Overview
- Interview Summary
- Eric Otto Sonneman (Erich Otto Sonnemann), born December 1, 1910 in Neustadt an der Haardt (Neustadt an der Weinstrasse), Germany, describes living in prewar Mannheim, Germany; his parents Kurt and Berta Sonnemann and brother Max; the political views of his friends and classmates; his friend Karl, a member of the Hitler Youth who warned him to get out of Germany; being the Mannheim chairman of the Jewish youth group Bund Deutsch-Jüdischer Jugend; receiving an affidavit from distant relative Emma Loveman, and applying for a United States visa in 1937; having an appointment at the U.S. Consulate in Stuttgart, Germany the day after Kristallnacht; arriving in New York on March 17, 1939; living with his relative in Nashville, TN; his brother's arrival in the U.S. in 1939; how his parents received affidavits and traveled through Siberia, China, and Japan in the summer of 1940; moving to Chicago in the summer of 1939; starting a business, Merix Chemical Company, and having several patents; marrying Edith Arshack in August 1941; becoming a naturalized citizen on July 13, 1943; and raising four children.
- Interviewer
- Edith Sonneman
- Date
-
interview:
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Toby Sonneman
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Extent
-
2 digital files : MP3.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Restrictions on use. Restrictions may exist. Contact the Museum for further information: reference@ushmm.org
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Antisemitism--Germany--Mannheim. Holocaust survivors--United States. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Personal narratives. Jewish businesspeople--United States. Jewish families--Germany--Mannheim. Jewish youth--Germany--Societies and clubs. Jews--Education--Germany. Jews--Germany--Neustadt an der Weinstrasse. Kristallnacht, 1938. Men--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Germany--Social conditions--1918-1933. Germany--Social conditions--1933-1945. Mannheim (Germany) Neustadt an der Weinstrasse (Germany) Stuttgart (Germany) United States--Emigration and immigration.
- Personal Name
- Sonneman, Eric Otto, 1910-2004.
- Corporate Name
- Hitler Youth
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Toby Sonneman donated the oral testimony of her father Eric Otto Sonneman to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on April 15, 2014.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 09:31:57
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn78847
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