Hilde Geisen

GEISEN: Cologne, Germany, was a big city, a beautiful city before the war, before it was completely bombed. It’s on the River Rhine, so I remember many, many Sundays [that] we walked along the River Rhine. It had beautiful parks. My parents both liked nature and the parks and the music in the parks. I remember the concerts in the parks and … As I said, they had a close relationship with their sisters and aunts. My mother still had aunts, several aunts living. One of them was very close; she was like my grandmother because I didn’t have a grandmother. She owned a millinery shop on the one of the business streets in Cologne, and I enjoyed going there as a child and helping on Saturdays. I was very close to this aunt, but she died when I was 13 years [old], of cancer. Most of the older relatives … My grandmother on my mother’s side, the mother of my mother, died when she was 48 of cancer. My mother was the oldest of five sisters, and she took over the household and raised the two youngest sisters. 

Shiffman: You said that your father made application for you to come to America. Were they not interested in coming?
GEISEN: Yes, of course, but you know America made it very difficult. We had the number 46,756. I think they applied to come to America after 1938 and still we were not being called in ‘41. My uncle and aunt were in Eugene since ‘37, and right away, they wanted us to come over. They sent the affidavits, but, as you know, the government made it very, very difficult. The only reason I would have been able to come in ‘41 is because I was a minor. 

Shiffman: So did you have your education, did you follow up with any further education?
GEISEN: After we were liberated, we were in displaced persons camp, and we did have some classes. We took English mostly, English and Hebrew, and few other classes. Not too much. Then I came to America and started working here right away in the store. I didn’t like Eugene, it was so very small: 35,000 when I came in ‘47, hardly any Jewish people.

Shiffman: You were just over 20.
GEISEN: Yes, so I left. I was here seven months only. I went to San Francisco and worked there in a very nice store and later on in Portland. From Portland, I went back to California and worked about four years in Los Angeles. I went to City College in Los Angeles. It was difficult, because I worked hard during the day, but I took classes and got an associate degree.

Shiffman: That’s amazing.
GEISEN: Yes, yes, it was hard. But I wanted to do it. In merchandising.

Shiffman: How did you learn your English?
GEISEN: When I was in school in Germany, we started with French— the first foreign language was always French at that time—and then English. So I had a background, you know. When my parents knew, or thought, that I was able to come to America in ‘41, I had private English lessons. After the war, in displaced persons camp, I took English lessons again. So when I came to America, two years after the war, nobody wanted to hear a word of German, of course. My uncle and aunt told me the first day, “Hilde, we don’t speak one word of German in the house,” which was very good for me because it made me speak English. After I was here two weeks, I started working, and it came back. 

Shiffman: At that stage, did they have the store already?
GEISEN: Yes. They came to America in ‘36, and they bought the store in ‘37. When I came, they had the store already for 10 years and had already a second store in Springfield. Very nice, big store in Springfield. 

Shiffman: And when they came, they came directly from Germany?
GEISEN: They came directly from Germany. My uncle, Mr. Kaufman, had another brother in America, in Grand Island, Nebraska, since 1904. He brought over his whole family. He picked up my uncle and aunt. They went by boat, of course, through the Panama Canal and arrived in San Diego. My uncle’s brother picked them up and wanted them to come and live in Grand Island. After they were there two or three weeks, my uncle, Mr. Kaufman said, “Never. It’s too flat here. I don’t like it. I want to be somewhere where we have trees and rivers like in Germany.” They lived in Mainz, which was a beautiful city, with vineyards all around. They went to San Francisco where my aunt took a job as a salesgirl. She wanted to see how it was all done in this country. They took evening lessons in English. When their car was being transported from Germany to America, they drove up to Oregon. They both didn’t drive, but they had a nephew who was able to drive. They came up to Oregon, and they stayed overnight at the Osburn Hotel in Eugene. The owner, Mrs. Hodes, heard them speak in German, and she came over and introduced herself and said, “I speak German. I was born in Vienna.” She was Jewish, but her husband was not Jewish. He had a big laundry here in Eugene. They said, “We like Eugene. We think we like Oregon. We’d like to find a small store.” And she said, “I think I know just the one. A store on Willamette Street is for sale. It’s very small, but maybe you will like it.” They liked it and bought it. And stayed in Eugene. In 1937.

