Add MS 89266

Journal letters of a young Quaker, written while serving with Friends Relief Service team 124, later team 19, in Goslar district, Germany, to an unspecified group of friends in England. The letters report on relief work with displaced people, youth work (with both refugees and local Germans), conditions in villages, as well as events - German Fellowship of Reconciliation conference, an international conference of Young Friends (Quakers) (Easter 1947), and a work-camp at Hildesheim (July – August 1947). The letters also discuss the British occupation of Germany, the attitudes and psychological state of displaced people and locals, especially the young, political and social engagement, and the need for spiritual regeneration. Other topics include the writer’s own state of mind, his suitability for the work, and his lack of success in making close friendships with Germans of his own age.

Contents:

28 March 1947. 124 Friends Relief Section (Quakers) B.A.O.R.Washing and laundry facilities for refugee dormitories in Goslar Halle. Local customs. Visit to Bad Harzburg. Friendship-building, setting up English language discussion group. Visit to villages with Red Cross nurse. Problem of former members of Nazi party being excluded from leadership positions. Nazism and civic involvement. Goslar FRS team to put up an exhibit for Quaker Yearly Meeting. Young Friends’ conference to take place over Easter.

3 April 1947. 124 Friends Relief Service (Quakers) B.A.O.R. Young Friends arrival for conference. Talks, discussions, music. Outing to see the sunrise. Further business of the Young Friends’ conference, final evening, and message to Young Friends of all lands. Clearing up, preparing exhibition, preparing English lesson for the Ukrainian group, preparing talk for Harzburg class. Need for atonement, forgiveness, healing. A man enquiring about British citizenship for his daughter had been interned in Britain during World War I.

Tuesday and Wednesday 27th, 28th [May 1947]. 124 Friends Relief Service (Quakers). Attended German Fellowship of Reconciliation (F.o.R) conference. Address by André Trocmé, world secretary of F.o.R. about experiences in Vichy France, etc. Discussions, contribution by Elisabeth Fox Howard. Tooth ache, shortage of soap. Mention of “Granny”.

28 June 1947. 124 Friends Relief Section (Quakers) B.A.O.R. His birthday. Müller-Hartmutt, from Harzburg trying to recruit pupils for the work-party in Hildesheim, met with pessimism and mistrust. Boys’ lack of time off from helping own families, unwillingness to engage in what they saw as free-labour; displaced children reluctant to help the locals. Typhoid in villages; vaccination programme. German views on Russian and American ambitions for world dominance, inevitability of war. ‘At home’ evening, singing, chess. Concert and auction for refugees. Tension between refugees and locals. Discussion with Harzburg class on the future of Germany. Concentration camps, military government, mass-bombing, starvation and Nuremberg Trials.

1 July 1947. 19 F.R.S. [Friends Relief Service] (Quakers) B.A.O.R. (‘OUR NEW NUMBER’). Goslar group now team 19. Team-meeting, visit to villages. Discussion group, German English character and politics. Villages and adult English class, Harzburg. Theft of clothes from an East Prussia refugee. Work group of secondary school boys to saw wood for school winter fuel. Visit to villages. Rambling, and thoughts of Walden [probably Saffron Walden Friends School], and friends at ‘The Forge’, Amersham.

19 July 1947. 19 Friends Relief Section (Quakers) B.A.O.R. Public opinions on Russia: fear and dislike of occupiers in Russian zone. Public opinion on hypocrisy of ‘Great Powers’ – bombardment, callous inhumanity and dictatorial methods. Team excursion into woods. Discussion groups, play acting (R.U.R. and St Joan) and concert. Young people’s discussion at Harzburg – strong criticism of occupying force. His own view on the wrongness of an army of occupation. Difficulty of making close friendships with Germans of his own age.

27 July – 2 August 1947. Work-camp at Hildesheim. Written later than dated, after the work-camp. Work-camp ‘not a complete success’. Stayed in youth hostel, along with several other groups. Food unsatisfactory, children undernourished, accommodation chaotic, dirty, with poor facilities. His own language and social inadequacy. Repairing and constructing children’s playgrounds. Talking with a Nazi follower. Hildesheim heavily bombed and the centre destroyed.