Charlotte Mitchell

Harper: If we could begin by you please telling me your name, your maiden name, the date and place of your birth? And if you could spell those things, too.
MITCHELL: Lotte Mitchell.

Harper: OK. Your maiden name.
MITCHELL: My maiden name is Lotte Wieland.

Harper: Can you spell that?
MITCHELL: Yes, that’s a full German name [spells out Wieland].

Harper: The date and place of your birth?
MITCHELL: Gleiwitz, Oberschlesien [Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia]. It was before the world war Polish, and then the Germans took it back. It was Germany actually. Gleiwitz, Oberschlesien.

Harper: Can you spell that?
MITCHELL: Gleiwitz [spells out].

Harper: What year were you born?
MITCHELL: 1916, July, 20.

Harper: Can you tell me who made up your household before the war, who you grew up with in your house?
MITCHELL: I grew up with my parents.

Harper: Just your parents? Did you have brothers and sisters?
MITCHELL: I have three sisters. They left Germany in the early ’30s with the youth aliyah, to Israel.

Harper: So tell me about your sisters, their names, their ages.
MITCHELL: I have a sister; her name is Ruth. She’s two years older than I am. Then I have a sister four years younger than me. Her name is Lora [spells out]. Then I have a sister, she is Hilde Perry. She lives on a kibbutz.

Harper: Can you tell me about your parents, what their names were, where they were from?
MITCHELL: They are German, just German-born people.

Harper: Do you know what city they were born in?
MITCHELL: My mother was born in Katowice. That was a very nice town that was on the border of — before the world war it was Poland, but then it came back to the Germans. My father is from Schlezeheren [sp?], somewhere on the Rhine, near Leibnitz [sp?]. He was born there as much as I know. We lived in Gleiwitz, Oberschlesien. It’s a town like Beaverton, but at that time it wasn’t as big a city over there.

Harper: Do you know the population?
MITCHELL: I can’t tell you. Maybe the same size as Salem. I just compare it. Yes.

Harper: Was it a center like Salem? Was it famous for a certain industry?
MITCHELL: Yes, it was an industry town. My father worked there in the Oberschlesien Hittenburge [sp?]. He was an engineer there.

Harper: What sort of factory was it?
MITCHELL: Industrial, a lot of coal. It was an industrial area, and my father was their engineer.

Harper: Did you meet your grandparents at all?
MITCHELL: Yes, I knew them.

Harper: Can you tell me about them?
MITCHELL: The parents of my mother lived in Katowice. They lived there until the end of their lives. As a school girl, I went quite often over there. It was not too far. By train, maybe a couple of hours.

Harper: Were they born in Germany as well?
MITCHELL: Yes. They were German Jews, not Polish.

Harper: Do you remember their names?
MITCHELL: My mother was Zernik.

Harper: Was this your mother or your grandmother?
MITCHELL: My mother. The parents of my mother, their name was Zernik. 

Harper: Can you spell that?
MITCHELL: Zernik [spells out].

Harper: And how about your father’s parents?
MITCHELL: His father, he passed away at a young age. His mother, I remember her. She lived until close to 80.

Harper: So you met her?
MITCHELL: Yes, as a 10-, 11-, 12-year-old child.

Harper: Were they German speakers? Did they speak Yiddish at all?
MITCHELL: No, they didn’t speak Yiddish. They were only German. But I speak Yiddish and understand it because I learned the language in England. English Jews speak Yiddish very good, so I picked it up there. It is a mixture of German and — I don’t know. It comes from all over. 

Harper: Can you tell me your father’s name? I don’t think you told me that.
MITCHELL: It’s Theodore, like Teddy Roosevelt. Same name, Theodore.

Harper: And your mother’s name?
MITCHELL: Rachel.

Harper: So your father was an engineer. Did your mother work?
MITCHELL: No, in those days mothers did not work. They took care of the children.

Harper: Would you say your family was middle class?
MITCHELL: I’m middle class, yes.

Harper: Can you tell me about your neighborhood?
MITCHELL: It was the industrial neighborhood. We had the apartment. It belonged to the company. This is a big area that belonged to [the name of the company he worked for?]. They had their apartment there.

Harper: Can you remember the name of the street it was on?
MITCHELL: Yes. Maties [spells out] Strasse.

Harper: Was this a mixed neighborhood, Jews and Gentiles? Or Jews?
MITCHELL: Mostly Gentile. Where my father worked, I think he was the only Jew in this company.

Harper: And how about the town as a whole, were there a lot of Jews in the town?
MITCHELL: Quite a few, yes. I went to a Jewish grade school my first few years. 

Harper: Did you live near a synagogue at all?
MITCHELL: No, but within walking distance there. In a city like there, it was walking distance. I had to walk to school too. We all had to walk. My other sister, the older one, she went to — in Germany it was grade school until eight years of grade school, but it was also a high school from the beginning. They called it lyceum. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.

Harper: Gymnasium?
MITCHELL: Yes, gymnasium. She went to gymnasium from the beginning.

Harper: Did you attend that synagogue?
MITCHELL: Yes. My mother was religious; my father, not so. We had a Jewish [household?].
Harper: Do you remember the name of the synagogue?

MITCHELL: No. A funny thing is I met him [the rabbi from the synagogue] in England. Somebody told me there was a rabbi living in this apartment, and I went there. When he came to England, he was half dead. They had two boys. Somebody said, “Why don’t you go and visit Rabbi Ox?” And when I got in there, oh my God, he was half dead in his bed. I don’t know how they got out, but the Nazi — half dead. They almost killed him. 

Harper: He was the rabbi in your synagogue?
MITCHELL: Yes, he married my older sister.

Harper: Do you remember the name of the street the synagogue was on?
MITCHELL: It was somewhere in downtown. I don’t know where. The synagogue was not small.

Harper: Do you know if it was an Orthodox synagogue, or . . .?
MITCHELL: No, there was only one synagogue. In those days, it was Orthodox. It was different, but I compare here with England. It was not too Orthodox, but — how do you call it here?

Harper: Conservative?
MITCHELL: Yes, Conservative. 

Malinski:  Traditional?
MITCHELL: Yes. The women were upstairs and the men were sitting downstairs, and then they had a balcony for the youth.

Harper: So you mentioned that your mother was religious.
MITCHELL: Religious. Well, she was a good Jew. She kept the house. In those days, we all had kosher.

Harper: Can you tell me more about your home religious life? You kept kosher . . .
MITCHELL: Yes, and we had all the holidays.

Harper: Did you observe the Shabbat?
MITCHELL: Yes. We observed Shabbat, and it was, how shall I say it? It was a real Jew’s household, in one word.

Harper: Did your father go to the synagogue?
MITCHELL: Yes.

Harper: How often?
MITCHELL: Every holiday. My mother went sometimes on Saturday.

Harper: And did you go with them?
MITCHELL: Yes. Children went in the afternoon. Children’s service.

Harper: Can you tell me, you mentioned your sisters were involved in the youth aliyah group. Were there any other Jewish groups that your family was involved in?
MITCHELL: No, but do you remember Bar Kochba? A Jewish sports club. My older sister was there, and there she met the husband. They married very young in the beginning when it started, the Nazi. He was a Zionist, yes? In those days, in ’33-’34, it was easier to get out. They went to Israel, at that time Palestine. They married and he could take her out. My other two sisters gradually went by youth aliyah. There was a group in Gleiwitz that sent the children out. It was 215 [?] I think. They sent the children with the youth aliyah.

Harper: To Palestine.
MITCHELL: Yes, they went to a kibbutz there. That was the beginning when they started building up from the refugees from Germany. My sisters are really the founder of the country. They went in the early ’30s.

Harper: How about you? Were you involved in a sports group or a youth aliyah group?
MITCHELL: Yes, I was in the sports kind, for gym classes. We had gym there. Like they are going here in school, we had this in the afternoon. They had the gym, so I went.

Harper: Did you compete?
MITCHELL: No. 

Harper: Just for fun?
MITCHELL: Just for fun, yes.

Harper: Were your parents involved in any Jewish group like that?
MITCHELL: They didn’t have Jewish clubs then, not like here, not in those days. I don’t remember. They got together on Saturday afternoon or Sunday.

Harper: How about any secular activities, political groups, or military? Was your father involved in the military?
MITCHELL: My father was in the military. In World War I he was, of course. 

Harper: Can you tell me a little bit about that in more detail?
MITCHELL: He wears a star here from the world [inaudible word], and then they killed him. He was fighting with them, and then they killed him.

Harper: Did he serve in another country?
MITCHELL: This I don’t know. But I know he was in World War I because on the picture he has a little star. I don’t know if he was out of the country. Poland was a different country then. Maybe there. 

Harper: Do you know if he was wounded at all during battle?
MITCHELL: He was a little bit wounded, not too bad. But I know he had a bad leg, a bad foot.

Harper: Can you tell me about your schooling?
MITCHELL: I went only to grade school, and then Hitler was there, couldn’t go further. But I went to business school for about a year until the Nazis came and threw me out.

Harper: Let me backtrack a little bit. You started going to your grade school. Was that a Jewish school?
MITCHELL: Yes, we had a small Jewish school. From one to seven, but not too many kids. Two big classes. It was separated second, third grade.

Harper: Was it a private school?
MITCHELL: No, it was really a Jewish school. It was elementary school.

Harper: But was it public or private?
MITCHELL: No, it was public. My oldest sister, she went in the gymnasium. That was private, a big school, but you had to pay for it.

Harper: So there were only Jewish students at that school, right?
MITCHELL: Yes.

Harper: You studied general studies and Hebrew and religion as well?
MITCHELL: We didn’t study Hebrew there. We had Hebrew lessons extra, twice a week for about two hours. I had to go twice a week for Hebrew.

Harper: How old were you when you finished this school? Do you remember?
MITCHELL: I was about 15.

Harper: 15. So that’s about seventh grade, maybe eighth grade?
MITCHELL: Yes. I went eight years to school.

Harper: At the public Jewish school?
MITCHELL: Yes.

Harper: Were you aware of any antisemitism while you went to school?
MITCHELL: Yes. Always, yes.

Harper: Can you tell me about that maybe?
MITCHELL: We always were sometimes called “you Jew.” Yes. That goes with the territory, I guess. 

Harper: Like when you were walking to school, did that happen?
MITCHELL: No, but sometimes children get into fights with other kids. We were called this, yes. 

Harper: So after 7th grade, where did you go to school?
MITCHELL: I went to a business school.

Harper: Do you remember what year you started business school?
MITCHELL: Maybe ’35 or ’36.

Harper: You went immediately from the Jewish school to the business school? Did you take any time off at all?
MITCHELL: A year, and then I went to the business school. I went to the business school for about a year. Then Hitler got more involved, and they threw the Jewish kids out, so that was it. After a year, they threw me out. 

Harper: Do you remember when you first noticed that the attitude towards the Jews was changing? Can you talk about this?
MITCHELL: Yes. I learned swimming. I went in a public swimming hall, and I had to pay. I was not 100% finished. One day the Nazi came and said, “You’re out.” That was it. I was out of the swimming. My sisters were already all gone, in Israel. In ’36 I left for Berlin. I saw an ad they had in a Jewish paper, like here the Chronicle. There was a family that looked for a Jewish nanny, and I answered the ad. They sent me the ticket, I should come to Berlin. They want to interview. From where I lived, Berlin was quite a distance, about eight or nine hours traveling in a train. 

So I went to Berlin, and I was a nanny there. I took care of two children. There were two beautiful children. One day, I left the capital because she was a sick woman and they couldn’t afford anybody, so I left. I had another job as a nanny. Berlin was full of jobs for nannies because they couldn’t hire any more the non-Jews. They were afraid to hire any other. So I had another job, a very nice job. That was in ’37 and ’38. I was between 19 or 20. I had a nice job there with a nice couple, and they had one little boy. 

Then the pogroms started in Berlin, yes. You’ve heard about the Crystal Night? At the Crystal Night, I went with a girlfriend to Berlin. Berlin was a beautiful city, and big city. We went on Kurfürstendamm; it was like a big Broadway. Oh, my God. There was a most beautiful synagogue — Pazanz [?] Synagogue, a very rich synagogue. It was all in flames. And then the father of this young child, he took a picture of the burning, and the next day he was caught by the Nazi. They sent him to a prison for making the picture of the burning synagogue. 

His wife was frantic. They told her, “You can get him free if you find a place where to go.” She was running from morning until night time. Here I was in charge of the child. The child was about two years, a darling little boy. I was in charge day and night for about two weeks, three weeks, and she was running. Finally she got a place. He was something in a special field, a scientist, and he had a visa to go to New Zealand. That was in ’38. So they packed up, and lucky — I come to my story now. 

They packed up everything, and both were running morning to night, getting ready, and I was left with the child. One day the Gestapo came in the house and asked me where Mr. Meier is. He was Dr. Meier. So I said, “I don’t know.”  “Well, if you don’t tell me, I’ll take the baby away.” I was just screaming, “Leave the baby with me.” He said, “What’s your name?” I said, “Lotte Wieland.” Then he said, “You’re not Jewish.” Because Wieland is a very Christian name in Germany. There are no Jews named. “You’re not Jewish!” I said, “I am.” He said, “OK, we’ll leave you with the child.” 

A few days later she came, the Mrs., and said, “Lotte, we have here all the papers. We’re going to New Zealand. We have the visa and everything.” She was busy running around and getting ready. She said, “We have the visa.” Finally he came. He said they let him out. So much she had to pay. They were quite wealthy. He said, “But before we go, I want you to get out.” I said, “I have relatives in America.” He said, “You can’t wait for that. We get you out. We have some friends in England. We called them up in England, and they need always housemaids and nannies.” The English girls didn’t want to do it. OK. They called them up, they talked with them, and the friend said, “OK. We’ll try to get her a job.” After a couple of weeks or so, I heard from a family, very rich. Rich English people out in the country, about two hours by train from London. They sent me the permission, a domestic permit, to get into England. I had the permission, I went to the passport and applied for a passport, and I got also the visa. So that was that.

Harper: Let me interrupt you. I want to back up a little bit. Do you remember when you first heard of Hitler? Do you remember him coming to power?
MITCHELL: Yes, it started in ’32, ’33. People left by ’33, ’34, like my sisters.

Harper: What was your family’s reaction?
MITCHELL: My parents, I tell you, I can’t even think of it. I was the last one to leave the parents. I will miss them. I did everything in my power to get them out. You can imagine what it was. Parents who have to send four children out of the country. When all of a sudden, there’s two parents standing alone. I’ll never forget their picture when I said goodbye on the train. It was a heart-breaking story. I got out. I said goodbye, and I left for England, for London. 

We had a little private, how is it called? In the train. There were about three girls also that left for England. One said, “I have a brother there.” They were all older than me. The other said, “I have an auntie. To who do you go?” “I go to a stranger. I have a job.” OK. That was it. I arrived in London, and there was a man there that told us, “There’s a man on the train from the Jewish committee, English, and you go to him. He will put you to the right place.” OK. So I went to him, he collected some young girls my age, and they sent us from where I had the paper. 

I was waiting there, and the people who sponsored me were very rich people, English aristocratic. They had four children. He was a president of Lloyds, the insurance. The Mrs. came with the car to London to the train and took me. I couldn’t speak English. I had a book in my hand, and I had to explain everything to tell her. They lived in a beautiful suburb. It was like a mansion, ten-bedroom home, very elegant. I had my room and everything; it was nice. Then she asked me, “Have you got another girl? We could need a housemaid.” I was for children. “Yes,” I said, “I have a good girlfriend.” So they sent her the paper.

Harper: I want to go back again and ask you about your family’s reaction to what was going on in Germany. Did your parents try to leave the country? Did they want your sisters to leave the country?
MITCHELL: They didn’t want it, but they had no choice. Parents just said, “We lived our life.” Nobody thought they would touch the elderly people. Nobody was thinking about it, that it comes to an end. Nobody. But then, when I was in England, I sent letters to my relatives in New York and Chicago. My family is in Chicago, relatives. There was a sister of my father living at that time in Chicago. I sent letters telling them they should do something to get my parents out. The war broke out. What could we do? I was sitting there on the steps where I worked and was screaming. I talked to them before. They had an interpreter for me. They told me they will get the paper for my parents. But it was too late. They wanted to get them out to England, but it was too late. The war broke out. The borders were closed. So here we got stuck.

Harper: I want to focus right now on the years around 1933, the first years of Hitler coming to power. Do you remember any Nazi political gatherings or things like book burning, boycotts, anything like that?
MITCHELL: It was boycotts, yes. We have seen the Nazi, with the Hitler, and the high boots, but I was too young to pay too much. I don’t know. I can’t tell you. But we noticed this, of course.

Harper: Do you remember the passage of the Nuremberg laws in 1935, restricting Jews from going in public places, things like this?
MITCHELL: Yes, I remember.

Malinski: Can you tell us a story about when you heard about it?
MITCHELL: When we heard about it, everybody was just numb. I mean, what can we do? We tried to get in touch with relatives all over the world. Put it this way. Some got out; some didn’t.

Malinski: Did Jewish groups meet and try and figure out what to do?
MITCHELL: No, but there was, as I said, Bar Kochba, a Jewish sports club. There was a Jewish group. There is where we went.

Harper: Did they discuss in this group about how things were happening?
MITCHELL: Yes, they went to a hakhshara [Hebrew for “preparation”]. They sent the Jews, the young people to some hakhshara. My two sisters went, and from the hakhshara, they sent them with a youth aliyah to Israel. They had to work there in the fields, to build up a country. 

Harper: What I’m trying to understand here is, I want to know how your daily life began to change from the Nazis’ rise to power.
MITCHELL: It started before ’33. Maybe ’30, ’31. Yes, ’33 it started.

Harper: I’m trying to understand those changes. If you could maybe tell me a story of things that happened, or things like this?
MITCHELL: I left in ’36 to Berlin, and Berlin in ’36 was a big, big city. It was much better living than in a smaller town. They don’t know me. I got together with quite a few young girls my age. They were also nannies there. At that time, when you went to a park with a child, there was for Jews separate yellow benches. This I never forget. We could only sit with the children on the yellow benches in the park. Where I was working, we had a beautiful apartment. It was across from a big, big park. There was a section for the Jewish people with the yellow benches. This I had to face. That was from ’36 until I left. Then it was really time to get out.

Harper: Did you ever sit on the non-yellow benches?
MITCHELL: No. When it was yellow and you sit on the non-yellow benches, the Nazi would come and throw you out. Oh, no.

Malinski: What did it feel like to have to sit on the yellow bench?
MITCHELL: You’re a second-class citizen. Yes.

Harper: Did you talk about having to sit on the yellow bench, with your friends or family?
MITCHELL: We talked about it. What will we do? Where will we go?

Harper; So you wanted to leave the country? You knew you had to leave the country?
MITCHELL: I knew I had to leave the country. I knew that, and I was preparing. Luckily, I worked for people that cared about me because I cared about this child, for his safety. They got me out.

Malinski: Did you find people who didn’t want to leave the country?
MITCHELL: No.

Malinski: Everybody was trying to leave?
MITCHELL: Yes, mostly everybody. Then I had a few girls my age, and they would also sit down with me on the benches. They all came to Berlin from a small city. They ran away to the big city. Because Berlin is a big, big city, not like Los Angeles but very close to it. You can get lost amongst it. That was my escape. If I would have stayed there, where my parents were, in Gleiwitz, I swear I wouldn’t have come out, because when I arrived in England, I was working for this family with the children. They teach me English and I teach them German. I had letters from my parents, from my mother. They were still, yes. Your school friend, this one and this one, they want to come out and they don’t have a way to get out. Couldn’t do nothing. I was trying to get my parents out because I knew there was not too long. I came out in April ’39. In November ’39 the war broke out. 

Harper: September 1.
MITCHELL: The war broke out in ’39. I arrived in London in April. You can’t do much. I couldn’t speak English perfect. It takes a while until you find somebody, until you get the paper. They wanted to try to get my parents out, but the border was closed and finished. I never forget this day. I was sitting on the steps there screaming and crying.

Harper: Did your parents try to leave the country? Were they making arrangements for themselves?
MITCHELL: No, they couldn’t. They were waiting for America. My father had a sister there, but from a small town it was not so easy.

Harper: Did you and your family discuss trying to leave as a family?
MITCHELL: No, it was not this way. Nobody was thinking about that it comes to the worst. Really. We didn’t discuss. But when I was the last one to get out, then they wake up.

Malinski: What were they thinking? Were they thinking there might be a war? 
MITCHELL: Yes.

Malinski: And just kind of sit tight?
MITCHELL: Yes, but then I arrived in England, and in a short time, I tried to get my parents out to England. There was a problem with America. In those days you had to have a number, a waiting number. You had to register. The quota. When I was in Berlin, I had a quota. If I would have waited for my quota, I never would have gotten out. This man [inaudible] he said, “You can’t wait for the quota. You’ll never get out. We’ll get you out to England.” And that was the way I got safe out.

Malinski: In the small town where you were, were you worried about neighbors saying [inaudible]?
MITCHELL: No. Today the children, what I see on television, they are much more educated than we were in our time. They have the television, they have the radio, and everything. In my time, it wasn’t that. We were not so much educated in politics, in school; it was all hidden. Yes.

Harper: Did your father lose his job because he was Jewish? Do you remember?
MITCHELL: No, he didn’t.

Harper: Do you remember the Olympics in Berlin in ’36?
MITCHELL: Yes, I remember. Very distant, but I remember.

Harper: You didn’t see any of the events?
MITCHELL: No, I didn’t.

Harper: So your daily life in Berlin . . .?
MITCHELL: It was all right. We were scared, but when you are young, you didn’t take it as hard as when you’re getting older. You didn’t think of that, of the worst. But when I was 18, 19, then I started my future. Like here, going to college or so. So I went to Berlin as a nanny, and that was my . . .

Harper: Beside the yellow benches, were there any other restrictions on your life because you were Jewish?
MITCHELL: No, not at that time. I only know you couldn’t go anymore on the street; you were scared a little. I was scared, but I went. 

Harper: Tell me more about Kristallnacht. Do you remember that night?
MITCHELL: Crystal Night? Yes. I went with my girlfriend in town, on Kurfürstendamm through Berlin. Everything was in flames. One after the other, Jewish stores. It was all in flame. The windows thrown in, and they robbed everything out that they could. It was a horror.

Harper: Was this during the night that you saw this, or the next day?
MITCHELL: No, it was Crystal Night on the same day. It was already dark, 8:00 PM or so, when I went with my girlfriends there through the town. There was like a big Broadway and all the beautiful, and there was the synagogue there, the one I mentioned. Passan [?] Synagogue, one of the most beautiful and historic synagogues. You want to see something from Berlin?

Harper: Sure.
MITCHELL: I have something here.

Harper: We’ll wait until the end of the interview, OK? Were you scared when you went out?
MITCHELL: No, I wasn’t scared. We saw — it was just horrible, but not scared.

Harper: What did you think that this was? Did you understand what it was, or . . .?
MITCHELL: Yes, I understand. I know I was Jewish, and I know it comes to an end, and I hadn’t seen any future. That I know.

Harper: Did you witness anyone being arrested or beaten up that night?
MITCHELL: No, I hadn’t seen it. I didn’t go this far, no. This night the man who I worked for the child, as nanny, he got arrested.

Harper: Did you see this happen?
MITCHELL: Yes. They came and they arrested him for taking pictures, but luckily he came out because he had money. And the wife was running around, get a place where to go, a visa for New Zealand. That was the only place they could leave.

Harper: Was your parents’ town affected by Crystal Night?
MITCHELL: Yes, I guess so, but not as much as Berlin. Yes, it was affected. The whole of Germany was affected by Crystal Night.

Harper: Did you talk with them after Crystal Night? Did you talk to them about it?
MITCHELL: Yes, they we were in another city. I called them up by phone. I talked to them. It was scary. I wouldn’t wish this on my children, I tell you frankly. They couldn’t see a picture, you know what I mean? They can’t believe it even. It was something that was unbelievable! That is history. If you don’t see it, and if you don’t go through it, you live in a different world.

Malinski: That’s why we want you to describe it for us. Were your parents frightened?
MITCHELL: Of course they were. Every Jew and every human being would be frightened. You always fight for your life as long as you live. That was history, part of history.

Harper: Did your life change after Kristallnacht?
MITCHELL: Yes, it changed. Trying to get out as fast as you could, and I had the chance to get to England.

Harper: And you went in April ’39? Is that right?
MITCHELL: Yes, that was really the last year, and then in September or November, I don’t know exactly, when the war broke out, then it was over. The borders were closed, and that was it.

Harper: I want to stop right here for a moment, and I want to come back to our story of your arrival in England. But before we stop, is there anything about your growing up or your life in the ’30s that you want to talk about or tell us?
MITCHELL: It was not the best growing up as a teenager. You lost your best years as a teenager.

Malinski: Why? How?
MITCHELL: Well, you couldn’t do that. You couldn’t go there.

Malinski: What couldn’t you do?
MITCHELL: You were scared. Absolutely.

Malinski: What things did you want to do that you didn’t?
MITCHELL: You always have other neighbors like we have here, non-Jewish. They were afraid to be seen with you or go with you somewhere, or go to functions, like in the movies for children. That was over.

Malinski: You lost friends?
MITCHELL: Oh, sure.

Malinski: Were they mean to you, or did they just ignore you?
MITCHELL: Not mean, but they didn’t want to be seen with you. Period.

Malinski: Are you remembering somebody right now?
MITCHELL: No. Because I left in ’36 from my hometown. They closed [inaudible] where I grew up, the school. Then I left and I came to a brand new city, a big city. It was a better life there. In a big city you are more lost.

Malinski: In the little city, everybody knows you.
MITCHELL: Yes, exactly.

Malinski: So how did the kids socialize? How did they get together?
MITCHELL: They had a Jewish clubhouse. 

Malinski: They had social events?
MITCHELL: Yes, something. But it was scary, let’s face it. Yes.

Malinski: Did anybody ever chase you, or did any scary event happen to you?
MITCHELL: Not to me because I got out in time to Berlin. While I was in Berlin I felt safer than there, in the smaller town. I was with a family who was wonderful, who got me out of Germany.

Harper: Why don’t we take a short break?