Shiffman: Do you remember any stories that they used to tell of Eugene when they first came here? Of the Jewish community or who they met, any Jewish people?
GEISEN: Well, like I said, there were just a few Jewish families here. My uncle went to the synagogue quite often. Sometimes they called him and said, “Mr. Kaufman, you have to come over, we don’t have ten men here for Friday night.” So he went to the synagogue quite often. They knew, of course, the Rubensteins and the Brenners and…who else was here? The Pressmans were here. My aunt was very friendly with Maurie Jacobs. I don’t know whether he was here already when they came in 1937. I don’t think so. I think they came later. But the old Rubensteins were here. 

Shiffman: Do you remember when your uncle and aunt first came in ‘36, did they have … where the shul was?
GEISEN: Did they have a what?

Shiffman: Did they have a shul in Eugene?
GEISEN: When I came, the shul was in an old house on 8th Street. That I remember. That’s in ‘47. That’s where they went, on 8th Street. I’m sure the shul had been there for several years. But some of the older people may be able to tell you. Too bad David Pressman died two years ago. He was raised here in Eugene, [and] he could tell you everything, but he passed away two years ago. A very good friend of mine. Some of the other people may know. I think you will find out. They will know. My family was friendly with the older people and became friendly with the Rocksteins. Later on, the Levys came. Mr. and Mrs. Levy were quite active in the community. They came in ‘46 from England. I just read it today. I thought it was of interest to you because he was, he came … you can read it. He came to Eugene because the government asked him to make gas out of wood. That’s why he came. That’s the only picture I found this morning. From the synagogue. They had a celebration. Carl Levy’s 75th birthday. Here are some of the people. Was a big party. I must admit, this little picture is all I could find. But the Levys were very well known in Eugene, and they were very active in the community. They were here six months when I came. 

Shiffman: Do you remember anything else of your early years in Eugene? 
GEISEN: In Eugene, my early years. Well, as I said, I only stayed seven months and then went to California. I came back in ‘56. But every year I came on vacation in summer, and my uncle and aunt asked me if I would not want to take over the Springfield store because our partner had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She was just in her 40s. 

Shiffman: Who was the partner?
GEISEN: Mrs. Ford. She was a partner only in the Springfield store. Her husband was a judge, William Ford. 

Shiffman: Not a Jewish…?
GEISEN: No, not Jewish. So at first I didn’t really want to come back. I liked my job in California, and I liked the climate in California. But then they talked to me, and we agreed. I said, “Ok, I will come back for a year and see how I like it. If I don’t like it, don’t be mad at me, if I want to leave.” But I stayed. It was very nice to me. I had a lot of responsibility. I traveled a lot. I did the buying for both stores after a few years. Then in ‘64, we had another new store, a campus store. Then five years later the Valley River store. So I was very busy and didn’t have too much time.

Shiffman: You got very involved in the business?
GEISEN: I got involved in the business. Yes, yes, very much so. I didn’t have much time for my private life actually.

Shiffman: There was not much social life?
GEISEN: Not much social life and not many young people here in Eugene. I was about the only one. The only other one here was the daughter of the Levys. Her name was Hilde too. She came here six months before I came from London. And she was about the only one I knew. There were mostly just older couples living here at that time. Not many young people. No. 

Shiffman: Do you remember much of the shul during the years when you were working at the store? Was your aunt involved in the Jewish community?
GEISEN: No, my aunt was not involved in the Jewish community. Like I said, my uncle was more interested, and he would go sometimes on Friday night. They both would go for the holidays. They both sponsored the shul of course. He was very proud of the new temple. I remember when I came on vacation in the ‘50s, early ‘50s, and Temple [Beth Israel] had just …

Shiffman: That was on Portland Street?
GEISEN: Portland Street. In ’52. I think they built it in ‘52, if I’m not mistaken. Because I came back to Eugene in ‘56, and it was here. I think it was ‘52. 

Shiffman: Do you remember who the rabbi was at that time?
GEISEN: You talked to the daughter yesterday, Vivian Friendly. Her father, Mr. Simmons, Rabbi Simmons, was the rabbi when I came back in ‘56. I remember him. I didn’t know him well, but I remember him. Of course, I went to some bar mitzvahs and to some holidays and remember some of the girls, kids here, kids old enough to have bar mitzvahs. Yes, I remember him. I never knew his wife, I don’t think. I didn’t know Vivian at all, but my friends, the Pressmans, were friendly with Vivian. She married Mrs. Brenner’s son, Nate Fendrich, and they had the one boy who was killed in an accident.

