Stories tagged "Prewar": 106
Stories
A New Home
“My mom was still in high school, and she was enrolled in George Washington High School. They lived in Washington Heights, eventually they got an apartment on 181st street, it was a one-bedroom apartment. Apparently, my mother and my aunt slept in…
Fleeing Nazi Oppression
“My grandfather found a Polish Jew who, for a hefty sum, was helping transport peoples’ home effects; furniture, linens, silverware, whatever, out of the country and he was able to – he told my grandfather to pack up some trunks and be prepared –…
Kristallnacht in Fürth
“My grandparents’ home was not harmed in anyway the way homes and stores were harmed in Nuremburg.“The Nazis came and knocked on the door, told them to get dressed, they were going into the town square. Apparently, my mom was not dressed in anything…
Planning an Escape
“Apparently, my grandmother spoke to my grandfather about it and really wanted to leave and, because he didn’t really believe this was happening in his Germany, he refused to leave. And then as I understand it, they were visiting in the summer of…
Life Changes for Jews
“So apparently my aunt was aked to play the Christmas angel in her school Christmas play, and as I understand it my grandmother went to talk with the rabbi to make sure this was okay, and he said yes. And then there must've been some sort of…
Fürth in the Days of Youth
“So, I visited with my mother in 2002, and they lived actually really close to the town square, around the corner from a department store actually that, we went there to buy an umbrella because it was raining when we were visiting. It was near the…
Opa: The Red Baron
“He originally signed up to be in the cavalry, and as I understand it, the cavalry was not exciting enough for him, and so he then switched to the air force and became a bombardier. He definitely won medals, and I know he was really proud of his…
Work Before Nazi Control
“He was the owner of a textile mill that was in Hof, Germany, that had been owned by his cousin David Regensburger and I don’t know how it is that he inherited it. I know that he worked there, that he had done an internship and come to the United…
A "Mixed" Jewish Marriage
"I don’t know if my grandfather’s whole family came at the same time, but I believe he came in 1909 and he was the second of I think there were nine children, several of them died in fires and maybe there was a stillbirth, but I believe there…
Making Do and Making Money
"My mother grew up on a farm with her six siblings. They grew their own food, and I believe there were cotton fields, too. After graduating from high school, Mother went to work at Barrow Manufacturing, also known as the pants…