Ellis Island Interviews by Peter Coan

Author:Peter Coan [Coan, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781411468658
Publisher: Fall River Press

Heidi Reichmann

BORN JUNE 9, 1907

EMIGRATED 1939, AGE 31

PASSAGE ON THE FRANCONIA

The older sister to three brothers, she was the daughter of a successful cattle dealer. She was raised on a farm in a conservative Jewish family. The farm was in the predominantly Catholic town of Reinheim, forty-four kilometers south of Frankfurt, where the Reichmann’s had a homestead dating back to 1750. Though never married, she bore a son from a man who eventually died in the gas chambers at Dachau, though he wasn’t Jewish. Today, she lives in Pennsylvania. “I live comfortable and everything,” she said, “but something was taken away.”

I moved to Frankfurt in 1927 when I was twenty years old. I lived in a residence for girls. This pleased my parents because they didn’t have to worry, and I got a job in the office of a factory. I worked for the foreman, my boss, and we fell in love. His name was Richard. Well, one Monday morning Richard came to work and you would think the roof had fallen in or something. I remember it was the 30th of January 1933, and the only thing he said was, “Hindenburg nominated Hitler.” At the time, Richard also worked for a leftist underground newspaper. But the newspaper was closed the next day. And he went on the run until we both got arrested by the Gestapo. They blamed me for helping him although they never could prove that I did.

At the trial in Berlin, Richard was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. But after the prison time was over, they didn’t release him. They sent him to Dachau, the concentration camp. I was sent to jail for one year as a political prisoner. I was pregnant with our child at the time. I gave birth to my son, Ernie, while I was in prison. Richard’s mother picked him up from prison. We decided it would be best if he stays with her until I got out.

When I did, an uncle by marriage offered me to stay with his family in Frankfurt until I found a place of my own and found a job. To get a job at that time you had to go to the government employment office, so I knew I wouldn’t get a job through them on account of being Jewish. I went there with apprehension. But the woman there was very nice and said, “Don’t worry about anything. There is a Jewish agency. I know they’re looking for people. You will find something.”

I went to the Jewish agency, and I got a job in a nice company. But there were new laws in Germany, the Nuremberg Laws. One of them said if an employee was employed for more than six months, he or she could not be dismissed. But I was there less than six months, and being Jewish on top of it, was laid off. “You’d better look for something else,” they said.

I didn’t know what to do. All I knew was that there was no future in Germany for Jewish people.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.