Shiffman: But you don’t remember that?
GEISEN: I remember hearing about it. I was here already. I remember hearing about it, but I did not know her. She will know, if you talk to her, she will know probably, some more things about the shul, at least in the late ‘50s, early ‘60s because I think she didn’t come to Eugene until ‘60 or ‘62. 

Shiffman: Now you mentioned Hadassah?
GEISEN: Hadassah was very active. 

Shiffman: Did you belong?
GEISEN: Yes, of course. I’m a life member of Hadassah and have always been very interested in Israel, of course. So was my aunt, Mrs. Kaufman. We were both life members.

Shiffman: So what did you participate in for Hadassah?
GEISEN: Well, I went to most meetings. If I was in Eugene, I went to the meeting. My best friend, Helen Pressman, was the president of Hadassah two or three times. So I really was involved. The Hadassah used to have fashion shows. And we would help them, of course, with the clothes and everything. Hadassah was very active at that time. I was very upset a few years ago when they said they don’t have a charter anymore. The young people here, young women, said, “We don’t have the time. We have children, we have to take care of the children.” But at that time, people who were active in Hadassah, all the Rocksteins and the Shermans, they all had young children also. But they were still very active and interested. It’s a shame. 

Shiffman: Was there a lot of fundraising going on in those days?
GEISEN: Yes. For instance, I remember when the movie came out, Bridge on the River Kwai, you remember? Hadassah would sponsor it, and I would help selling the tickets at the store. Yes, people were very active. Then they sponsored the play Ann Frank. Our friend Mr Panne, played Mr. Frank, and Hadassah sponsored it at The Very Little Theater. We were very proud. We sold many, many tickets. Yes. He was a friend of the Levys and my friend too. It was very successful. They had a lot of fun plays. Every year, either it was a fashion show, or it was a movie or a play or it was … They were very active, and they were young women.

Shiffman: Did you find that you sold tickets throughout the community?
GEISEN: Oh, yes, because we didn’t have enough Jewish people here.

Shiffman: And people supported it?
GEISEN: Yes, yes. We tried to sell tickets in the store; they were all not Jewish. And to neighbors and other friends and so did my friends and neighbors. They weren’t enough Jewish families here to support the tickets, the plays.

Shiffman: Do you remember when Israel became a state?
GEISEN: Yes, in 1948. I remember it very well. I was working in San Francisco, and I was so excited because my very good friend with whom I was in concentration camp and displaced persons camp, and with whom I hoped I could go to Israel. I was very worried about her because she was able to go in 1946 to Israel because her two daughters were married there. She was like a mother to me in the concentration camp. I was very worried about them, but it didn’t take very long, and Israel was successful, thank God. I went for the first time in 1950 to Israel, as I told you, and at that time, they didn’t have anything. Not enough to eat. Absolutely nothing. No toilet paper, absolutely nothing. When I came back to America, I sent parcels every month for quite a few years. Yeah, they were very poor. You know, thousands of people came to Israel, not only the survivors from the displaced persons camp but the people from the Arab countries—Yemen and Morocco and Algeria and all these—they all came to Israel, and they lived for quite a few years in tents. Saw it myself. They had a very difficult time. But they were happy to be there. Just like the Ethiopians later on, the people from Yemen also, didn’t know anything, any modern ways, you know. Didn’t know how to eat with knife and fork, and they had no towels, didn’t know what towels were. I remember meeting some of them in 1950.

Shiffman: You mentioned that you used to do a lot of travel.
GEISEN: Well, I did a lot of travel for the store, business. I went three, four times a year to New York to buy, every second month, usually to Los Angeles. In between sometimes just for a day or so to San Francisco. Once in a while we would go by car up to Portland and see a salesman. Yes, I traveled a lot.

Shiffman: Did you ever travel overseas?
GEISEN: At that time I did, yes. But I was foolish and never took vacation. For the first time I went to Israel again in 1960 and Germany to visit some old friends of mine with whom I was in concentration camp.  

Shiffman: How was that for you going back to Germany?
GEISEN: I didn’t like it at all. But she was so good to me. She was like a mother to me for so many years. She decided not to go, not to come to America after the war because her husband was very ill. He had been in the first World War, and she said to me, “If I go back with him to Cologne, they will have to give us his pension immediately again. And we’ll have to see that we get apartment or something. If I go to New York, I have to clean homes again.” She had been doing that for some time. She said, “I don’t want to do this.” So they went back to Cologne in ‘45. The first time I visited them was in 1960. By that time, of course, he had died. But she stayed there. That was the only reason I went to Germany, to visit her and spend a few days in Cologne. It was nothing but rubble even 15 years after the war. From there, I flew to Israel. Then I didn’t go anymore to Israel until ‘69 when my dear friend with whom I was in concentration camp had cancer, and we knew she would pass away so … three months before, I made the trip to Israel. But otherwise, I never took vacation. I didn’t travel very much for pleasure until I didn’t work anymore.

Shiffman: Do you think that was partly because you were too busy at the store or because you were….?
GEISEN: No, I was too busy at the store. I wouldn’t have gone to Germany anyway. I could have taken a vacation but we were so busy. My aunt didn’t take vacations either. The only time we took a few days off was in summer to go to the cabin. They had a beautiful cabin up on the McKenzie, and we went every weekend usually, Saturday afternoon. Sometimes in July, we would take a week off. That was our only vacation. Even if I had to work hard in New York or Los Angeles, I enjoyed traveling, especially since Eugene was very small at that time. It gave me a chance to get out and meet other people, meet a lot of Jewish people. Which was entirely different from here, flying from here to New York, you know, it’s entirely different.

Shiffman: How did you, how did it affect you? How did you feel about being Jewish in Eugene? Do you remember?
GEISEN: Oh, yes, I talked to my aunt many times about it, and that’s one reason she donated her house and all the properties to the city, because she felt the people in Eugene had been very good to them, and she appreciated it very much. The store was doing very well. We had several stores later on, and she always [told me] she was always treated very well. She never felt [different] because she was Jewish and I didn’t feel it either. Never. I never felt any antisemitism in Eugene. I didn’t. If you read the article, they talk about it. They just loved Eugene. They were very grateful to the people of Eugene. 

Shiffman: Did they become very integrated into the American culture and you also?
GEISEN: Yes, they did. As I said, they never spoke German at home, even many years later they didn’t. They loved America. They went back to Germany for the first time in 1950 to see if they could get some money out. They had a beautiful home in Germany. My uncle had just built it in 1931, and they left five years later. Of course, the store was completely bombed out. The whole square where the store was, was completely bombed out. They never saw any of their money. They always said they never missed Germany. They were happy to be here. “200% Americans,” we always teased them. Yes, they loved America very much, and they loved Eugene very much.

Shiffman: Any other things you can think of in those early years that struck you about the Jewish community?
GEISEN: As I told you before, I didn’t know too much about the Jewish community, really. Just for the holidays, I went. I had few good friends who were Jewish, the Pressmans. We were very friendly. They had four little kids [that] I’m still very friendly [with]. They are like my nieces in Portland. But otherwise, I don’t, you know… I wasn’t active in the community. I really wasn’t. 

Shiffman: Right. Can you remember anything about anyone who was?
GEISEN: Well, most of the families here that I have pictures of … Yes, they were, they were very active. The Levys and the Strausses—Oscar and Gisela Strauss—were active. He was president of the Jewish community.

Shiffman: What did he do, Mr. Strauss?
GEISEN: He first he came to Eugene because my aunt asked him to come from San Francisco to Eugene to become a buyer in the store. The Neustadters, Kurt and Senta Neustadter, came also because my aunt asked them to come for the store. He got out of the army in ‘46. My aunt asked him if he wanted to come to Eugene to buy the accessories. He had one little girl, Vivian, whom you met, and they moved here, and they had another little boy, Ronald. He stayed with the store I think about eight years, and then he opened his own store, a fabric store on Willamette Street. He did get some money back from Germany, and he was able to buy this little store. The Levys, well, he was asked by the American government to come to Springfield to start a plant to produce gas out of the lumber. It never went very far because the war was over, and there was enough oil and gas available again. Mr. Levy worked for the city later on in the planning department. And she worked at the store in the alteration room for many years, until poor Hilde, the daughter, got breast cancer. She had just gotten married before this. They then went to live in New York. After she died, the mother, Lily Levy, was alone, and she went back to England because her only son lived in England. But they were very active in the community, definitely, yes. And the Shermans were active. I know two of them.

Shiffman: What do you remember of the Shermans?
GEISEN: The Shermans. I only remember them because they were very friendly with the Levys. Sometimes we would get together. They would invite me for dinner and get together. They had a cleaning store, first in Eugene when they first came to Eugene. But later on, he worked at the university. I think he was connected with the Vista Program at the university. She didn’t work anymore later on. They had three children. They all don’t live here, the children.

Shiffman: You mentioned also the Rocksteins? 
GEISEN: The Rocksteins. They were here already when I came. He was an optometrist in Springfield. They still have the office under his name. Somebody else of course has it. Dr. Rockstein just died…seven, eight years ago. His son is working still in the office of the optometrist in Springfield. I think he married a non-Jewish woman so he’s probably not active in the community. I’ve never seen him again. The Neustadters came to Eugene because my aunt knew them. My uncle and aunt knew them, and helped them to get married and everything. He worked at the very fine store in Portland, Unger. After he came out of the army in ‘49, I think my aunt asked him if he wanted to come to Eugene to manage the store, and he did. That’s how they came to Eugene. They had two boys. 

Shiffman: So it sounds like your aunt brought quite a number of Jewish families to Eugene?
GEISEN: Yes, she brought them to Eugene, that’s right.

Shiffman: The Fragers—Sandy and Bert? You didn’t know them?
GEISEN: I knew them. I knew the Tepfers. We got together on holidays, too, sometimes with the Tepfers. I remember they had four little boys. I remember when Gary was small. My friends, the Pressmans were active in the community. They knew all these people much better than I did. 

Shiffman: Now you mentioned your uncle was sometimes called to make a minyan?
GEISEN: Yes.They called George Cahn, too, after my uncle died in ‘62. George and I would be working at the main store on Willamette Street on Friday nights. The store was open Friday night, and so often he would come over to me to say, “Hilde, they called again. They don’t have enough people. Can I go?” I said, “Of course.” 

Shiffman: What did Cahn do for you?
GEISEN: He was the auditor for the store later on. He had several jobs in the beginning. They definitely came because my aunt asked them to. My aunt knew some relations of his in New York by the name of Cahn too. They talked when my aunt was in New York very often. They visited, and they mentioned that George was working in a fur establishment. So my aunt asked him to come over to the hotel, and she said, “Mr. Cahn wouldn’t you like to live on the west coast, in a small town, in Eugene? Much better than New York here, to raise your two children in a small town.” He said, “Maybe I would.” And she said, “Ok, talk it over. If you want to do it, I will help you, buy you a ticket. Come to Eugene by yourself first, and see how you like it.” This was ‘52. He came and never went back. 

The Kaufmans offered him a job. They really didn’t have an opening, but they offered him the job to help him. A few months later, his wife and the two children came to Eugene. He never left the store. He worked his way up and became the auditor of the store. He stayed 25 years or 23 years until he retired. Thea, his wife, worked for the post office here in Eugene, but she was a very sick woman. She suffered depressions off and on, for years. But whenever she was well enough, she would go back to the post office. They were very nice to her. Even already before he retired, she was so ill she couldn’t work anymore.

Shiffman: Your aunt must have been a wonderful, amazing woman.
GEISEN: She was a remarkable person. She was very, very respected in the Eugene community, not just in the Jewish community. She was, first of all, a very successful businesswoman. They had a big store in Germany, of course, so she had a lot of experience. When she first came to Eugene and they took over this small store it was just a small dress shop. She went to New York to buy and this had never happened in Eugene. The few competitors they had in Eugene would never fly to New York to buy. She went by train at that time. The salesman would come to Eugene, and they would buy from him. So that’s one reason, I’m sure, the Kaufmans were very successful because she went to New York, she went to Los Angeles. She bought beautiful clothes. 

Shiffman: And she was the brains in the business? She was the balabus in the business?
GEISEN: Yes, yes. He was very successful in Germany, but he was 15 years older. So when he came to America, to Eugene, he was 60 or 61 already, and she was only 45. She learned English much faster. He went with her to buy, to New York. He went with her a few times, but my aunt told me later, he didn’t like it. He didn’t like the way buying was done in New York. It was so much different than in Berlin. So he decided to stay in Eugene, and he did all the bookkeeping. He was in charge of the bookkeeping financial end of it, and my aunt did all the buying, yes. And the managing of the store. 

