Description
Object description
Austrian Jewish civilian in Vienna, 1927-1939; emigrated to GB on Kindertransport, 1939; refugee in Falmouth and Oxford, GB, 1939-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Vienna, Austria, 1927-1939: family; neighbourhood; family home; work of father; education including transfer to Jewish school, 1938; departure of father following Anschluss; organisation of place on Kindertransport; reactions on departure; knowledge of English. Aspects of period as civilian refugee in Falmouth and Oxford, GB, 1939-1945: arrival at Harwich; discussion of memory; details of diary kept since 1937; night in London; journey to hosts in Falmouth; accommodation; details of hosts and change of accommodation; relationship with sister; items brought from Austria; reaction to situation and learning of English; education in Catholic School; background to christening and reason for selecting name, Jane; contact with family in Europe; escape of father from France, 1940, and subsequent life; relationship with father; absence of electricity; climate and heating; leisure activities; contact with American troops; war service of sister; reaction to departure; following progress of war including story of air raid and listening to Lord Haw Haw; settling into life in GB including story of hitting school colleague; contact with mother; listening to radio including classical music.
REEL 2 Continues: visits of film stars to area including stories of meeting Laurence Olivier and others; reading and visits to Falmouth Library; further details of diary including description and question of privacy; end of education; decision to move to Oxford, 1944; civilian work; settling into new life; accommodation; further details of civilian work including famous people met and leisure activities. Aspects of period as civilian in GB from 1945: discovery of mother and grandmother's fate; return visits to Vienna including contact with researcher; story of doll, Trixie, including details of exhibitions in Germany it has been displayed in.