Overview
- Interview Summary
- Goldina Lefkowitz (née Drucker), born on April 12, 1922 in Koln, Germany, discusses her parents who emigrated from Poland; her father who studied to be a lawyer but was prevented from taking the bar exam because he was Jewish; her father’s work as a tailor for wealthy clientele; living comfortably and having a good early childhood; increasing restrictions on Jews in Germany after Hitler’s rise to power; a series of dangerous encounters with Hitler Youth; her father’s tendency to ignore all the problems, hoping that Hitler would soon be deposed; how a former classmate of her father (who was a high-ranking Nazi military officer) told him that “Now is the time to leave” in 1938; how she wanted to go to Palestine but was stopped by police and returned home; the family’s departure from Germany with only a small suitcase per person; their travel to Belgium, then Holland, then Britain, and then finally to the United States; how the family had to leave the oldest son Otto in Germany because he had appendicitis the day before they left; how an aunt and her family brought Otto with them to the United States a couple of months later; her decision around 2017 to start speaking publicly about her Holocaust experiences; her 2018 self-published book “Reflections by Goldina” based on her early journals; and her views on contemporary American politics and the far Right.
- Interviewer
- Matthew Binder
- Date
-
interview:
2022 July 11
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Matthew Binder and Lynn Beittel
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Extent
-
2 digital files : MPEG-4.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- To the best of the Museum's knowledge, there are no known copyright restrictions on the material(s) in this collection, or the material is in the public domain. You do not require further permission from the Museum to use this material.
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Matthew Binder and Lynn Beittel donated their interview with Goldina (Goldie) Lefkowitz to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in July 2022.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2022-07-28 21:51:41
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn737041
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