[Tape stops and then resumes]

Harper: I’d like to pick up with discussing your arrival in England. If you can tell me about those days when you were leaving, what you were able to take, saying goodbye to your parents. 
MITCHELL: Yes, saying goodbye. When I arrived at the boat, when I gave them my passport and where I’m going. I left from Berlin, and I had in my suitcase a box of silverware my mother gave me. At the — when they look, when you have to go through the . . .

Harper: Customs?
MITCHELL: Customs, yes. The customs took out the silver box. They took it out. 

Malinski: They just took it?
MITCHELL:  No, you’re not allowed to take it. The Nazi. The Nazi. I said, “OK. You have the box.” 

Malinski: You didn’t fight with them?
MITCHELL: No. Listen, if I have had to leave my parents, what . . .

Malinski: What’s a box of silver?
MITCHELL: Yes. The material things didn’t matter anything in those days, nothing. What does it mean? Nothing. Just life. OK, that was fine.

Harper: Tell me about leaving your parents. Did you go visit them before you left?
MITCHELL: Yes, I said goodbye and I left for Berlin from this small city. I said goodbye and left for Berlin, and then I got ready to go out, to leave for England. I had already my paper for England.

Harper: When you were leaving, did you think you would meet them again soon, or . . .?
MITCHELL: Yes, when you’re young, you don’t go with the idea that I won’t see my parents never again. But that comes gradually. As we getting older, and I knew my parents would be old today, and I couldn’t do anything [inaudible]. What can I do? I did they best I could. Hopefully they knew it. 

Harper: So that was the last time you saw your parents?
MITCHELL: Yes, in ’36. 

Malinski: Did they have wishes for you? We want you to go to school or have children?
MITCHELL: My other sisters were out already.

Malinski: So all the children were gone?
MITCHELL: That was the saddest part I ever had to face.

Malinski What were their wishes for you when you left?
MITCHELL: My wish was my parents should stay healthy, and I tried the best I could, which I did. But at that time I was too young. I talked to the people, and six months later, five months later, the war broke out, and then I knew what happened. Everybody knew that they closed the border.

Harper: How long were you able to communicate with your parents? As soon as the war started, were you able to still send letters, or not?
MITCHELL: Yes, I had a few letters, and I wrote a few letters. Oh. In England? You’re talking about England?

Harper: Yes.
MITCHELL: That was 1939, yes. In 1940, in England, I was interned as a German citizen, as an alien. They interned the alien, the Jewish girls. We were a lot of Jewish young people there. I was interned because the war broke out against Germany. They didn’t know who was a Nazi and who was a Jew, so they got me. They were looking for me. One day I came home and here were the English. They were nice. “I’m sorry we have to take you. We have to collect all Germans.” But the funny thing is, England is also a big country, yes? In some part of England they had invented A-B-C. Who got the A was sent over to Australia, the men. To Australia in an internment camp. The B, I had B. The B got interned. There were quite a whole lot interned, capital B. And C was not interned. There were a few were out. I don’t know how that went. Anyhow, I was interned for over a whole year.

Malinski: When they came to get you, did you say, “I’m a Jew”?
MITCHELL: Oh, yes. Of course. It was nothing. I was not scared. They told us we would be in a nice place on the Isle of Man. It was a beautiful place, I have to say it. But it was icy cold in the winter, and the wind blew like — you know Seaside? Yes. Picture Seaside. There was the same way. Here was the prom, and all along the prom, that’s where I was. The place was Port Irene, a little resort. They threw out all the vacation people who were on vacation, the English people. They threw them out and put the German refugees in there.

Malinski: And the family you lived with, were they Jewish?
MITCHELL: No. 

Malinski: They weren’t?
MITCHELL: No, nice English people.

Int. Did they try to say no?
MITCHELL: No, they couldn’t. We were the alien for them, yes? I don’t blame them. They didn’t know it. Amongst them were a lot of German Christian young people that go to England and work for domestic. We had a lot of them in the camp where I was, on the Isle of Man.

Malinski: Did the family take you partly to rescue you as a Jew, or they just wanted a nanny?
MITCHELL This I don’t know.

Malinski You don’t know?
MITCHELL: Well, maybe Jew and they want a nanny. But anyhow, I was over a year on the Isle of Man. And then came somebody over from the English-Jewish Committee. In England they have a big Jewish committee, Bloomsbury House. They took care of all the emigrants in London. A social worker came over to the Isle of Man and interviewed us. They interviewed me, too. The whole history, from where I came and that I am not a Nazi. They checked us out, and they left some in, the German girls, yes? The German people they left on the Isle of Man. Eventually I came out after one and a half years. It took a long time. They let me go, and I went back to London.

Harper: Were you staying in a hotel?
MITCHELL: Where? The Isle of Man? Yes, there was a hotel. Picture the seaside. Here was the prom, and there was the hill, and it was all hotels. It was beautiful.

Harper: So what did you do during the day?
MITCHELL: We sat there. We had a big lounge in the hotel. We knitted, we talked, and we had our duties too. Some days I cooked. Some cleaned the house, vacuum, and some in the dining room. I played the waitress. We had different duties. We changed around.

Malinski: You set them up amongst yourselves, or . . .?
MITCHELL: No, the English. There was somebody in charge of us. In every hotel was about maybe between 20 and 30 young people. The men were in a different camp. Like Seaside. They have different little towns.

Harper: Did you have a bad time or a good time? It sounds like it wasn’t so bad there.
MITCHELL: No, it was not bad. I wish my parents could have been there, believe me. All of them would have come out alive. No, it was very nice. But of course, we were not free. When I came out, they sent me then back to London.

Malinski: So there were some Jews and some non-Jews?
MITCHELL: Yes, non-Jews. They interned.

Malinski: Was there antisemitism?
MITCHELL: Yes.

Malinski: Can you tell us an incident?
MITCHELL Yes, I can tell you an incident. Some girl said, “Wait until Hitler comes. You can go here in the ocean.” Because in front of us we have seen the ocean. “You can go in the ocean because Hitler is not far away from there.”

Malinski: Your friends in the camp or in the hotel on the Isle of Man, were they mostly Jewish?
MITCHELL: Yes, but as I said there were a few non-Jewish. England had non-Jewish people from Germany. They applied for a job, housekeeper or [inaudible word].

Harper: Did you discuss the situation in Germany?
MITCHELL: No, I don’t remember that. Because we were without radio, without paper, nothing.

Malinski: They didn’t allow?
MITCHELL: No, they didn’t have it. Of course not. We were prisoners of war.

Harper: Were you able to write letters to your parents?
MITCHELL: Yes, I wrote letters. I still have one letter. They wrote “Prisoner of War.” The address was “Prisoner of War” and the hotel in the town.

Harper: What did the letter say?
MITCHELL: Not much. They couldn’t write much. The Nazi. Just they hope I’m OK and I’m in touch with my sisters in Israel. That’s all I remember.

Harper: When did you stop getting letters from your parents?
MITCHELL: I think in ’42. And I knew what was happening. I wrote a letter when I was back in London to the Red Cross, and they told me what happened.

Malinski: What did they say?
MITCHELL: You can’t expect any mail anymore, and they are gone somewhere. They didn’t know it.

Harper: What year did you go to the Isle of Man?
MITCHELL: What did I say? In ’41 they collected the people to go, interned. For their safety. They didn’t know who was Nazi or not.

Harper: Right. So from the beginning of the war until 1941 you just worked in this house, is that right? At the insurance man’s house?
MITCHELL: Yes, until I was taken away. That’s right.

Harper: What did you hear about the war? Were you aware of any concentration camps or what was going on in Poland?
MITCHELL: No, Poland came later to the picture. There was first Germany. Hitler slowly took over Poland, Belgium, all the little countries, the neighboring countries. But I didn’t hear nothing. No paper, I had nothing there. Then — when was the war over? In ’45.

Harper: I want to talk about the years during the war first, OK?
MITCHELL: Well, then I got out. In ’41 I was interned. In end of ’42, I got out and I didn’t know where to go. There was a Jewish committee. They came over to the Isle of Man and sent us to Manchester. There was a big Jewish community, and they had a hostel, like the YMCA here. They put me in there, and other people too, until everything was settled. We were homeless. Then I had a job there in Manchester, also in a house with children. Very nice people. I stayed there about a year, then my best girlfriend with whom I left Germany — and she was related to the people who got me out to England. She lived in London, and she was interned with me too. She was living there in a boarding house, so she wrote me, “Come over here. We have our room. There are about ten young girls here. We have a boarding house here.” So I went to London, and I worked in a war factory over there. They made the uniform for the English soldier. I worked there. I worked for the war.

Harper: At this time, did you hear from your parents at all? All letters were  stopped?
MITCHELL: They were not more there. The Red Cross couldn’t find them, and they told me.

Harper: They just said, “We can’t find your parents”?
MITCHELL: “Your parents are gone.”

Harper: Did they mean dead, or . . .?
MITCHELL: Yes, yes, yes. The Nazi got all of them. That was the end of them.

Harper: But they didn’t say exactly where or what?
MITCHELL: I just heard that from the hometown from where I came and where I was born, they collected all the Jewish people. They sent them to — was it Dachau, or? There was a camp, Theresienstadt. They said that they sent them to Theresienstadt. When the Holocaust [Memorial?] opened, the first day, in our synagogue, in the Neveh Shalom, I went with my husband, and as I told you, I opened that book and looked and looked for the name. I found my parents under Theresienstadt.

Harper: Did they die at Theresienstadt?
MITCHELL: Probably. They did the same. But in Dachau, and where else then? I don’t know how many there were. Buchenwald, and Dachau, and in Poland there was the worst thing.

Harper: During the war, when you were working in the factory, was there any bombing?
MITCHELL: Oh, yes. You can say that again. The bombing. Boy, oh boy.

Harper: So tell me about that.
MITCHELL: I was working. We lived in a boarding house with about ten girls. Each one had a job, worked hard for the British government. It was about five or ten minutes to run to the shelter. We ran to the shelter, to the subway, the Underground. I was not far from the Underground. In London on each corner they have the Underground, and the Underground is so deep, they couldn’t get you. If it’s a direct hit, not even the Underground would get a direct hit. Yes. So then I was working in a coat factory, and there was a Jewish company, and we run — well, sometimes I was so tired I didn’t run. I had a room up on the second floor, just up. I didn’t care. If it’s a hit, it’s a hit. You’re getting tired, and you run, run. In the end, I was so tired I didn’t run anymore.

Malinski: When you were working during the day?
MITCHELL: Yes, it was occasionally during the day. The company had a shelter. We run in the shelter. But mostly at night time, that was really unbelievable. That went day and night. The night times were really horrible. But where I lived it was a little bit out, not in direct, Regents Street and Regents Palace, all the big things. It was quite a ways. I lived a little bit out.

Harper: So you weren’t in the center of the destruction?
MITCHELL: No, but we had the Underground. 

Harper: Were the buildings around where you lived destroyed at all?
MITCHELL: No, not from a direct hit, but one day I got up. My window — [inaudible] the bombing. As I said, not a direct hit, but from all the surrounding, my window came out. I was under glass. There was death. It was a hectic time.

Harper: At this time, were you aware of what was happening to the Jews?
MITCHELL: Oh, yes. We were aware. There was talk all over. We knew that, and you can imagine how we all felt. We all had our loved ones over [there]. We all. I had my parents and a lot of relatives.

Harper: Were you aware of the death camps in the east, in Poland?
MITCHELL: Yes. Well, you heard all over. You heard, yes. But I found out more when I came here to the United States.

Malinski: Did the young people you were with, did they talk about their relatives or cry?
MITCHELL: Oh, yes. We cried a lot. I cried.

[Telephone rings and there is a pause]

Harper: Can you remember any significant events that happened in 1942 or 1943?
MITCHELL: I was in London, yes. There was the heavy bombing until 1945. In ’45 was V-Day. The end of ’45 was V-Day, yes?

Harper: I want to backtrack. I don’t want to go there yet. You said you found out about your parents in 1942?
MITCHELL: Yes, then I knew for sure.

Harper: Did you know that you would never go back to Germany?
MITCHELL: Of course I knew. I wouldn’t have gone back. But everything has changed, and my husband wanted to see his family. My husband was in Shanghai, and his family lived there in Shanghai but they couldn’t come out here. They went back to Frankfurt. A lot of people went back to their own hometown. I wouldn’t have gone back, but I visited with him, Frankfurt.

Harper: What I want to know is, finding about your parents’ deaths, was it difficult for you to — how did you deal with it?
MITCHELL: How did I deal? I became a nervous wreck, and I’m still a nervous wreck when I think about it, what happened. I don’t want to hear anymore. I don’t want to see Germany. I hope it never happens in the lifetime of our children, I tell you that much. And I hope the world has learned plenty.

Harper: Do you remember the arrival of American troops in England?
MITCHELL: There was the V-Day. Oh, my God. The whole England was jumping up and down. Can you imagine what would have happened if England lost the war? There’s no Jews today. That was really a date to celebrate; we celebrate for a whole week. The pubs were full. The young American people, American soldiers.

Harper: Did you follow the news during the war, the progression of the war? The invasion of Normandy, for example?
MITCHELL: Yes, we had a radio there in the house. The invasion of Normandy, yes. And then the Japanese and Pearl Harbor, we know that too. We know that.

