Description
Object description
German Jwish schoolchild in Germany, 1933-1938; refugee in GB, 1938-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Berlin, Germany, 1930-1938: family home and family; memories of childhood; parents and extended family including father's service in First World War; story of shouting at a Nazi parade; reason for preferring Communism to Nazism; opinion of Jewish need for a sense of humour; awareness of own Jewishness and anti-Semitic measures; plans made by family to emigrate including problems faced by father's business; family home in central Berlin; story of father's arrest in restaurant; mother's collapse during journey home; details of father's release and departure from country; experiences of self and mother on Kristallnacht, 9-10/11/1938; story of involvement in patriotic collections; story of friend, Ralph, being told not to play with him anymore and reactions to events; education; opinion of luck in getting away and later interest in Nazi Germany.
REEL 2 Continues: life in 1930s Berlin including memories of grandfather; reactions to departure from Berlin; details of journey via Hamburg and holiday on Baltic, summer 1938; voyage to Southampton. Aspects of period as civilian in GB, 1938-1945: story of only sentence of English known; story of first night and breakfast in England; impressions on arrival at Waterloo Station; reasons for having moved to England; family home in Stanmore; education including learning of English and opinion of advantages from losing accent; removal from Stanmore and internment of father; mother's return visit to Berlin, early 1939; family home in Kilburn; shelter taken from air raids and memories of landlady; move to and details of anti-aircraft guns in Primrose Hill; details of life as caretakers in home of anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski; reaction to outbreak of war; story of air raid sirens on 3/9/1939; story of air raid while at school; story of father's illness and death including story of brother's accident at work, 1944; memories of father's funeral and later reaction to his death.
REEL 3 Continues: details of brother and sister; story of sister lapsing into German in public during war; own use of German post-war; work of sister with American Army in Germany and marriage to American soldier; life and work of mother including own civilian work; contact with family members in Germany. Aspects of period as civilian in GB from 1945: reasons for becoming an actor; attendance at drama school; period with Bexhill Rep; story of language course television series including return visit to family home in Berlin and filming in East Berlin; story of film made in Berlin after unification; story of cousin in Berlin; discussion of life under a fascist regime; discovery of concentration camps; involvement in film about Albert Speer.
REEL 4 Continues: story of film about German refugees in Kenya; memories of Karl Flesch; naturalisation; visits to Berlin including contact with a member of the Hitler Youth; attitude to memorials including for the Holocaust; talking about experiences; question of being a Holocaust victim.
