Description
Object description
Czech Jewish child in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1938-1939; emigrated from Czechoslovakia to GB on Kindertransport, 7/1939; refugee schoolchild in GB, 1939-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1932-1939: family; family's religious beliefs and question of Jewish identity; childhood and education; reaction to events, 1938-1939; memories of German forces entering Prague, 3/1939. Aspects of emigration on Kindertransport from Czechoslovakia to GB, 7/1939: preparations to emigrate to GB; description of suitcase and contents; journey from Czechoslovakia to GB on Kindertransport, 7/1939. Recollections of period as refugee schoolchild in GB, 1939-1945: accommodation with aunt in London; relations with aunt and uncle; role of Nicholas Winton in bringing Czech children to GB on Kindertransport.
REEL 2 Continues: further comments on Nicholas Winton and Trevor Chadwick's role in organising Kindertransport; story of interviewing Nicholas Winton for National Sound Archive; contact with Bertha Leverton; question of sharing experiences with other Kindertransport evacuees; story of meeting foster parents in Bournemouth; education in GB; question of forgetting Czech language; communication with parents in Prague, Czechoslovakia; conditions in foster home and opinion of aunt and uncle.
REEL 3 Continues: memories of declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; question of further contact with parents; daily life and education; move to and opinion of Czechoslovak State School in Llanwrtyd Wells; attitude to being prospect of being reunited with parents at end of Second World War. Reflections on Holocaust experience and of post-war life and employment: relations with foster parents and question of Jewish identity; reaction to death of parents in Holocaust; story of visiting site of Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia,1947; story of family jewels; training in domestic science and nursing; reason for studying psychology.
REEL 4 Continues: further comments on foster parents; training at hospitals in Alton and Bournemouth; question of further education and self-esteem; formal adoption, 1946; question of Jewish identity; further education in psychiatric social work at London School of Economics and counselling sessions; employment at King's College Hospital, London. Reflections on Kindertransport and Holocaust experience: attitude to Holocaust and death of parents; problem of mental health.
REEL 5 Continues: description of undergoing psychoanalysis; marriage and question of having children; story of emigration to Canada and access to Holocaust library; further comments on Jewish identity and attitude towards foster parents; question of relating Kindertransport experiences to own children; activities with Kindertransport groups.
REEL 6 Continues: contact with Holocaust survivors; continuing effects of Kindertransport experiences; story of visit to Auschwitz II-Birkenau and opinion of tourist nature of site, 1998; reason for seeing where parents died; problem of continuing trauma for Holocaust survivors; attitude to remembrance of Holocaust; religious beliefs.