Description
Object description
Polish civilian served with Polish Underground Army in Poland, 1942-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Lvov, Poland, 1923-1942: family; decision to live in Russian area after division of country, 1939; knowledge of Russian; German invasion and joining of Polish Underground Army. Aspects of period as civilian with Polish Underground Army in Poland, 1942-1945: opposition of army; knowledge of Lvov ghetto and Janowska concentration camp; problems with buying food; details of training; Russian officers pretending to be Polish; life behind opposition lines including story of capture and escape; details of revenge attacks against Ukrainian troops; later contact with Ukrainians; knowledge of Katyn massacre; paperwork carried by underground army members; contact with Russian troops; American equipment used by Russian troops; treatment and memories of Jewish civilians in Lvov; attitude to Jews in Poland; problems faced by Pelc and Jewish wife, Helen, in post-war Britain.
REEL 2 Continues: details of pre- war anti-Semitism in Poland; details of Jewish ghetto occupant employed in town with Pelc's sister; details of Polish opposition to German rule; process of joining Polish Underground Army; examples of treatment from Germans when captured; details of operations involved in; women in Polish Underground Army including organisation of later journey to GB; liberation of Janowska concentration camp; story of friend's departure for ghetto; discussion of religion including problems faced by Pelc and Jewish wife, Helen, in post-war Britain; details of period living in US; details of life with sister in Krakow and Katowice, 1945.
REEL 3 Continues: German care for culture in occupied countries; activities of liberating Russian troops; capture and details of physical and mental torture received from Russians; desire to be neutral; help received from British and French during war; details of duties in American camp in Germany, 1945; attempt to assist Warsaw Uprising, 1944; details of living conditions while in Polish Underground Army; attitude of situation; treatment of women by Russians; punishments for collaborators; attitude to Communism; journeys between German and Russian occupied parts of Poland including contact with border guards; scenes of Jews being transported to Russia; playing bridge in Polish Club; details of escape into Germany, 1945; work in Germany, 1945-1946; journey to GB via Italy. Aspects of period as civilian in GB from 1946: advantages of arrival as civilian.
REEL 4 Continues: civilian work including learning of English language; story of meeting and courting wife, Helen; experiences of wife during Holocaust; after-effects of experiences; problems faced by Pelc and wife in post-war Britain including from 45 Club; relationship with children including religion; opinion of modern Poland; relationship with fellow members of Polish Club; Jewish population of Lvov before and after war; attitude to life.