Description
Object description
Austrian schoolchild in Knittelfeld, Austria, 1938-1943; served with German Labour Service in Yugoslavia, 1943-1945; civilian in Knittelfeld, Austria, 2/1945-6/1945; worked as interpreter for United States Army in American Zone of Occupation, Germany at Bad Tolz, Germany, 1945-1946; civilian in Knittelfeld, Austria, 1946-1947
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Knittelfeld, Austria, 1926-1938: family; education. Recollections of period in Knittelfeld, Austria, 1938-1942: requirement of brother to report to police station after waving Austrian flag at time of Anschluss, 3/1938; German presence in area after 3/1938; call-up of brothers for military service in German forces; lack of Royal Air Force bombing in area; sight of Royal Air Force dropping 'Christmas trees' flares; change in teachers after Anschluss, 3/1938; attitude of Austrians to progress of war. Aspects of period with German Labour Service in Yugoslavia, 1943-1945: drafting into German Labour Service to work on farms in Yugoslavia, 1943; nature of work; night-time curfew for female German Labour Service personnel; return home to Knittelfeld, Austria, 2/1945. Aspects of period as civilian in Knittelfeld, Austria, 2/1945-6/1945: United States Army Air Force destruction of town, 2/1945; sight of first United States Army troops entering town; rumour that Soviets were to take over Knittelfeld; escape into American Zone of Occupation, Germany.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of working as interpreter for United States Army in American Zone of Occupation, Germany at Bad Tolz, Germany, 1945-1946: role as interpreter; relations between American troops and German civilians in Bad Tolz; fights between German youths and American troops; problems of getting home to Knittelfeld, Austria after Soviet Army had left. Aspects of period as civilian in Knittelfeld, Austria, 1946-1947: story of how she arranged with British Red Cross for insulin to be sent to her mother, 1947; relations between British Army troops and Austrian civilians; meeting her future Royal Air Force husband, John Fowles in 1947; attitude of her mother and brother to her marrying an Englishman; question of how Austrian wives settled down in GB after Second World War.