Interview with Evelyn Amalié Labi

Austrian Jewish civilian in Vienna, Austria, 1935-1938; escaped to GB via Czechoslovakia, 3/1938-6/1938; refugee in GB, 6/1938-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Vienna, Austria, 1922-1938: family; education, including expulsion from school, 1935; religion; question of class consciousness in Viennese society; further details of family; discipline and nationality; work of father Viktor Bechert, including contact with Austrian Government; story of friend who refused place at Berlin Olympics, 1936; character of Austrian Nazis and effect on later life. Aspects of period as civilian during Anschluss in Vienna, Austria, 3/1938: events leading up to Anschluss; news of German Army troops crossing border; preparations for departure from Austria; visit from young Nazis looking for father Viktor Bechert, 12/3/1938; search for absent parents; arrangements for rendezvous; return of mother Johanna Bechert; arrival of armed Sturmabteilung (SA); nature of interrogation; looting of flat; events during evening, 12/3/1938; arrival of grandmother Hermine Petschau and departure from flat, including items taken. REEL 2 Continues: story of escape by taxi to Czechoslovakia. Aspects of period as refugee in Czechoslovakia, 3/1938-6/1938: search for father Viktor Bechert and rendezvous in Bratislava; first days in Bratislava; journey to family in Prague; family staff left behind; effects of experience on self and parents; denouncement of father Viktor Bechert in Vienna, Austria; coping with change and reactions to experiences; relation with Czech civilians; problems settling in Prague; preparations for move to GB, including father Viktor Bechert's desire to stay in Prague; reason for not taking train; aircraft flight to Brussels, Belgium; stay in Brussels, Belgium; financial situation. Recollections of period as refugee in GB, 6/1938-5/1945: arrival at Victoria Railway Station, London; night in Maida Vale, London; reaction to employment as au pair in Wellington; involvement in housework in Vienna; relations with employers; telephone call to mother Johanna Bechert and return to London; psychological breakdown of father Viktor Bechert; help obtained from Jewish Refugee Committee; accommodation; coping with situation. REEL 3 Continues: employment; story of helping Vienesse governess and husband to London; education; outbreak of Second World War, 9/1939; question of guilt felt about survival; story of post-war return to Vienna, 1964; question of psychological effects of experiences in Vienna, 1938; adjustment of parents to life in GB; father Viktor Bechert's interest in music; details of compensation; contact with grandmother Hermine Petschau during war and learning of her ultimate fate. REEL 4 Continues: Reflections on Holocaust experience: loss of family members in Holocaust; sense of loss of roots; relationship with family; talking about experiences with children; reaction to discovery of concentration camps; question of perceived status as survivor rather than victim; learning of Czech language; call-up and request to work in factory; obtaining war work in engineering factory; further education; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; continuation of education and marriage.