Description
Object description
British private served with No. 1 Platoon, 1st Parachute Bde at Arnhem, Netherlands, Sep/1944; POW in Stalag IV-B, Muhlberg, Germany, 1944-1945.
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of period in GB, 1917-1940: family background in Russia and emigration to Bethnal Green, London; employment; story of being turned down for RAF; called up for military service, 2/Feb/1940. Aspects of period with Royal Artillery and Parachute Regt in GB, 1940-1944: basic training in Arbroath; posted to searchlight battery; duties as gun-layer on 6-inch naval gun at Dunoon; story of volunteering for Parachute Regt; reason for wanting to fight Germans; reaction to anti-Semitic remarks; description of parachute training at Bulford and Ringway; uniform and insignia; marriage; friendship with other Jewish soldiers; story of receiving advice from Jewish chaplain on eating non-Kosher food; further description of training with Parachute Regt including, weapons, parachute jumps, physical training and field exercises; story about visiting Jewish girl in Greenock; posted to No. 1 Platoon, 1st Parachute Bde at Down Ampney; story of visit by Montgomery prior to Operation Market Garden. Aspects of operations with No. 1 Platoon, 1st Parachute Bde in Netherlands, 9/1944: description of parachute drop from Dakota over Arnhem; role as forward platoon; took up position in farmhouse; casualties caused by 88mm shells; problem of running out of ammunition; story of surrendering to Germans. Aspects of period as POW in Netherlands and Germany, 9/1944-4/1945: personal possessions confiscated; taken to civilian prison in Apeldoorn; interrogation; opinion of food; description of train journey in cattle trucks; attitude of Dutch civilians to POWs; story of being asked if Jewish by German corporal.
REEL 2 Continues: taken to camp at Limberg; relations with other POWs. Aspects of period as POW in Stalag IV-B, Muhlberg, Germany: prison uniform; question of size and strength; attitude to treatment of Russian POWs; description of accommodation and sanitary facilities; used bed boards to make fire; weather conditions; punishments; description of camp; guard dogs; opinion of food; recreational and sporting activities; use of clandestine wireless set; escape attempts; Jewish religious services; roll calls; personal hygiene; concerts; story of being reported missing believed killed in action; censorship of letters; bartering of food and cigarettes; story of painting POW on hut roof after being strafed by US planes; story of guards abandoning camp and liberation by Russians, 4/1945; description of living off land and help from German civilians; released as part of prisoner exchange and taken to Halle; story of returning to GB for demobilization, 1946. Post-war life in GB: employment; reunions; effect on health of period as POW.