Holocaust Survivors Oral History Project
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Interviewer
Klein, Ellen Wilson
Publication Date
1-24-2011
Date
2010-06-30
Abstract
Oral history interview with Holocaust survivor Ruth Lebowitz. Lebowitz was born in 1933 in Breslau, Germany, now Wroclaw, Poland. Shortly after her mother's death in 1937, her father was informed that his name was on the Gestapo's wanted list. Obtaining false papers, he went to the United States and then started making arrangements to get the rest of his family out of the country. Lebowitz and her siblings spent several months at a ski camp in Switzerland, then stayed with their great-aunt in Breslau until their visas were approved. They left in late summer 1939, one week before the invasion of Poland; their ship was the last to leave Germany. In this interview, Lebowitz describes her adaptation to life in the United States and the way her family was regarded as enemy aliens. She also recounts some of her sister's stories about going to school in Breslau amid anti-Semitic persecutions. Lebowitz is a volunteer at the Florida Holocaust Museum, something she feels an obligation to do in memory of those who perished.
Keywords
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Personal narratives, Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives, Jewish children in the Holocaust--Germany, Holocaust survivors--Florida, Holocaust survivors--Interviews, Genocide, Crimes against humanity
Holding Location
University of South Florida
Language
English
Media Type
Oral histories; Online audio
Format
audio/mp3
Identifier
F60-00031
Recommended Citation
Lebowitz, Ruth, "Ruth Lebowitz oral history interview" (2011). Holocaust Survivors Oral History Project. 9.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/holocaust_OH/9
Rights Statement
