Description
Object description
German schoolchild living in Berlin, 1922-1939; emigration to GB, 1939; lived in London, 1939-1942; served as wireless mechanic with Balloon Command, RAF in GB, 1943-1944; served with Transport Command, RAF in GB, 1944-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Magedeburg, Germany, 1922-1933: Jewish family background including paternal grandfather's career in timber trade and father's service with German cavalry unit, father's death, 1930 and maternal grandfather's career as stockbroker in US and GB; social circumstances and childhood memories; education; ant-Semitism and effects of Hitler coming to power, 1933. Period living with uncle in Hampstead, London, 1933-1934: reactions; education at Halls School; attack of rheumatic fever; background to return to Germany. Period at Magdeburg and Berlin, 1934-1939: education at Herrlingen boarding school, 1933-1938.
REEL 2 Continues: education at Herrlingen boarding school, 1934-1938, including question of anti-Semitism, agnostic beliefs, bah mitzvah and question of preparations for emigration to Palestine; anti-Semitism in Magdeburg and mother's move to Berlin, 1937; attending Jewish School of Commerce, Berlin, 1938; problems attending Jewish agricultural school at Gross Beeson, Silesia, 1938; nature of farm work; arrest of over-16s sent to concentration camps on arrival of SA on Kristalnacht, 9/11/1938; return to Berlin, 11/1938; family financial situation; emigration to GB, 3/1939. Period living with uncle in Hampstead, London, 1939-1941: attending secretarial college; question of anti-Semitism; prior vocational guidance and assessment of capabilities; reactions to outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; evacuation of secretarial college to Kettering.
REEL 3 Continues: billets and allowance from uncle; move to Bedford; billets; continuation of secretarial training; working as management trainee in hotel kitchens, 1940-1941; lodgings in Regents' Park and Hampstead; use of Belsize Park Tube Station as air raid shelter, ca 9/1940; working as management trainee in hotel kitchens, 1940-1941; appendicitis and redundancy, 1941. Period living in Torquay, clerical work as hotel management trainee; status as British citizen following naturalisation, 7/1939; recreations including cinema and night schools; volunteering for RAF, 1942. Selection for training as wireless mechanic at RAF Recruitment Centre, Penarth, ca 9/1942. Period at RAF Reception Centre, Blackpool, ca 9/1942: drill; story illustrating lack of interest in sport; billets; political discussions and reactions of NCO; relationship with recruits and instructors.
REEL 4 Continues: reaction to military lifestyle; Period at Stockport, ca 10/1942-4/1943: theoretical lectures; recreational reading; stomach problems and operation. Period at Technical School, Kensington, London, ca 4/1943-9/1943: recreations; wireless lectures and practical tests. Period with Balloon Command, RAF in GB, 1943-1944: training in servicing balloon wireless transmitters to warn Allied aircraft of proximity to balloon cables; posting to Glasgow, 1943; situation; question of German accent; equipment with van and WAAF driver; touring area checking and servicing balloon wirelesses; dancing; posting to Plymouth area and Dartmouth areas, 1943-1944; conditions of service; story of driving with wing commander; newspapers; question of promotion; question of acceptance for air crew training. Period with Transport Command, RAF, Lynham, 1944-1946: role servicing wireless on York and Dakota; work study and slow rate of work; wireless maintenance programme; story of servicing aircraft wireless for Leigh Mallory prior to his failure to return from flight; recreations; educational correspondence courses; rejection as interpreter; volunteering and acceptance for role in educational and vocational training; promotion to sergeant; role starting educational and vocational school.
REEL 5 Continues: relationship with NCO instructor; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; application for university grant; demobilisation, 10/1946. Post-war career: studying politics as London School of Economics, 1946-1948; changing name by deed pole, 1949; prior lecturing to German POWs during RAF service, 1945; part-time work lecturing to German POWs for Foreign Office; review of career in management and consultancy; review of political career in Bow Group, Conservative Party, and as European MP, 1979-1989.