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Henry and Lottie M. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1556) interviewed by Michael Alpert,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1556

Videotape testimony of Henry and Lottie M. Ms. M. was born in Dresden, Germany in 1921 to an affluent, assimilated family. She recounts her mother's death when she was one; her maternal grandmother living with them; her father's remarriage; her parents sheltering her from politics; vacations in Prague; expulsion from school in 1938; her father's and brother's arrests during Kristallnacht; her stepmother obtaining emigration documents for them through contacts in England; their release once they proved they would emigrate; her own emigration with assistance from the Quakers; living with a family as a mother's helper; her parents and siblings emigrating; marriage in 1942 to Henry, her boyfriend from Dresden; German bombardments; and working for the Foreign Office. Henry M. recalls meeting Lottie in 1933; total isolation in a non-Jewish school; his friendship with Lottie giving him the fortitude to remain in school; working in Leipzig; returning to Dresden after Kristallnacht; arranging his family's emigration to Cuba; his refusal to go in order to stay with Lottie; emigration to London; incarceration as an enemy alien; volunteering for the British army; marriage in 1942; the Blitzkrieg; serving in Belgium and Germany; working as an interpreter; and he and Lottie emigrating to the United States in 1946. They discuss their continuing antipathy toward Germany and Germans; Lottie's nightmares during a trip to Germany in 1978; and details of prewar life.

Author/Creator
M., Henry, 1919-2004.
Published
New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1990
Interview Date
August 14, 1990.
Locale
Great Britain
Germany
Dresden (Germany)
Prague (Czech Republic)
London (England)
Leipzig (Germany)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Henry and Lottie M. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1556). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.