Harper: It sounds like to me that during the war you just kept busy working in this factory.
MITCHELL: Yes, kept busy. Today at my age, and at that time it looked different. As a young girl, everything was different really than today. When I came here, I found more about my parents and what happened really. We found out more. Always more and more came out.
Harper: I want to understand. It seems to me that you were working and living with, and that you had contact with a lot of girls in a similar situation.
MITCHELL: Yes, sure. You always stick to your people, to the same situation, a lot.

Harper: It seems interesting to me. Here you have this group of people who are living in England while their family has either been killed or they don’t know about what’s happened to their family.
MITCHELL: Some young people came out with parents, too, to England. I know quite a few. The whole family came out.

Harper: Did you give each other support? Were you close to them? Or did you prefer not to talk about it? How did you deal with . . .?
MITCHELL: Well, we dealt with it day by day, just day by day. It was just existing. You didn’t have much to eat either, but we got coupons for clothing and everything. Everybody got a coupon book for food and for clothing, only so much you could buy and that was that. But we didn’t starve. We had enough.

Harper: At this time did you practice Judaism? Did you attend a synagogue?
MITCHELL: Yes, I always was a Jew, and I always will be. I went to the synagogue when I had a chance, yes. Not too much. In the country where I lived there was no synagogue, but in London when I lived then, there was a couple of them. So I visited. On the High Holidays I went a few times. That’s about it.

Harper: Did you make friends with any English Jews?
MITCHELL: Yes, where I worked it was mostly English Jews.

Harper: And how did they treat you?
MITCHELL: Very nice. I can’t say anything. Treated us wonderful. I had an English boss. He was very nice. Didn’t know what was going on.

Harper: So can you tell me about the end of the war?
MITCHELL: The end of the war. It was in ’45. Well, life went on, and everybody was happy that Hitler was gone. The country was freed. Of course, London was also very much bombed. The same thing Denmark, too. With the bombing and everything. Nobody in America could understand it, really. Nobody. It was hard to understand it. If you don’t see it and if you don’t hear the bombing, that is very hard. You can’t even explain it. Like I said, everything goes by, and the life goes by. You’re getting older and you get wiser.

So I found my sisters over there back, in ’45. I worked for another two years there, and in ’47 I got to America. My relatives asked me if I wanted to come out. They sent me an affidavit. They sent me the paper. Get ready. We sponsor you. So they sponsored me. I arrived in Chicago. I met my husband there. He was settled here before, in Portland. He came from Shanghai. We had both the same background during the war. He’s a German Jew; I’m a German Jew. He lived during the war in Shanghai, and I lived during the war in England. Similar situation. Of course, the people from Shanghai, they had to get out there too. It was a horrible situation, but they survived at least. So he came to America and I came to Chicago.

Harper: What year did you move to Portland?
MITCHELL: ’47.

Harper: And your husband worked? Or did you both work? What did he do for a living?
MITCHELL: Yes, we both worked. Whatever we got, we worked. Odds and ends. When we find something. We managed.

Harper: While you were in England, did you keep in contact with your sisters in Israel?
MITCHELL: Yes. In fact, my sister in Israel, they had the British soldiers there. They occupied Palestine. One day a British soldier on leave came to see me. The bell rung and I opened downstairs, because it was a boardinghouse — here a room, there a room — so he said, “I bring you some regards from your sister. I am just back from Palestine.” He was in the village stationed where my sister was living. So he told me all about what’s over there. They’re OK, they send regards, and . . .

Malinski: Did they know about your parents? Your sisters?
MITCHELL: I told them. I sent them letters. Yes. And this is why the soldier — he was in the Air Force, this young fellow who came. He went to Leeds, a town out of London. His parents had a farm there, and he came and visited me and brought me some eggs and some fresh fruit from the farm. That was really nice. He told me, “My mother sent this to you.” That was very sweet. I appreciated it.

Harper: Did you ever want to go to Palestine?
MITCHELL: Tell you frankly, after I was living there, no. I didn’t have the urge to go.

Malinski: After you were living in England?
MITCHELL: Yes, England. I didn’t want to go. I would have stayed in England. I had not the urge. I wasn’t a Zionist. If I didn’t have the opportunity to come to the United States, I would have stayed in England. All my friends survived there, too. It was a nice place to live. After all, I am thankful to England. They saved my life. I was back twice or three times in England. I always will love England, for this.

Harper: So you moved to Portland and got your life established here?
MITCHELL: Yes, with my husband, because we got married in Chicago.

Harper: What was his name?
MITCHELL: David Mitcholen [sp?], but he changed the name from Mitchelon to Mitchell. Nobody could spell it or understand it, so somebody said, “Why don’t you change it to Mitchell. It sounds better.” OK. We changed it by becoming a citizen, and then it was changed. So I’m Mitchell now.

Harper: And when you lived here, you were involved in the Jewish community?
MITCHELL: Oh, yes. I sent my kids to Hebrew school. We went to the Jewish community center. They took swimming lessons there. And we became a member of the Jewish Community Center and of Neveh Shalom synagogue. My husband was quite religious, not too much, but he was religious. When he had a chance not to work on Saturday, he went to the synagogue.

Harper: You have two daughters?
MITCHELL Yes.

Harper: When were they born?
MITCHELL: In ’49, there was Esther. I got married in ’47.

Harper: And your other daughter?
MITCHELL: I have another one. She was born in ’55. 

Harper: Esther lives in Portland, right?
MITCHELL: Yes, in Portland. The other one, Shelly, she lives not far from here, on Pacific Highway. About 10 minutes.

Harper: Tell me about when you went back to Germany and England. What was that like?
MITCHELL: I tell you something. England, I felt fine, comfortable. But in Germany, I did not feel comfortable. If it wouldn’t have been for my husband, I wouldn’t have gone. He had his aunt. She raised him and was with him in Shanghai. They came together from Shanghai. So we went . . .

[Telephone rings and tape is paused]

MITCHELL: Are you with the Holocaust Center here?

Harper: Yes. Can you please tell me about your trip back to Germany? You were starting to tell me about that.
MITCHELL: I went just to Frankfurt with my husband, because it was where he was born, where he lived. He showed me the business his father had. Frankfurt used to be a big Jewish community, and still a lot of people went back to Frankfurt. He was in Shanghai, and as I said, his aunt and family went back to Frankfurt. They couldn’t come out here, so they went back from where they left. Frankfurt didn’t touch me, though. For me it was a strange place because I never was before in Frankfurt. I came from Berlin, and from where I was born, and that was that. It was different. But I found a lot of Jewish people still live in Frankfurt. It was between 18 and 20 years ago. I was surprised. They had kosher meat there and the synagogue again, and the people from Shanghai who left Frankfurt and came back, they had built government homes. There was a big apartment building where his aunt lived that was built by the government for the people who came back. It was a little surprising, and very nice. The new government, they did what they could, and what I think was more than right. They took everything away from us.

