Three testimonies recorded in Dundee in 1987 have been digitised and added to the GTV archive, making them publicly accessible for the first time. The recordings — conducted by community historian Miriam Tannenbaum — capture the experiences of Hannah Weiss, Josef Krauss, and Edith Löwy, all of whom arrived in Scotland between 1936 and 1939.
The digitisation project was funded by a grant from Creative Scotland and carried out in partnership with the University of Dundee's audio preservation unit. The work took eight months and involved cleaning degraded magnetic tape before converting to archival-quality digital files.
About the testimonies
Hannah Weiss arrived in Dundee in 1937 aged 19, having fled Vienna with her younger brother following Kristallnacht. She worked as a seamstress in the jute mills before later becoming a teacher. Her testimony runs to three hours and covers her childhood in Vienna, the journey to Scotland, and her experience of building a new life in the city.
"We arrived and nobody spoke our language. But the people were kind. That was enough to begin with."
Hannah Weiss, recorded Dundee, 1987
Josef Krauss arrived in 1936 from Munich, one of the first wave of refugees to settle in Tayside. His testimony, running to just under two hours, is remarkable for its detail of daily life in the city during the war years, including his work at a local engineering firm and his involvement in organising cultural events for the refugee community.
Edith Löwy's testimony is the shortest at 47 minutes, but historians consider it one of the most significant. Löwy was among a small number of witnesses who documented the experience of being interned on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien in 1940, despite having fled Nazi Germany herself.
Help us preserve more testimonies
Gathering the Voices is a Scottish charity. Projects like this Dundee digitisation rely on donations and grant funding. If you know of a testimony that should be preserved, or would like to support our work, get in touch.
Get involvedAccess the testimonies
All three testimonies are now available in full on the GTV website. Each includes the original audio recording, a full transcript, photographs where available, and contextual notes prepared by the University of Dundee research team.
The digitisation of the Dundee collection is part of a wider project to make privately held testimonies accessible to researchers, educators, and members of the public. GTV is currently working with families in Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh who hold similar recordings.
If you have a recording, document, or photograph related to the Jewish refugee experience in Scotland, contact GTV via the website or email archive@gatheringthevoices.com.