"Growing Up in Nazi Germany"

Identifier
irn37795
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2009.406.1
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

folder

1

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Naomi Pena

Naomi Pena donated this memoir to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on August 27, 2009. Ms. Wundheiler was her math teacher, and gave a copy of her memoir to Naomi's father, Bruno Bettelheim.

Scope and Content

Consists of one memoir, 58 pages, entitled "Growing Up in Nazi Germany" by Luitgard N. Wundheiler, who was not Jewish. In the memoir, written like a novel, Mrs. Wundheiler ("Lou" in the memoir) describes her memories of Hitler and the Nazi party during her childhood in the 1930s. She describes her family's mixed reaction to antisemitism, loyalty oaths, and Kristallnacht, as well as her own anti-Nazi sentiment. As the war progressed, she describes her experiences in the Arbeitsdienst and the death of her brother in the invasion of France. In 1941, she went to school in Switzerland, where she met Alex, a Polish Jew. After returning to Germany, she describes receiving leaflets from die Weiße Rose (White Rose). In 1949, she immigrated to the United States and sought out Alex, whom she married in 1951. The memoir includes handwritten corrections.

People

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.