Harper: When did you first learn about the destruction, the numbers of people that were killed?
MITCHELL: Actually, here in the United States. Because when I left England, it was all still mishke mashke. 

Harper: And what did you think?
MITCHELL: I really couldn’t think. You couldn’t even think straight. You were so [very long pause] . . .

Harper: Do you have any questions?
Malinski: Yes, I have some. Eric told me that it took you a while before you felt ready to do this interview.

MITCHELL: Who told you?
Malinski: Eric. Is that correct? You had to think about it for a while.
MITCHELL: Did I? When did you call me? Well, we postponed it, I think twice.

Malinski: What made the idea of it the most difficult for you? What was the hardest part?
MITCHELL: It was the hard part, to tell you true, that I should get through the whole thing. It’s a very hard part of my life.

Malinski: So just remembering?
MITCHELL: Sure. Who wants to have the terrible things always in front of you? I started a new life. I have a family here now. I don’t want to forget, believe me. It’s the last thing on earth I want to forget. But you don’t want to remember it every day. I don’t want to talk about it every day. My God! Sometimes people go on television or something. I say, “Oh, God. What good will it do, tell me? I couldn’t do that. I’m not the type.” It was a horrible life, what was going on, and repeat the whole thing all the time, I couldn’t do it. I’m a nervous wreck without that.

Malinski: So part of it has stayed with you? 
MITCHELL: Of course. It goes with you the rest of your life.

Malinski: When you heard about the rabbi from your hometown, what did he look like?
MITCHELL: What I have seen, I’m telling you. Like a skeleton, half dead. 

Malinski: He was lying down.
MITCHELL: Yes, he was lying down.

Malinski: Could he talk?
MITCHELL: Hardly.

Malinski: Did he recognize you?
MITCHELL No, but his wife recognized me. They have two boys, she said. They were already teenagers there in London. She complained about the boys: “They’re no good. They’re running around here.” So I left. I was not longer than ten minutes there.

Malinski: But they all four survived?
MITCHELL: Oh, yes. They came out with the whole family.

Harper; Were they in a camp?
MITCHELL: No, no, no. They came out. I don’t know how they came out. ’39. When was the war started?

Harper: ’39.
MITCHELL: Maybe they got out with the last [ship?]. Over somewhere in Europe. Some went to Holland, and from Holland there. I don’t know.

Harper: Growing up, did you tell your children about what happened to you?
MITCHELL: Sure. My children know what happened and where their grandparents are. They know it. They’re old enough. They are both mothers. I have five grandchildren. They know the history. Esther, the oldest one, the one who called, she’s very much involved with Neveh Shalom, with our two girls. She has two girls. The second one in November she had a bat mitzvah. They are very much educated in Jewish because the father, the husband of my daughter, is very much. Both kids had a nice bat mitzvah and they’re very good in Hebrew. They did it like a boy, the whole maftir and the whole thing. The synagogue was crowded. Everybody said the girls are absolutely wonderful.

Malinski: What was that like for you to have been so close to death and then see your grandchildren having a bat mitzvah?
MITCHELL: You know what? You don’t think what my life was about. I got out of the bombing. That was number two. First was getting out from the Nazi. Number two — well, the bombing was over. We saw that in England, like every English person.

Malinski: Not just Jews.
MITCHELL: Not like Jews. I don’t want to feel sorry for me. There was the whole country involved. And now we have a normal life. Thank God for this. My children should never face something like this.

Harper: Did you teach them German?
MITCHELL: Both girls speak German. 

Harper: You spoke German in the house?
MITCHELL: We speak German. If I talk with my husband in German, Esther says, “Mom, we know what you said.” We wanted them to pick it up. And she learned English in high school. She went to Portland State, college. They took a tour from Portland State College, a whole tour to Europe from the college. So she went with a tour to Europe. They went to Austria. She has seen Austria. Then from Europe she parted from the group and went to see my sisters in Israel. She had a passport and got the paper ready. She went for a week to Israel to see my sisters.

Harper: Have you been to Israel?
MITCHELL: Yes, I went twice with my husband.

Harper: To visit your sisters? 
MITCHELL: Yes.

Harper: Did you like it?
MITCHELL: Israel? Yes, it’s a nice place. And they came here. Each one of them, I have seen them in our lifetime.

Malinski: Then after the war they were part of the wars in Israel. Your sisters were there during the independence of Israel?
MITCHELL: The independence of the country? Yes. Listen, the life in Israel or this life is completely — I can’t understand them. We’re completely different people. I live in a different world. We are very distant. They have a different life. My life went the other way. 

Malinski: So it was all families on different continents?
MITCHELL: Yes. Family got all over.

Harper: Do you have any message for people who may be watching this tape in the future? 
MITCHELL: Yes. What shall be the message? I don’t know. Well, I just hope that our children and grandchildren will never face this what happened. This is part of history. It will be always in the books. I just pray to God that it never will occur again. The world hasn’t seen anything like it, but here we go again. What is the trouble in Bosnia, the killing people? Looking back you say, it’s similar like that. You don’t have to go far, go back. Now, we know what’s going on in Bosnia; we should do the best we can to prevent it, to put a stop to it. It’s just horrible. We know what it means.

Harper: Thank you. I don’t have any more questions. Do you have some questions?
Malinski: Did you keep in touch with the family that went to New Zealand?
MITCHELL: I was two weeks before them in London, in the house where they sponsored me, the English people. I was two weeks before there. They went to New Zealand via London; they stopped in London. The boat from London to New Zealand, and they came to see me.

Malinski: So they knew you were safe.
MITCHELL: Yes, they knew. And this English family thanked them to send me, that girl, over.

Malinski: Do you remember their name?
MITCHELL: Which one?

Malinski: The family that you worked for first.
MITCHELL: The family in England?

Malinski: The one that went to New Zealand.
MITCHELL: Yes, he had a title. Dr. Steven Meier.

Malinski: Did they make it to New Zealand?
MITCHELL: Yes, they made it. Her cousin was my best friend in London.

Harper: Thank you very much for your time.
MITCHELL: You’re very welcome. I enjoyed talking to you, and I hope that someday something will come out of it. I hope for future generations, not for us anymore, not for me.

Harper: It’s important to tell your story so everyone knows what . . .
MITCHELL: What’s going on in Europe. Frankly, I don’t like to go always. I know some people go on television and coming always back, and I couldn’t do it. We’re all different.

Harper: Right, you have to do it your own way.
MITCHELL: Right, in my own way. Everybody suffers in a different way. I don’t want to suffer all the time again. I had enough! You only can take so much and that’s it.

Malinski: So thank you for suffering the amount you did today as a contribution.
MITCHELL: A contribution. Well, I hope so. I think I did my job.

Harper: Yes. Thanks.