Shiffman: Do you remember anything about the holidays when you went to shul? The changes that had taken place over the years, the early years?
GEISEN: As I say, I only went, you know, on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur for the morning. I remember Rabbi Simmons. He was very strict. I don’t know why he was only here for a few years. He was European, you see, and the bar mitzvah boys didn’t like him at all. I remember when Rabbi Neimand came. I didn’t know him too well either since I didn’t go often. I don’t know much about him either. I don’t know much about the shul, what was going on there. No, I really don’t.

Shiffman: After that, you don’t remember anything about the shul, the differences?
GEISEN: No, not much because I don’t go too often; now, you know, it’s so different. We did like Rabbi Kinberg, right away when he came. I remember very well when he came in ‘77, and somebody had told him he should go and see Mrs. Kaufman. So when he first came, I met him right away. I happened to be up there because I did all the correspondence for my aunt then. She had arthritis very badly and couldn’t do it herself anymore. He came, and we liked him right away. He was only 33 years old. My aunt who was not religious and didn’t always care for rabbis, was very much taken by him. When he came, she said, “I’m glad they got a young man. I like him, I like his ideas, and I think he will be very good for the Jewish community and for the younger people.” Because at that time there were some younger people. But I know he tried very hard to get more younger people to Eugene and started converting them too, which helped. Because we know ourselves the converts go on Friday nights and raise their children Jewish. That was very good. 

Yes, we all liked Rabbi Kinberg very much. I even went a few more times, because at that time, later on, I didn’t work anymore. I stopped working when I was young, and I had more time, and I went once in a while. Because we liked him. He married all my friends’ daughters, the Pressmans’ children. He even went to Salem to marry one of the girls because they liked him. He had a way with young people, you know. I think that’s why so many students and young people liked him. The girls lived in Salem, and Portland and Seattle. They wanted to be married by Rabbi Kinberg. And he did it. It was too bad he died so young. It was just a shame. Were you here? You met him? That was terrible.

Shiffman: So you were telling me before we started officially about how your aunt donated the house. What do you remember of that?
GEISEN: Well, I took her there. It was 1972. As she asked the Jewish community first. Of course, she never thought of leaving it to the city. Then when they didn’t want it, some people talked to her, maybe one of them was Judge Ford. They suggested, said maybe you should talk to the city if you want to donate the house. It could make a senior center out of it for the neighborhood, and she liked the idea, and that’s what she did. 

Shiffman: Originally, she offered it to the Jewish community?
GEISEN: Originally to the Jewish community. They said they didn’t want it. They were afraid they couldn’t afford it, that she would give it to them, but they couldn’t afford the upkeep. It was a big house, of course. There were four properties and a big yard. And the house next to the Kaufmans’ house also was included. The Kaufmans had bought this house and rented it out. Later on, the city had the volunteer services in there for many years until they sold it a few years ago, eight or ten years ago. It was a big complex, but I thought the Jewish community was so foolish not to take it. They were much smaller, of course, at that time. This was ’71 or ’72. They were much smaller, and well, I don’t know. It would have been wonderful also to be used as a community center or as a place for senior citizens or whatever. Many rooms; it was a big house.

Shiffman: Do you have any feelings of how it feels different today being Jewish in Eugene to what it did when you first came here?
GEISEN: When I first came here, as I said, they were just a few Jewish people here, and it was very unusual to be Jewish or to have an accent. I remember I worked at the store in the sportswear department at that time, in the mezzanine. We didn’t have a second floor. It was built in ‘48, the second floor. In the afternoon, some high school girls would come and just watch me and stand there. I said to Oscar Strauss, “Why are they coming every afternoon?” He laughed, and said, “Hilde, they want to listen to your accent.” They had never seen or heard anybody from Europe. It was unusual. Not because you were Jewish, but because I was not an American. 

