Oral History Interview with Aline Tischler

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English
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Title

Oral History Interview with Aline Tischler

Date

September 17, 1981

Contributor

Interviewee:
Aline Tischler
Interviewer:
Lucille Fisher

Summary

Aline Tischler, nee Zander, was born in 1912, in Pommern, a small town in Silesia (Schlesien) with only 10 Jewish families. Her father served in World War I and had a dry goods store. Aline briefly describes how she was able to observe the Jewish holidays and get a Jewish education. Antisemitism was prevalent and got much worse after 1933. Because of this, she went to live with relatives in Berlin in 1937, where she met and married her husband.

Her parents followed in 1938, after the Nazis confiscated their business.

During Kristallnacht, the Gestapo came to arrest her father. He refused to flee and was taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Her husband was hidden by a non-Jewish man who worked for him. Her father was released in January 1939 and the family knew they had to leave the country. Helped HHelped by the Jewish Family Service, they left for Shanghai on March 25, 1939.

She describes her life in Shanghai, terrible conditions in the refugee camps, epidemics and Chinese people she met. Aline and her husband opened a lending library. She mentions the Kadoorie School, religious services and American bombing attacks briefly.

After the war, Aline and her family could not leave Shanghai until November 1947, when they finally got an affidavit. They went to Philadelphia, again helped by the Jewish Family Service. Her husband started a business and she worked as a sales lady. She talks about family members who died as well as those who survived.

Interviewee: TISCHLER, Aline Date: September17, 1981

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Publisher:
Gratz College
Number of Tapes:
2
Language:
English
Identifier:
HOHAGC00528
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Copyright date:
2019
Cite this item
Oral History Interview with Aline Tischler. 1981. InterviewInterview by Lucille Fisher. Audio. Oral History Interview With Aline Tischler. Holocaust Oral History Archive. Gratz College. https://grayzel.gratz.edu/hoha/oral-history-interview-aline-tischler.

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