Description
Object description
Czechoslovakian Jewish schoolgirl lived in Sudetenland and Prague 1930s, archivist to artist Peter Kien; emigrated to England on Kindertransport, 1939; civilian refugee in GB, 1939-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Gablons and Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1923- 1939: family and memories of childhood; education; religion; influence of Alfred Adler and Fred Hartig on interest in art; languages spoken; awareness of political situation in Sudetenland; experience of anti- Semitism; membership of Zionist Youth movement; family attitudes to Palestine; assistance given by mother to German refugees; mother's reaction to First World War; relationship with Peter Kien; reasons for move to Prague, 1938; attempts to emigrate to Palestine; relationship to Jan Honsa and George Hartman; contact with German refugees; life in Prague including relationship with Peter Kien and Peter Weiss; involvement in collecting Peter Kien's literary archive together.
REEL 2 Continues: involvement in collecting Peter Kien's literary archive together including story of the liberetto Der Kaiser von Atlantis; relationship with Erich Duchinsky and organisation of place on Kindertransport including interview with Gestapo; scenes on departure; population of compartment; memories of journey to London. Aspects of period as civilian refugee in GB, 1939- 1945: collection from London Liverpool Street Station; stay with Erich Duchinsky; period with Stephenson family near Fordingbridge including civilian work; reasons for leaving and relationship with evacuees; arrival of Germans in Prague; theft of possessions from Bloomsbury House; contact with parents and Peter Kien; mental effects of departure from home; period in London with Erich Dichinsky; life on David Eder's kibbutz preparation farm at Ringlestone, 1939-1940; accommodation at Jewish Orthodox Hostel in Stamford Hill.
REEL 3 Continues: relationship with Rene Morton; impressions of Jewish community in England; civilian work with United Dairies; move to Oxford and work on Delamare farm including relationship with Delamare family; background to gaining scholarship to Regent Street Polytechnic with assistance of artist Oskar Kokoschka; details of scholarship; accommodation in Czech hostel; civilian work; culture shock of British art establishment; reasons for leaving; marriage to Otto Fischel, 1943; help from Peter Ustinov's father in gaining work; war work making air force goggles; knowledge of family's fate. Aspects of period as civilian in GB from 1945: reactions to seeing films on Holocaust; financial status of family before war; later return of family home; discovery of family's fate including story of brother in Theresienstadt; creative scene in Theresienstadt; story of meeting with Hartman brothers in England, 1946; talk with Jan Hartman about his experiences in Auschwitz; state of Hartman brothers, 1946; visit to Hartmans in Prague, 1947 including admiration for Aushwitz survivor met during stay.
REEL 4 Continues: discussion of anti- Semitic attitudes of Hartman brothers; career of Jan Hartman; reactions to 1947 coup in Czechoslovakia; escape of Hartman brothers to USA; importance of Jan and George Hartman to Fischel; effects of Holocaust on children of survivors; story of daughter's birth, 1950; work of husband; art training received from 1954; details of artistic output; work in public collections; reflections on activities after arrival in GB; feeling that she should have approached the Holocaust through art; effects of Holocaust on children of survivors; return visits to Gablons and Prague; opinion of nationality; membership of Kindertransport Association.
