Peter Johnson: Personal papers

Identifier
WL1329
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 70422
Dates
1 Jan 1885 - 31 Jan 1973
Level of Description
Collection
Languages
  • German
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

  • Great Britain. Army. Pioneer Corps

Biographical History

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Wolfgang Josephs (later Peter Johnson), a German Jew from Berlin, came to Great Britain in July 1933. He began work in the fur trade until he was interned as an enemy alien at the outbreak of war and later transported on the 'Dunera' to Hay Internment Camp, Australia. His parents having divorced in 1934, his father went to Amsterdam in 1937, from where he was deported to Auschwitz in 1942. His mother came to Great Britain in 1939 and went into service. On Johnson's return to Great Britain in 1941 he enlisted in the Pioneers Corps, later changing his name to Peter Johnson. He was a military interpreter for the British occupying forces in Germany at Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, from May 1945 to October 1946 where he was involved with the de-nazification process. Whilst there he also took an interest in the returnees from concentration camps, arranging correspondence between them and their families all over the world.

Acquisition

family docs (ICEC tracing service)

Donor: Peter Johnson

Scope and Content

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This collection of Peter Johnson's personal papers documents his life up until the immediate post-war period. It includes school reports, family correspondence, documents re naturalisation, papers relating to his service in military intelligence, and papers relating to the former Jewish population in Hildesheim, where he was stationed at the end of the war. Also deposited by Peter Johnson, the bulk of which collection relates to the activities of the refugee social club 'Hyphen', of which he was one of the founding members.

System of Arrangement

The papers have been arranged in the following order: his father's (1329/1-24); his mother's (1329/25-29); Peter Johnson's (1329/30-155)

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Conditions Governing Reproduction

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Related Units of Description

  • The Wiener Library has a copy of a tape recorded interview with him, the original being produced for the Imperial War Museum, which details his life as an internee in Great Britain and Australia (Wiener Library tape No. 87a, b).

People

  • Johnson, Peter

Subjects

Places

  • Lower Saxony
  • Hildesheim
This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.

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