Shiffman: OK, so as you were saying, people came from the country…
GEISEN: From all over. They came from all over to shop at the store, in Eugene, too. You know, from all the surrounding little towns, and from the coast. As a matter of fact, in 1950, we had many customers also from Corvallis and Albany, because there was no competition. There was no Meier & Frank here, only in Portland. So people would have to go from Albany and Corvallis or some of the small towns, or from the coast, to Portland. Thank God they came to Eugene, to Kaufman’s. Because of that, because we had a lot of customers from the area of Albany and Corvallis. My aunt took over a store in Albany. It was also a small store, but they remodeled it. I managed that store for a year but I didn’t like Albany at all. It was so small, absolutely no Jewish families. I think there was one older couple there, by the name of Frager. They had a furniture store. After one year, I said no and I went to Portland. But, yes, we had customers from all over. 

Shiffman: Do you remember in 1948, when the State of Israel … Were there any celebrations here in Eugene? Or were there any … Did Hadassah do anything?
GEISEN: I didn’t live in Eugene. I lived in San Francisco. I left Eugene in March ‘48 and went to live in San Francisco and to work there for about a year, so I don’t know if there was anything going on in Eugene or not. I’m sure there were. It was a small community. They must have done something.

Shiffman: What about in ‘67 during the Six-Day War?
GEISEN: Six-Day War. Well, I only know, we in our family were delighted. I don’t remember if there were any celebrations at the Temple or not because I wasn’t active. There could have been. I hope there were. Who would have been around? Was Simmons gone already? Yes, I think Neimand was here in ‘67. But I don’t know.

Shiffman: And I guess lastly, you do a lot of traveling nowadays …
GEISEN: Nowadays, yes.

Shiffman: When you tell people you come from Eugene, Oregon, what is their reaction to your being Jewish and having originally come from Europe and now coming – a Jewish woman from Eugene? Any comments?
GEISEN: Well, no. Of course in Europe, no one would know of Eugene, Oregon. I do remember when I first went—when I was still working, when we were still working—and we would go to New York. My aunt, after all, went ten years before I did and she said nobody knew about Eugene, OreGONE, as they called it. Nobody ever heard of this small town of Eugene in New York, where she bought at the buying office. Even when I started buying in ’55, ‘56, they only knew when we would come, and we would buy coats and raincoats. They said, “Oh, that’s Eugene, OreGONE. No, they don’t want any inner lining.” They knew from us, it wasn’t cold here. You see all the other coats have heavy inner lining, and my aunt always said, “Absolutely, no. They don’t sell. We don’t need these heavy coats.” That’s all they knew about Eugene, Oregon. My aunt said Senator Morse put Eugene on the map and Oregon, because when he became senator during the Vietnam War he was the only one who voted against the war. And that’s how he became known all over this country. The senator from Oregon is the only one who voted against the war. We would be in New York, and even the taxi driver would ask us, “Where do you come from?” “From Eugene, Oregon.” “Oregon! Oh, that’s Senator Morse.” They knew. 

Shiffman: Interesting.
GEISEN: Yes, it was very interesting. He was very well known.

Shiffman: Now one other thing that strikes me. You mentioned a number of people who were merchants and who your aunt brought to Eugene. Did you know any university professors or people who came here to be attached to the university in the early days?
GEISEN: I only knew the Tepfers and the Yoods. There were two other families, and I thought the other day of the name. I knew her name; she was from Israel, and her name was Ziona. And he was a professor. Oh, now I remember. Bisno, I think. Have you heard ever? I think Bisno. He was a professor at the university, but they left, I think, could have left in the ‘60s. He took on another job, I think, in Pennsylvania, the University in Pennsylvania. I remember them. There was another Jewish family. I don’t know whether he worked for the university or if he was in business or did anything else. I don’t know. Their name was Seligman. They were all here about the same time: the Bisnos, the Yoods, the Tepfers, and the other. Otherwise, I don’t know. I knew an assistant professor, too. He was here for many years. He was a very good friend of the Levys. I can’t remember his last name, but he was an assistant professor, too. Can’t remember. 

Shiffman: Hilde thank you. Is there anything else that you would like to mention? Anything you think that we’ve not touched on?
GEISEN: If I think of something, I can tell you. Okay?

Shiffman: This has been wonderful. Thank you so much. 
GEISEN: As I told you before, I don’t know too much about the Jewish community. 

Shiffman: Well, I think you told me a lot. Thank you. It’s been wonderful.
GEISEN: You’re very welcome. You’re very welcome.