Description
Object description
Dutch Jewish schoolchild in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 5/1940-3/1943; inmate in Barneveld and Westerbork Transit Camps, Netherlands, 3/1943-9/1944 and Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 9/1944-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1935-1940: family; lifestyle; question of degree of Jewish identity. Recollections of period as schoolchild in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 5/1940-3/1943: reaction to the arrival of German troops; introduction of anti-Semitic measures; impact of occupation on education; reaction to wearing Star of David; lack of anti-Semitism amongst non-Jewish friends; disappearance of father and his fate, 12/1942; reaction of mother to father's disappearance; continuing education; rations; awareness of deportations; reasons for not escaping to GB in early stages of war; story of father's non-Jewish friends petitioning German authorities for clemency for his father.
REEL 2 Continues: nature of deportations of Jews from Netherlands. Aspects of period as inmate in Barneveld Transit Camp, Netherlands, 3/1943-9/1943: background to being sent to camp; camp activities; character of brothers; character of camp; contracting impetigo; question of escape from camp; memories of entomologist Professor Spijer. Recollections of period as inmate in Westerbork Transit Camp, Netherlands, 9/1943-9/1944: removal to camp; description of camp and barrack accommodation; latrines; living conditions and state of health; games played by children; story of being attacked by guard dog; attitude towards camp police.
REEL 3 Continues: transitory character of camp; bureaucratic nature of camp; weekly transport of bound to German concentration and extermination camps in the east; reaction of inmates to deportees list; camp alphabet devised by child inmates; death of elderly inmate during attack on camp by RAF aircraft, 5/1945; move to No 72 Barrack; psychological impact of life in camp; preparations for deportation to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia, 9/1944. Recollections of period as inmate in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia, 9/1944-5/1945: description of train journey in cattle truck to camp, 9/1944; interrogation on arrival in camp; origins of camp.
REEL 4 Continues: story of how camp was prepared for visit by Swiss Red Cross delegation; watching football match put on for Swiss Red Cross; accommodation; reason for mother volunteering to work in hospital laundry; removal with siblings to children's block; games played and activities; story of how mother brought food to them in children's block; discovery of store of clothes taken from inmates; acquiring chess set from store; witnessing selection of child inmates for transportation.
REEL 5 Continues: sight of Allied aircraft overhead and distant bombing; receiving Red Cross parcel; anticipation of end of Second World War; contracting mumps; arrival of British POWs; speculation on fate of inmates; story of how family were refused place on transport to Switzerland; disposal of ashes of camp dead; situation in camp, 4/1945-5/1945; story of how mother wrote down Prime Minister Winston Churchill's announcement of end of Second World War, 8/5/1945. Aspects of liberation of Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 5/1945-6/1945: liberation of camp by Soviet Army; arrival of International Red Cross; restrictions on food supply; treatment of German guards by inmates; atmosphere in camp, 5/1945; leaving camp with intention of moving to GB, 6/1945.
REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of journey from Czechoslovakia to GB, 6/1945: move to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia; mother's refusal to enter Displaced Persons camp in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia; mother's obtaining place in RAF Vickers Wellington; flight from Pilsen, Czechoslovakia to Croydon, GB via Paris, France; reception on arrival in GB; kindness of British policeman to him and his siblings; mother's reunion with her father, Simon Van Lier; memories of grandfather. Aspects of period as schoolchild in GB, 1945- physical condition and treatment; joining Waifs and Strays Society in Doncaster; attitude towards staying with various Jewish families in Weston-super-Mare; kindness of his elder brother's foster father, Dr Morley.
REEL 7 Continues: attitude towards Jewish background; return to London to live with mother; continuing education; medical problems and treatment; ability to stand up for self; attitude towards Jewish faith; further education and difficulties of learning; continuing studies and employment. Aspects of period as signaller with Royal Signals in GB and Cyprus, 1954-1955: call up to Catterick Camp; attitude towards National Service; watching film on liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp.
REEL 8 Continues: posting to Egypt then Cyprus; return to GB. Reflections on Holocaust experience: reunion with RAF pilots who flew family to GB, 6/1945; learning to talk of experiences; story of how he was invited by local vicar to light candle for Amnesty International and talk about experiences, 1995; talking about experiences to schools from 1996; reads poem written by Connie Rosenheimer in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp.