Interview with Holocaust Survivor

Section One: Introduction

Since the middle Ages, Anti-Semitism, or prejudice against the Jewish religion, has been strongly apparent in history. Countless anti-Jew campaigns have plagued the world for hundreds of years, but it wasn’t until the Nazi’s reign in Germany that the issue reached a hideous climax. In the year 1941, Adolf Hitler instituted “The Final Solution”, a scheme which would rid the world of all Jews by systematically killing them all. This gruesome and terrible mass murder became known as “the holocaust”. The Holocaust is one of the most infamous periods in history. We look back on it not only in shock and horror, but also in wonder; we wonder at the bravery shown by the victims. It seems almost impossible to us, looking back, that people just like us underwent such a nightmare. But some people did, and their stories are some of the saddest and most beautiful the world has ever heard. In this interview, an anonymous woman will tell us how she survived the worst.

Section Two: Beginnings of Anti-Semitism in Pre-War Germany

     Question:  When did it first become apparent to you individually that being a Jew may be a possible detriment in society?

     Answer:  I remember walking to school one day. I was five years old; I was wearing my favorite white lace dress and shiny blue shoes. My hair was in curls and I was holding my books tightly. I walked quickly so I wouldn’t be late, and so that I would have time to play with my friends. It was a beautiful day. Suddenly I heard a whoosh, and there was a moment I saw something bright and vivid read out of the corner of my eye. I felt a squish, and when I looked down my pretty dress was red with juice and tomato seeds. From across the street I heard laughing. A little boy’s voice – “dirty Jew!” he called, and then he was gone. I didn’t go to school that day, or for the rest of the week. The dress was never white again.

     Question: When you were young did you notice a separation or difference between Jewish and Christian children or families?

     Answer: For the most part, there wasn’t a lot of crossover between Jewish and Christian families. We lived in different neighborhoods, had different social circles, and of course we went to different churches. There was never much of a reason to connect with each other, so I don’t really know what the majority of Christians thought of us. There was a little more crossover with the young children in school. We had nothing against sitting at tables together, sharing glitter and paste. During recess and lunch, though, the children from the Jewish neighborhoods sat together, and so did the children from the Christian neighborhoods. Looking back, I guess we might have gotten some dark looks, but I never really noticed at the time. The older children in the school seemed to understand things a little better and the two groups had almost no contact with each other. There was some hostility, but not enough to bother the innocent five year old that I was.

Section Three: Nuremburg Laws and Other Regulations

     Question: On April 1, 1933, Hitler declared a one day boycott of all Jewish shops. This was the first act of anti-Semitism enforced by German law. Did this bother you at the time?

     Answer: I didn’t really notice at the time. My pa owned a little bakery, but we’d had a few slow days leading up to the 1st. My pa was a little upset, but my ma calmed him down pretty well so that it wouldn’t get to us kids. Now you have to understand, Hitler didn’t just jump out at us and say “I hate Jews, so here’s what’s gonna happen!” No, it was very slow and steady with him. Nobody much noticed when the little baby steps crossed a line.

     Question: When was it that you began to feel troubled about the growing restraints on Jews?

     Answer: In the middle of April 1933, my brother was sent home from the army. I’ll never forget how disappointed my pa was when he met him at the front door. My brother cried and cried and cried, he told Pa that he wasn’t the only one, that it was as much my pa’s fault as it was his. No Jews, homosexuals, Jehovah’s witnesses, or black people remained in any government position. He said this would be the start of a nightmare, that the family should leave the country while we still could. I heard the whole thing through a door; I was supposed to be asleep hours ago, but raised voices kept me awake. My pa said we were Germans through and through – model citizens. No one would hurt us unless we committed a serious crime, he said. My pa had full trust in our government, and when eventually our family was moved to a ghetto he insisted it had to be for the best. I’m sure when my poor father was sitting in the gas chamber he was preaching the same thing to the men beside him.

Section Four: The Final Solution to the Jewish Problem

     Question: What was your first reaction when you heard about the “Final Solution”?

     Answer: I first learned about it through my teacher at the Jewish school I had been moved to. It was in the ghetto, so we didn’t have access to a real schoolhouse or books. Those of us who wanted to learn would meet our old teacher in her apartment. She’d have scraps of writing – pages from salvaged books, old newspaper advertisements littering the street. She’d give these to the younger students and give the rest of us lectures in history or science. Looking back on those lessons, I realize that they were the reason I could carry on those long, cold, hungry years in the ghetto. Bless her heart; she was publicly executed just weeks before liberation. But back to the question: my teacher and I were very close. Whenever I could, I would bring her bits of food and scraps of the information she so treasured. One day I was helping her hide the remnants of the school day when she stopped me. She said, “Listen to me. I know they plan to kill us – they want us all dead and gone. When the trains start coming, don’t get in. Whatever they tell you, they will take you to your death.” That was the last I saw of her.

     Question: So how did you use this information to survive?

     Answer: Days after her warning, the trains started to come. Everyone was so excited – the adults said the trains would bring them to a new country where they could live free. The children said they would bring them back to the home they used to know where no one harmed them. The starving, the delusional, and the very old insisted they were going to a beautiful mountain made of candy, where they would never go hungry again. Soon the ghetto was buzzing with hope, something that some of us hadn’t seen for as long as we could remember. Everywhere you went, you could hear tales of a land where the sun always shined and it was summer forever. A child who swears their houses have been rebuilt and repaired. As you were going to sleep at night you could hear a distant, quavering shout – “Candy Mountain!” But I still believed my teacher. I believed her because when I looked into her eyes the night she had warned me I saw pure fear. Fear and truth went together hand in hand in the ghetto. So when my father came home one day and proudly announced we were leaving in the morning, I hid. I stayed in a little cabinet for days, eating the bits of food I had stolen the night before. Finally one morning my best friend – the only girl who knew where I was hiding- told me we were free.