Description
Object description
British schoolchild at Lysée Francais and Landhiem Schondorf, Schondorf am Ammersee in Germany, 9/1939-5/1945; interpreter for United States Army in Germany, 5/1945-6/1945; relief worker with United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in Germany, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Putney, London, GB and Germany, 1928-1939: family. Recollections of period as schoolchild in Germany, 1939-1945: father's work for railways; starting education at Lysée Francais in Munich; atmosphere at school during early war years; treatment of Jewish pupils at school; anti-Nazi stance of family; limits on freedom of speech; first hearing of concentration camps, 1943; start education at Landhiem Schondorf, Schondorf am Ammersee; attitude towards school; impact of new Nazi headmaster on school and his Nazi beliefs.
REEL 2 Continues: story of visiting school post-war to find it housing concentration camp survivors; post-war fate of headmaster; lack of Allied bombing raids in area around Schondorf am Ammersee; helping to clear up after Allied air raids in Munich. Aspects of period as interpreter for United States Army in Germany, 5/1945-6/1945: initial meeting up with United States Army troops; opinion of United States Army troops; efficiency of German civil service; interpreting work for American forces; question of de-Nazification. Recollections of period as relief worker with United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in Germany, 1945-1946: joining United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), 7/1945; problems with organisations plans for repatriation of Displaced Persons; difficulties of dealing with Displaced Persons from Eastern Europe; formation of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) university in Munich and taking entrance examination for university.
REEL 3 Continues: move to Weiden; problems with repatriation; duties in administration centre; atmosphere in United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) Displaced Persons camps; morale among Displaced Persons; physical condition of Displaced Persons; cases of retribution by Displaced Persons against suspected Nazi collaborators; organisation of camps; number of male and female personnel serving with United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA); opinion of first United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) director; lack of language skills among United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) personnel; attitude towards work with United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA).
REEL 4 Continues: story of Displaced Person who became wealthy from black market; development of Munich into post-war cultural centre; impact of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) experience on life and career; consideration of self as European; attitude towards work of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). Aspects of period as schoolchild in Germany, 1939-1945: official news provided to German public; morale of German public; lack of alternative sources of information; later memories of post-war student life at University of Oxford.
REEL 5 Continues: Recollections of visits as civilian to Yugoslavia, 1950-1951: first visit to Yugoslavia, 1950; journey from Free Territory of Trieste to Belgrade; contact with William Deakin; staying with Josip Tito's wartime interpreter in Sarajevo; popularity of Josip Tito in Yugoslavia; optimism witnessed in Yugoslavia; failure of Yugoslavia's market socialist system and workers councils; failure of Communist regime to solve ethnic tensions; writing articles on Yugoslavia for journal Isis; occasion when protected by police during riots in Free Territory of Trieste.
REEL 6 Continues: variations between different parts of Yugoslavia; language situation; attitude towards problems in former Yugoslavia during 1990s; attitude towards failure of Yugoslav socialism. Recollections of visit as civilian to Soviet Union, 1958-1959: accompanying school trip to Soviet Union; experience of Soviet propaganda; ordinary Soviet civilian attitude towards Joseph Stalin despite de-Stalinisation; Soviet acceptance of propaganda as truth; growing freedom in Premier Nikita Khrushchev era; erosion of this freedom during Premier Leonid Brezhnev era; optimism in Soviet Union during 1960s.
REEL 7 Continues: variations on systems in Communist countries; Western world's view of Communist countries as uniform whole; attitude towards collapse of Communist bloc in Eastern Europe; question of whether Cold War is over; attitude towards American Foreign policy in 2001.