East Midlands Oral History Archive

Dora's Story 2: Moving to Postwar Britain

Moving to Postwar Britain, offers a way in to Dora's life story through a series of ten extracts from the original interview. In these extracts, Dora talks about travelling from Germany to England after the Second World War, the challenges of not speaking English and the prejudice she experienced as a German. She reflects on Nazi atrocities and gives us an insight into the opinions, beliefs and behaviours of a woman living in the shadow of conflict.

This resource offers

  • a series of ten extracts (numbered 11 to 20) from the original oral history interview which have been subtitled and are made available through YouTube
  • a Guide for Teachers with curriculum links, full transcripts and suggested learning activities available as a downloadable PDF

Learning at Key Stage 3

Dora's Story offers opportunities to:

  • learn about challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day including topics such as the Rise of Hitler and the Nazis, Persecution of Jews in Germany 1933-1939 and Migration and Movement
  • extend and deepen pupils' chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of world history by considering the lives of ordinary people in Germany between 1933 and 1945
  • identify significant events, make connections, draw contrasts, and analyse trends by considering Dora’s life against the backdrop of national and international political upheaval and conflict
  • use historical terms and concepts in increasingly sophisticated ways by using oral history as a historical source and comparing it with other sources
  • pursue historically valid enquiries and create relevant, structured and evidentially supported accounts in response
  • understand how different types of historical sources are used rigorously to make historical claims and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed by using first-hand oral testimony and considering the benefits and challenges of this source

11 I always wanted out

Dora talks about her childhood dreams of leaving Berlin. She explains how she tried to leave Germany after World War Two.

12 I decided I will go

Dora recalls her last night in Berlin before she left, how she daren't tell her mother that she was leaving and the send-off her work colleagues gave her.

13 I had to sneak out

Dora recalls how she had to move between secretly East and West Berlin in order to flee Germany. She talks about the difficulties of getting the papers she needed to leave the country.

14 I couldn't talk

Dora she recalls a train journey from London to Melton Mowbray when she first arrived in England and the difficulties of not speaking English.

15 Goose

Dora remembers her first Christmas in England and relates how language barriers caused confusion.

16 I couldn't form friendships with anybody

Dora reflects on how she felt like an outsider when she came to England and how she struggled to form bonds with other people.

17 I couldn't answer back

Dora talks about her neighbours in Melton Mowbray and some of the prejudices that she experienced as a German living in England.

18 Don't volunteer to say where you come from

Dora recalls the hostility she received from a customer who found out that she was German.

19 Put it to one side and try to forget

Dora reflects on the atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War Two.

20 Integrated

Dora talks about settling in to life in England and how people were interested in her and her life in Germany.
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