Language:
English
Pages:
52
,
typescript.
Year of publication:
2001
Keywords:
Birnbaum, Hilde (née Merzbach),
;
Merzbach family.
;
Heim family.
;
Seligmann, Caesar,
;
Antisemitism.
;
Emigration and immigration.
;
Jews Social life and customs.
;
Jews Persecutions 1933-1945.
;
Lawyers.
;
Nazis.
;
Socialism.
;
Universities and colleges.
;
Women authors.
;
Women Education.
;
Women Employment.
;
Women Political activity.
;
Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
;
Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany)
;
Germany History 1933-1945.
;
Limburg an der Lahn (Germany)
;
London (England)
;
Palestine.
;
Seattle (Wash.)
;
Autobiographies
;
Biographical sources
;
Memoirs
Abstract:
The memoir is a transcript of an interview with Hilde Birnbaum from June to August of 1999, conducted by Judith Bendor in Seattle, Washington. Description of the Frankfurt Jewish community, where Hilde’s father was the leader of the Gemeinde. Hilde had private lessons in Hebrew with the rabbi Caesar Seligmann. Hilde reflects on the time leading up to the rise of Nazism in Germany. She was a law student and was already very aware of the dangers of National Socialism prior to 1933 due to her frequent travels abroad. In 1931 she worked in an internship at a law firm in London. After the overwhelming success of the Nazis at the elections she decided not to return to Germany, since she did not see a future for herself as a woman and a Jew. Her father convinced her to finish her studies in Germany. Continuation of studies in Freiburg and encounter with Nazi student groups as a member of the social-democratic student faction. Graduation and Referendar position in Limburg in 1932. In March of 1933 she left Germany with her sister Edith for England, being warned by colleagues at court of the anti-Jewish boycot. They crossed the Dutch border and waited for invitations from relatives in London in order to get an entry permit for England. They were warmly received by the Heim family and settled in London. Difficulties of finding work. Hilde was introduced to influential British journalists and politicians, who disregarded her concerns of the possible dangers of Nazi Germany.
Abstract:
The following years she travelled frequently to Germany to convince her parents and friends to leave the country, until she was declared an enemy of the Reich and lost her German citizenship. Her mother started preparations to leave without the knowledge of her husband. Observations about life in Nazi Germany. Trip to Palestine in 1936. In 1938, only weeks before “Kristallnacht”, Hilde’s parents joined her in London, before they went to the United States. Her sister Edith had already left with her husband for Seattle in 1936. Preperations for Hilde’s emigration to the United States. She arrived in Seattle in the winter of 1938.
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