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Signed testimony of Franciska Mikus

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 2005.394.41 | RG Number: RG-50.834.0040

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    Signed testimony of Franciska Mikus

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Franciska Mikus (née Schwarz; also known as Franziska and Fran), born in Munich, Germany, describes her experience as a Deaf Holocaust survivor; growing up Christian; having two siblings and being the only one born Deaf; her Deaf father (born in Bogenhausen), who could hear noises but could not distinguish sounds; her family’s belief that her grandfather’s over-drinking caused deafness in two of his 17 children; not being able to speak in her earliest years and expressing herself only through her own sign language; Fran communicating with her hearing mother through lip reading; her mother teaching her to sew; attending a hard of hearing class; asking her parents to transfer her to a school for the Deaf; having difficulty in learning to read lips; struggling with her penmanship because of her malnourished hands; feeling her intelligence was not fully realized; desiring to become women’s tailor; attending a Catholic club for Deaf girls at a nun’s order for training in dressmaking; the rise of antisemitism; her brother who was excited by Hitler; beginning to date her boyfriend Christian Mikus in 1934; how Christian lost his hearing because of Scarlett fever; learning of ominous reports from Christian about things going on in Dachau; being required to join the League of German Girls and the leaders’ interactions with the girls; the “Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases” (Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses); receiving a government order to be sterilized along with her mother; her family petitioning the order, but only her mother being excused from the order; undergoing forced sterilization; her mother being upset at Christian and Fran’s unexpected (out of marriage) pregnancy; the family doctor reporting the pregnancy to the government; receiving a government letter for a forced abortion; seeking a marriage license in 1941 and the registrar’s requirement for a second sterilization; having complications from the procedures; their post-war struggles finding work as a Deaf couple; and their accomplishments in assisting the Deaf community. [Note: more information on Fran’s experiences can be found in the book “The Other Victims: First-Person Stories of Non-Jews Persecuted by the Nazis”.]
    Interviewee
    Franciska Mikus
    Date
    interview:  1989 April 13
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ina R. Friedman

    Physical Details

    Language
    German English
    Extent
    2 sound cassettes : analog.

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    Restrictions on use. Donor retains copyright. Third party use requests must be submitted to the donor.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Mikus, Franciska.
    Corporate Name
    Bund Deutscher Mädel

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Ina R. Friedman donated her oral history interviews to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on Aug. 8, 2005. Ms. Friedman is the author of "Escape or Die," "Flying Against the Wind," and "Other Victims," which explore the experiences of Jewish and non-Jewish survivors of the Holocaust.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 09:33:16
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn90066

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