"They got there on the 29th, I believe, of May. And everybody was very excited. They packed their suitcases. They had brought them on the deck, and they were awaiting permission to leave to go to the land. And just 24, or maybe 48, hours prior to…

"Well, [my Aunt Edie] said there were a lot of young people, and she said that they had parties every night. This was a luxury liner. And it was taken over by the Nazis, so they flew the Nazi flag. They had a big picture of Hitler in the dining…

"They heard about this ship that was going to be sailing from Hamburg to Cuba. It was leaving in May of 1939. And they did everything they could to book passage on it. Apparently the tickets were sold out almost immediately. They had to pay an…

"Eventually a group of compassionate Jewish citizens from the town of Harrogate, which is in the northeast corner of England came, and they were willing to take 25-30 young Jewish girls-- religious girls-- back to their community with them. And so,…

"Well, they were assigned to a cabin, and like I said, there were 1000 children on this transport. There were already children that were there from other countries. And what they were told to do was to make themselves as much at home as they…

"[Ruth and Hilde] eventually got to the hook of Holland, in Rotterdam, and they boarded a ship that took them across the English Channel and on to Dovercourt, England, and that was a summer camp with cabins, but they weren’t heated. And the crossing…

"And then they went on with 1000 children on that transport. They had a very harrowing experience. And they got to the border of Holland and Germany. And the soldiers there-- the German soldiers-- they boarded the train. And they harassed…

"There was a knock at the door, and the Gestapo had said they wanted to see my grandfather. I believe he was still in bed. Well, they followed my grandmother into their bedchambers, and he got dressed hastily. They said he had to come with them. And…

"[Ruth] got home [from her trip to Oldenburg], and the first thing she noticed-- there were swastikas all over her house. And it had been a beautiful home, and it was prominently centered in the middle of town, and then she noticed that all the…

"So my father rode back to his house. And when he got there, my grandmother told him that my grandfather had already come home once, and she told him to go back out because they Gestapo had been by looking for him, and they wanted to arrest him. So…