Description
Object description
British civilian worked for Committee for the Care of Children from Concentration Camps and Amnesty International, 1945-1985; founder of Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, 1985
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of maternal grandparents, Rebecca and Joseph Bader: background including contact of grandfather with Russian Revolutionaries; character of and relationship with grandfather; Sundays at grandparents including first thoughts about remembrance; personal memories of grandfather; personal memories of grandmother including story of pet parrot and memories of Aunt Mina; songs from childhood; family; character and marriage of mother. Aspects of paternal grandparents: poverty in New York; voyage to New York; period on farm near Austro-Hungarian border; movement of and relationships within family; personal memories of grandmother; arguments among family; father's education; period living with family; work of father including help given to Jews escaping Nazi Germany. Background in London, 1925-1945: health during childhood; education from father; details of telephone; relationship between parents.
REEL 2 Continues: knowledge of events in Germany and fears for future; fascism in North London; protests in East End; gang formed to disrupt British Union of Fascists' marches; anti-Semitism experienced; story of contact with German Jewish refugee pianist; education; family homes; further details of gang formed to disrupt British Union of Fascists' marches; evacuation with school to Suffolk and changes to life; story of essay competition and fight with church school children; father's wishes for her future; relationship between parents; details of mother's cousins from Palestine including story of pet dog; story of burial during air raid; secretarial training; background to joining Jewish Relief Unit. Aspects of period as civilian with Jewish Relief Unit in GB, 1943-1945: placement with National Association for Mental Health; appraisal from unit's psychologist; end of war; meeting of future husband, Rudi Bamber; further details of mother's cousins from Palestine, Heinz and Mendel Bader.
REEL 3 Continues: knowledge of concentration camps; story of Rudi Bamber including events of Kristallnacht and internment in Australia. Aspects of period as civilian with Jewish Relief Unit in Germany, 1945-1947: roles undertaken in Germany; setting-up of relief units at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp; accommodation; problems with cold; talking with inmates including reactions; examples of stories told including humour; story of large rat; attempts of inmates to return to Poland; language; methods of coping with situation and leisure activities; memories of Hungarian soldier and work at Kaunitz; story of collecting arrested inmates and actions of German POWs; opinion of hospital at Bergen-Belsen; details of camp committee; details of camp theatre.
REEL 4 Continues: workshops; influence on later work of experience at Bergen-Belsen and Kaunitz; psychoanalytic training and work with Committee for the Care of Children from Concentration Camps. Background in London, 1925-1945: family including relationship between and with parents; memories of childhood; motivation behind work; preparation of mother for air raids; memories of father's family; reasons for choice of work since Second World War; details of work with victims of torture. Aspects of period as civilian co-director of Helen Bamber Foundation in GB from 2005: background to creation of foundation including stories of clients; details of reports made to assist asylum cases. REEL 5 Continues: story of female survivor of 1994 Rwanda Genocide; living with anger and reactions to civilian attitude to asylum seekers; speaking to schools; story of Malawi family in Weymouth. Background in London, 1925-1945: anti-Semitism experienced in youth; gang formed to disrupt British Union of Fascists' marches; reason for learning Modern Hebrew; discussion of Israel; affects on work of social life; question of retirement; reflections on marriage and family; work with second generation Holocaust survivors; working relationship with Morris Papworth; question of outlook on nationality.