I was 12 in 1933 and I do know who was marching down the streets with the flags and the boots
And I do know that the people above us Was a, he joined the Hitler Youth right away
and came thundering down the stairs and made a special noise when he passed our door.
But I can swear. And I was afraid of him. Deadly afraid of him
When boys used to see us come home from school
they used to run after us And if they caught us they used to just beat
us up And after they beat us up we just tried to
keep on running and running and get away from them
Because we could not hit them back And they on the other hand knew that whatever
they did Was sanctioned
That we could not go complain to no police and we could not go to their parents
It was something which was like fun to do and it was permitted
And we were the underdog And we just
And the only thing that we could do was to run away.
I heard the marshall music, I heard his speeches I remember some of our German Gentile neighbours
say, I don't know whether they said it actually
to me, but I almost felt as if they were saying it
to me That Hitler is not against Jews like me
He is against the bad Jews And I guess that I was hoping that was true.
Other than not being able to talk to some of your friends
And not being able to walk on the street And not being able to go into any store that
other people are allowed to go in their Not being able to go into any movie
Or not taking a walk where you used to walk You know you were just er
Criminals in this country have more rights than we had as citizens
We had no rights I saw them parading
With their boots and their brown shirts and their flags
And also I got called by various people in the street 'lousy Jew' or whatever
And then they started to fight with each other that I wasn't Jewish at all because my nose
was too straight This I remember
But gradually it wasn't so nice any more - What changes were going on for you as a
young Jewish girl living in Nazi Germany? I was afraid to walk in the street
And Very afraid
Very frightened was I And being that I never had any Christian friends
to begin with This circle became kind of closer, our friends
And I joined the chalutzim something Some Israel training thing
We did it for companionship and to be together with our friends
And we met in a building that was adjoining the big synagogue
He saw what was happening but like many Jews in Germany he didn't think it would happen
to him - Yes
One of the brothers left for Israel And the rest of the brothers stayed in Germany
They didn't think it would happen to them They still believed that there was some hope
They couldn't believe that Jews would be exterminated. Because it was confiscated
The house was bought for almost nothing by a man named Schmitt
S-C-H-M-I-T-T And the business was also bought for almost
nothing with all the equipment by a man named Schnellbogel
S-C-H-N-E-L-L-B-O-G-E-L