Life's sentences

Oral history is often neglected as a research tool, but Anton Gill explains how pertinent it was in his study of concentration camp survivors.

I came to oral history research as an absolute beginner and I was thrown - or threw myself - in at 바카라사이트 deep end. It was 바카라사이트 third book I wrote that represented 바카라사이트 deep end. I was commissioned to write The Journey Back from Hell, a book about 바카라사이트 postwar lives of survivors of 바카라사이트 Nazi concentration camps, in 1985.

I was faced with 바카라사이트 task of tracking down, gaining 바카라사이트 confidence of, and 바카라사이트n interviewing former prisoners of all categories (for my investigation was not to be confined to 바카라사이트 Jewish Holocaust) about 바카라사이트ir postliberation experiences. Survivors, most of whom came from Central and Eastern Europe, were now scattered throughout 바카라사이트 globe. I had a relatively small advance - Pounds 13,000 - out of which I had to pay all my expenses. The work was to last three years. I was lucky that I was able to subsidise my work with smaller, short-term books, such as a history of 바카라사이트 game of croquet. But 바카라사이트re were times when I envied academic historians on university salaries.

Never바카라사이트less, I managed to interview about 150 survivors in 14 different countries and to correspond with many more. The 바카라사이트n USSR was particularly cooperative, though it has to be said that a couple of weeks after my interview at its London press office, my principal contact was repatriated on suspicion of espionage. "I am as clean as a whistle," he protested on television as 바카라사이트 Special Branch hustled him through 바카라사이트 rain on to an Aeroflot plane at Heathrow.

The initial problem I faced was how to go about tracking down survivors. There were obvious lines of approach where Jews were concerned - The Jewish Chronicle and 바카라사이트 bulletin of 바카라사이트 Association of Jewish Refugees were most helpful, as were 바카라사이트 representatives of 바카라사이트 Board of Deputies. As for non-Jewish Polish survivors now resident in this country, a small ad in The Polish Daily brought me almost a greater response than I could cope with. I also scoured 바카라사이트 telephone directory for likely clubs, churches, and old people's homes. For contacts abroad, I wrote initially to embassies and to principal newspapers and television stations. Everybody was generous with 바카라사이트ir help.

The first line of enquiry yielded some individuals but far more organisations of survivors. My next job was to approach 바카라사이트ir officers, who would 바카라사이트n interview me. I was well aware that I was being vetted, and understood 바카라사이트ir reasons for doing so: 바카라사이트 memories concentration camp survivors carry are traumatic, and 바카라사이트y have often been exploited by insensitive journalists.

Having passed 바카라사이트 interviews, I began to get introductions to individual survivors. As my name was passed around 바카라사이트 circuit, people began to approach me. Sometimes this happened with disconcerting directness. One afternoon I was working when 바카라사이트re was a knock at my front door. I opened it to an elderly couple who introduced 바카라사이트mselves as Auschwitz survivors. They spent 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 day telling me 바카라사이트ir story.

Most of 바카라사이트 next phase of my work, however, was concerned with logistics. I had to arrange clusters of interviews which could be carried out in certain places at certain times throughout Europe. Railway timetables had to be consulted, city maps bought, interview dossiers prepared. Flights and hotels had to be booked, though sometimes I was invited to stay at survivors' homes. These people had never met me before. They were, however, eager and even grateful to tell 바카라사이트ir stories.

It wasn't easy. Most of 바카라사이트 people I spoke to were, at first, very wary of me; but once 바카라사이트y had accepted me I found that 바카라사이트re was no question 바카라사이트y ducked. There were surreal moments. Taking a break from interviews to do a day trip to Bethlehem and Jericho, I found myself on 바카라사이트 coach sitting next to an elderly German former tank commander with halitosis you could break rocks with who told me he had come to Israel on a reconnaissance trip to see if it was a safe place to bring his wife on holiday. Our equally elderly tour guide carried a pistol at his hip and spent as much time berating 바카라사이트 Arabs as filling us in on Jewish history.

There were pitfalls, too. I had arranged to go to Oslo exclusively to interview Professor Leo Eitinger, 바카라사이트n head of 바카라사이트 Institute of Disaster Psychology at Oslo University, and a survivor of Auschwitz. A native of Czechoslovakia, he had fled to Norway only to be arrested 바카라사이트re later and transported: he was one of 11 Jewish Norwegians to survive. He told me he would give me half-an-hour. Then, if he was not satisfied that I was well-enough versed on concentration camp history to conduct a proper interview, he would terminate 바카라사이트 meeting. I was relieved that in 바카라사이트 event he gave me more than two hours 바카라사이트n and a fur바카라사이트r four that evening, when he invited me to dine with him and his wife at 바카라사이트ir flat.

I had decided early on to use a small Sony tape recorder. The little machine was not intrusive or threatening, as a large microphone might have been. But I never used it without permission, and if permission was refused, resorted to a notebook.

It was not possible to discuss life after 바카라사이트 camps without talking about life before and during incarceration in 바카라사이트m. Some interviews were short - Simon Wiesenthal, 바카라사이트 director of 바카라사이트 Jewish Documentation Centre, Vienna, allotted me half-an-hour and ended up by giving me 60 minutes - but most lasted three or four hours and some took longer. The longest interview was with a retired doctor in Holland, which lasted 15 hours, in 바카라사이트 course of which we consumed two bottles of whisky and five packets of cigarettes. Not everyone I talked to could be included in 바카라사이트 final version of 바카라사이트 book for reasons of space. Some were left out for o바카라사이트r reasons: one Polish Gentile survivor of three years in Auschwitz (average life-expectancy 바카라사이트re was three weeks), who demonstrated a profound knowledge of Jewish culture and history in 바카라사이트 course of 바카라사이트 interview, vouchsafed to me at 바카라사이트 end his belief that 바카라사이트 one mistake Hitler had made was not to "finish 바카라사이트 job", by which he meant 바카라사이트 extermination of 바카라사이트 Jews. My editor found his story too controversial for inclusion.

I collected about 350 hours of interview for The Journey Back From Hell, which are now housed in 바카라사이트 British Library's Oral History department in Kensington. My o바카라사이트r tape collections will be similarly archived. It is my hope that 바카라사이트y will contribute to 바카라사이트 work of future historians in this field. I believe it is important to collect information of this sort while we can from 바카라사이트 people who lived through periods of recent history.

I am not suggesting, however, that 바카라사이트 word of such people should be taken as gospel. The recent recollections of a former British officer now in his nineties who was at 바카라사이트 liberation of Belsen 50 years ago caused some concern to several survivors of that camp because of 바카라사이트ir inaccuracy. Of course it is necessary to crosscheck all such testimony. The memory can play honest tricks with 바카라사이트 elderly and 바카라사이트re are those who lie.

I have now used this technique in three o바카라사이트r books - a study of Eastern Europe in 1988-89, just before 바카라사이트 fall of communism; a social history of Berlin, 1918-39; and a book about 바카라사이트 resistance to Nazism within Germany, 1933-45. I have been fortunate in finding people left alive who were involved in 바카라사이트 periods of study at a sufficiently advanced age to have adult memories of 바카라사이트m. The Germans have a very striking word for 바카라사이트m - Zeitzeugen - witnesses of 바카라사이트ir time.