewish schoolchild in Harburg and Hamburg, Germany, 1933-1938; emigrated from Germany to GB with Kindertransport, 12/1938; refugee schoolchild in GB, 1938-1941; refugee in London, GB, 1941-1945

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Harburg, Germany, 1926-1933: family; degree of religious belief; education. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Harburg and Hamburg, Germany, 1933-1938: increasing anti-Semitism at school; education and move to Hamburg, 1935; father's suicide attempt and parent's divorce; move to Jewish orphanage; conditions in orphanage; religious nature of orphanage; restrictions against Jewish citizens; reaction to deportation of Polish Jewish classmates; hospitalisation for appendix in Jewish hospital, 1938; Jewish civilians brought into hospital after Kristallnacht, 9/11/1938-10/11/1938. Aspects of emigration from Germany to GB with Kindertransport, 12/1938: saying goodbye to parents, 1/12/1938; journey. REEL 2 Continues: arrival in Harwich, GB, 2/12/1938; reception by press. Aspects of period as refugee at Dovercourt Refugee Camp and Selsey Refugee Camp in GB, 1938-1939: accommodation and routine; visits by potential hosts and rejection of offers in attempt to stay with brother; reasons for move to Selsey Refugee Camp. Recollections of period as refugee schoolchild in GB, 1939-1941: joining Watts family in London; education; lack of understanding of her situation by host family; contact with family; reasons for leaving family; punishment from Jewish matron in hostel in Hackney and how if effect her religious outlook; evacuation with school to Cockley Cley, 1/9/1939; billeting with Howard family. REEL 3 Continues: Howard family farm; wetting the bed; Mrs Howard's fear of German Air Force raids; character of education; elements of anti-German attitudes of some British evacuees; removal of refugee matron; difficulty of entering puberty without support; return to hostel in London, 1941. Recollections of period as refugee in London, GB, 1941-1949: attitude towards first jobs; training for factory work in Ealing/Action area. REEL 4 Continues: factory work and difficulties of living in hostel; joining Free German Youth club; attitude towards making weapons that would be used against Germany; impact of situation on her psychological state; contact with mother; awareness of Allied air raids on Hamburg; origins of her sense of insecurity; work at Sunbeam Products Ltd factory prior to moving to factory in Park Royal; nature of work and injury. REEL 5 Continues: difficulties of lodging with family in East End, London; lack of help received from Bloomsbury House organisation; attempt to become interpreter in Germany; meeting her future husband Ken Lee; contact with mother; refusal of Bloomsbury House and Mr Watts to lend her money to see mother; difficulties of reunion with mother, 1949; learning of father's death in Minsk, Soviet Union, 1941; relations with mother. REEL 6 Continues: decision of her brother to return to Germany. Reflections on Holocaust experience: losing touch with Jewish community; attending Kindertransport reunions; visit to Israel and importance of state to her; reasons for decision to have children christened; sense of guilt at surviving war; bonding with Kindertransport children.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content), Interwar (association), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production Company)
Smith, Lyn E (Recorder)
Lee, Celia Jane (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 1997-09-21
Dimensions: whole: Duration 180, Number Of Items 6
Catalogue number: 17635

Object associations

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