Overview
- Description
- Consists of one memoir, 36 pages, entitled, "One in 6,000,000: One Woman's Story of Survival," by Hilde Geisen. In the memoir, she describes her childhood in Cologne; her memories of Nazi persecutions; her failed attempt at immigration to the United States; the deportation of her parents; life in Theresienstadt; post-war life in Deggendorf; and immigration to the United States in 1947. Includes a copy of her identity card and a 2002 portrait.
- Subtitle
- One Woman's Story of Survival
- Date
-
creation:
2014
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Hilde Geisen
- Collection Creator
- Hilde Geisen
- Biography
-
Hilde Geisen was born in May 1924 in Cologne, Germany, the only daughter of Robert and Frieda (née Esser) Geisenheimer. Robert was a veteran on World War I. The family was assimilated and Hilde attended public school, even joining in Christian celebrations with her classmates. In 1934, Robert was forbidden to work and in 1935, Hilde was forced to attend Jewish school. The family owned an apartment building, which was confiscated by the Nazi government, which forced the Geisenheimers to pay rent on their small room. After Kristallnacht, Hilde went to Mainz to live with her maternal aunt, Meta, and Meta's Christian husband Cony Schulz. In March 1941, she returned to Cologne to live with her parents, and Robert began to try to get visa paperwork for Hilde to travel to relatives in the United States. In October 1941, Hilde received a visa to Cuba. She was present when her parents were arrested on October 27, 1941, and was only able to remove herself from the list due to her pending immigration. Robert and Frieda were deported to the Łódź ghetto, and both perished in the Holocaust. After the United States entered the war, Hilde was no longer able to immigrate and took a job in Cologne working with the elderly at the Jewish hospital. In July 1942, she was deported along with the hospital's patients to Theresienstadt. She first worked doing physical labor, but was then assigned to clean buildings. After the typhus epidemic in the spring of 1945, Hilde worked as part of a bucket brigade to throw the ashes of epidemic victims into the nearby river. She was liberated from Theresienstadt on May 8, 1945 and traveled to the Deggendorf displaced persons camp. In August 1947, she immigrated to the United States to join relatives, settling in Eugene, Oregon, where she had a career as a buyer for her relatives' department store. She never married or had children. Hilde Geisen lives in Eugene, Oregon.
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Genre/Form
- Personal narratives.
- Extent
-
1 folder
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- The donor, source institution, or a third party has asserted copyright over some or all of these material(s). The Museum does not own the copyright for the material and does not have authority to authorize use. For permission, please contact the rights holder(s).
- Copyright Holder
- Ms. Hilde Geisen
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Cologne--Personal narratives. Deggendorf (Displaced persons camp)
- Geographic Name
- Cologne (Germany)
- Personal Name
- Geisenheimer, Robert. Geisenheimer, Frieda. Geisen, Hilde.
- Corporate Name
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Hilde Geisen donated a copy of her memoir to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-02-24 13:43:58
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn90296
Download & Licensing
- In Copyright
- Terms of Use
- This record is not digitized and cannot be downloaded online.
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-
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