Kitchener Camp, Richborough, Kent: records

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 1556 WL 644
Held at	: Wiener Library   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/ ›
Full title	: Kitchener Camp, Richborough, Kent: records
Date(s)	: 1939-1988
Level of description	: Collection level
Extent	: 1 box
Name of creator(s)	: May | Phineas | fl 1939-1985 | Kitchener Camp welfare officer

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Kitchener camp, a derelict site which had previously been an army camp, was taken over by the Council for German Jewry at the beginning of 1939 as a result of pressure from the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland to rescue threatened Jews from Germany and Austria. Conditions for admission were that inmates must be aged between 18 and 40 and that they have a definite prospect of emigration overseas. The camp began receiving refugees in February 1939 and ended with the outbreak of war in September after which most of the inmates chose to enlist in the British army. Three young English Jews, Jonas and Phineas May and M Banks, who were later to become commissioned officers in the Pioneer Corps, were put in charge of the management of the camp.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers relating to the Kitchener camp, Kent, 1939-1988, including Phineas May's manuscript diary of camp life, 1939; issues of the 'Kitchener Camp Review', 1939; information leaflets and illustrated brochure of the Kitchener Camp; correspondence of Phineas May in his capacity as entertainments' officer for the Pioneer Corps, 15 Aug 1939-12 Apr 1941 and memoirs of a former Kitchener camp inmate, May 1988.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Original order

Conditions governing access:

Open

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

Finding aids:

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk

Archival Information

Archival history:

This collection comprises 4 separate deposits. The core material was deposited by Phineas May in October 1987 (Accession numbers 54096-54102) when he was Honorary Custodian of the Jewish Museum at Bloomsbury House. He also deposited the entertainments licence at 644/5 in May 1988. In addition Peter Mansbacher, a former inmate of the camp, deposited some material which includes a brief autobiographical sketch at 644/7 and memoirs at 644/8 (Accession number 55506). Harold Jackson also deposited some photographs in September 1985 (Accession number 49111).

Immediate source of acquisition:

Phineas May; Harold Jackson; Peter Mansbacher

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
November 2007