Description
Object description
German Jewish schoolchild in Pirna and Dresden, Germany, 1933-1942; inmate in Riga Ghetto, Latvia, 1/1942-10/1943; inmate in Strasdenhof Subcamp, Kaiserwald Concentration Camp, Riga, Latvia, 10/1943-9/1944; inmate in Stutthof Concentration Camp, Poland, 9/1944-10/1944; inmate of Burggraben Subcamp, Stutthof Concentration Camp in Danzig, Germany, 10/1944-3/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as schoolchild in Pirna and Dresden, Germany, 1933-1942: character of Pirna; family life; growth of anti-Semitism; family circumstances and religious beliefs; degree of support for Nazis in town; degree of anti-Semitism in area; father's reaction to his attending town carnival, 2/1938; ostracism at school after Kristallnacht, 11/1938; damage to family business on Kristallnacht, 11/1938; story of refusing to listen to lesson about Adolf Hitler, 12/1937; arrest of father, Kristallnacht, 11/1938; move to uncle's house in Dresden, 11/1938.
REEL 2 Continues: being put on list for Kindertransport; how father escaped to GB, 7/1939; attempts to get out of Germany; accommodation in Dresden; orders to wear Star of David, 1941; story of encounter with elderly lady in street who changed her attitude once she discovered he was Jewish; notification that family were to be removed from Dresden, 1/1942; restrictions placed on Jewish civilians; children leaving to go aboard; embarkation on train at Dresden Railway Station. Recollections of period as inmate in Riga Ghetto in Latvia, 1/1942-10/1943: train journey to Riga; walk in snow storm to ghetto; how mother kept hold of luggage; execution of inmates; accommodation; number of early deaths on arrival; brother's going out to work; inadequacy of rations; organisation of cultural activities; fate of Latvian Jews; learning English, Jewish law and history; reaction to sight of Schutzstaffel (SS) man beating up old man.
REEL 3 Continues: Germans shooting of Latvian Jewish police; begging for bread amongst German Jewish inmates; resourcefulness of mother; acquiring firewood; reaction to threat of death; sight of buildings outside ghetto; how mother managed to get food parcel from Germany; work in garden nursery; removal from ghetto, 10/1943. Recollections of period as inmate Strasdenhof Subcamp, Kaiserwald Concentration Camp, Riga, Latvia, 10/1943-9/1944: treatment on arrival in camp; work repairing German uniforms; how mother manufactured slippers for food; rations; volunteering to set up gardens, 2/1944; beating received; cooking potato peelings; story of how he missed a selection and was saved by camp commandant; selection of mother.
REEL 4 Continues: removal to Stuffhof Concentration Camp, 9/1944; awareness of gassing; question of survival; character of German camp officials.