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Oral history interview with Helmut Bates

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1999.A.0122.660 | RG Number: RG-50.477.0660

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    Oral history interview with Helmut Bates

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Helmut Bates (né Kurt Helmut Bachwitz) describes his long family history in Germany; his childhood in Berlin, Germany; his experiences with antisemitism under the Nazi regime; the events of Kristallnacht and how those frightening events caused his family to decide to leave Germany; his family's attempt to immigrate to Australia or Palestine and their successful immigration to Kobe, Japan in April 1939; his experiences in Kobe; the conditions for the Jewish community, which were mostly benign; his family's immigration to the United States in December 1940; being drafted to serve in the US Army Signal Corps; participating in the round up and internment of Japanese aliens and Japanese-American citizens and his service in Africa guarding German prisoners of war; the difficulties of his father in adjusting to life in the United States, the family changing its name from Bauchwitz to Bates, and the antisemitism and anti-German sentiments the family experienced; his marriage to a Jewish woman from Shanghai, China; and his life and career in California.
    Interviewee
    Helmut Bates
    Interviewer
    Anne Feibelman
    Date
    interview:  1995 December 27
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    2 videocassettes (SVHS) : sound, color ; 1/2 in..

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Bates, Helmut.

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project conducted the interview with Helmut Bates on December 27, 1995. The interview was received by the Archives Branch in July 2003.
    Funding Note
    The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:46:15
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn515063

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