Oral History Interview with Jeanette Rothschild
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Date
Contributor
Summary
Jeanette Rothschild2, née Fernbacher, born on September 13, 1898 in Grossmannsdorf, Germany, discusses her very happy early childhood and schooling at a convent in Straubing, Germany and how she and the other two Jewish girls were never treated badly for being Jewish by either teachers or students. She also describes two close friendships with non-Jewish girls. Her father was a successful cattle dealer. She discusses her extended family in nearby towns. She relates her experience during World War I and living in Berlin, Germany once she was married. Mrs. Rothschild compares the lack of antisemitism in Berlin in the 1920s with a trip back to Straubing in 1924 when she felt that her so called non-Jewish friends weren’t so friendly to her on that visit. She describes that she did start to feel antisemitism in Berlin by 1933, with the rise of the Nazi party.
Mrs. Rothschild details her experience during Kristallnacht, the destruction of their store, finding out about the synagogue burning, the Nazis taking her husband to Oranienburg for a month. She describes her trip to the Gestapo to secure her husband’s release and how he was deeply changed by his experience. They decided to leave immediately and she describes the huge lines of Jews at the consul trying to leave Germany and describes not being allowed to take money with them. They were able to go to England because a cousin in England secured a permit for them, but upon arrival her husband was placed in an enemy alien camp at Lynnefield. Mrs. Rothschild describes that it was a stadium of some sort and describes how she used her experience to make frequent visits and finally procure his release when she told the guard it was her birthday. They eventually settled in the United States3.
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secretly
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