Life Changes for Jews

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“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 write-up in the newspaper and a picture of her-- she was blonde-haired, had blue eyes-- and this was sort of dragged through the press. I think it's called the Sturmer. And so they had some backlash from that and so that would have been right around the time the kids would have been taken out of German School.

"[My mother] went first to German school and then, I guess it would have been after the Nuremburg Laws, they were taken out of the German school and had to go to a school just for Jewish kids. I think she had a really enjoyable childhood. She was the younger of two girls. My Aunt Marianne was four years older than my mom, and you know my mom was definitely interested in boys and you know she had friends. She was, as I understand, she was generous. She would be given chocolate that she would then give away to children. Those are the kinds of stories that I heard."

Editor’s Note: Once Hitler rose to power, normal everyday life for Jewish Germans changed gradually at first. Since they were so young at the time, the biggest difference for Jackie’s mother and aunt was the change in schools. While they previously attended normal public German schools, after the Nuremburg Laws were put into effect, they were forced to attend Jewish-only schools with the rest of the Jewish children. Aside from some occasional hateful comments and past friends now ignoring her or being rude to her, Dora’s life did not change too much for the worse at first. She made new friends at the Jewish-only school and still lived a pretty happy childhood.