Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>Can I Holocaust

History Alive Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano

Holocaust <ul><li>The Holocaust was the calculated, systematic killing of: </li></ul><ul><li>6 Million Jews </li></ul><ul><li>Hundreds of thousands of Gypsies, mentally or physically disabled people, homosexuals, communists </li></ul>

One family among many… Grete and Siegfried Rosenthal

Max Rosenthal 1914 - 1918 <ul><li>Highly decorated Officer from World War I </li></ul><ul><li>Recipient of the Iron Cross Medal </li></ul>

Max Rosenthal Post WWI <ul><li>Influential member of his community </li></ul><ul><li>Founder of the Red Cross in his hometown of Wattenscheid. </li></ul><ul><li>Volunteer Firefighter </li></ul>

Max Rosenthal 1933-1938 <ul><li>1936 </li></ul><ul><ul><li>His son, Siegfried Rosenthal, and his wife want to emigrate to Argentina </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Max refuses to leave </li></ul><ul><ul><li>“ I am a respected German citizen. They cannot do anything to us.” </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>“ We are more German than the Germans” </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>“ You do not transplant an old tree” </li></ul></ul>

Siegfried Rosenthal <ul><li>In 1936 Siegfried, Grete and their young son Klaus want to leave Germany with Grete’s family for Argentina </li></ul><ul><li>Father Max Rosenthal does not want to leave Germany, forcing them to stay behind with him. </li></ul>

Excerpt of Newspaper article… <ul><li>Walldorfer Rundschau 31 st . May 1980 </li></ul><ul><li>“ Overcoming Anti-Semitism” </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>I’d like to answer your question about my past and about my life. </li></ul><ul><li>When 1933 the hunt against us German Jews started, which sounded absurd and unthinkable for us, since 12000 Jews died on the field of honor during the War from 1914-1918. </li></ul><ul><li>The thought, that someone could lead an annihilation process against us Jews would have never occurred to me. </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>A cousin of mine, who served in the marines from 1912-1918 and was decorated with the Iron Cross I and II, told me during that time: „..But we are Germans, fought for Germany and were honored and decorated officers. They would never do anything to us. </li></ul><ul><li>That’s what all Jews believed, since we believed ourselves good Germans. </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>I overheard a conversation between a husband and a wife, friends of mine, who were from Poland, but have been settled in Germany for many years. The wife told her husband, that he “was mistaken, that never anything what happened to the Jews in Russia would happen here, since the Germans were civilized people and would never allow such an atrocity.“ </li></ul><ul><li>She was wrong, it got much worse than Russia. </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>As the older generation knows well, „Der Stürmer“, distributed sickening, humiliating and untruthful things about us. </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>I ripped this paper in front of a Nazis and threw it in his face, when he showed it to me during 1935. </li></ul><ul><li>I can thank my father that nothing happened to me. He was well known and respected in the German-National circles, since he was a co-founder of the German Red Cross in Wattenscheid and had received numerous high decoration during the First World War. </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>I was in Germany during 1933 - June 1939. </li></ul><ul><li>I experienced bitter times during that period in Germany. </li></ul><ul><li>People who knew me were not allowed to greet me when they saw me, since it was forbidden to greet someone Jewish. We were outlawed. </li></ul>

Kristallnacht 9 th of November 1938 <ul><li>Night of the broken glass </li></ul><ul><li>Rosenthal Family </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Max </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Siegfried </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Grete, pregnant with their second son </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Klaus (7 year old son) </li></ul></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>On November 9th, the so called Kristallnacht, a police officer , who came to our front door, asked me politely to come with him to the police station in regards to an investigation. </li></ul><ul><li>When I arrived there, I saw that already several other people had been arrested. They had to stand with their faces against the wall. I was yelled at and had to face the wall too.s </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>Later we were herded under floods of insults, into a huge truck and taken to a prison in Herne. </li></ul><ul><li>From there we were loaded into a train. We did not know where to. </li></ul><ul><li>I must admit that the police, who guarded us, behaved very correctly towards us. </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>The train stopped at night in the middle of nowhere. . . </li></ul><ul><li>They opened the doors of the train and the SS hit us with the back of their rifles out of the wagons. Whether young or old, we were herded across the fields to the concentration camp Oranienburg. </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>An old teacher of mine, way over 60 years old, fell and I took him on my shoulders and carried him to the KZ. When I took him off my shoulders an SS officer hit me in my neck, because I had helped him. </li></ul><ul><li>There we stood , around 800 “prisoners” for 12 hours against a wire fence. No one was allowed to move until we were taken to the barracks. </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>I don’t want to talk about the details of the camp and the life there…. </li></ul><ul><li>My father died while I was in the camp… </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>A short while later I was released. I received a letter from the camp officials that I had to leave Germany within 3 weeks. I had to sell my properties for pennies. </li></ul><ul><li>I tried to receive Asylum for my family and me in Bolivia, where in the end we emigrated to. We stayed there until 1946, when we went to Buenos Aires, Argentina. </li></ul><ul><li>I followed my sons back to Germany in 1970 and live since then in Walldorf. </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>You ask me if I still feel German? I want to answer this question honestly. </li></ul><ul><li>Us, German Jews, were better and more enthusiastic Germans, than many others, who called themselves German. </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>Proof is that 12,000 Jews died for Germany during WWI. Many highly decorated officers of the first World War were transported to Poland and shot or gassed. </li></ul>

Walldorfer Rundschau 31.5.1980 <ul><li>Can I still feel as German as I used to? </li></ul><ul><li>I DO have the German citizenship……. </li></ul>

Max Rosenthal <ul><li>Died in December of 1938, while his son Siegfried was in the Concentration Camp in Oranienburg/Sachsenhausen </li></ul>

Excerpt of Wattenscheider Zeitung 1 st of March 1961 <ul><li>“… The Rosenthal family has been settled in Wattenscheid for generations. </li></ul><ul><li>The merchant Max Rosenthal has shown his nationalism and love for his hometown in many ways…. </li></ul><ul><li>… After his days as a soldier he was an active member of the volunteer firefighters as well as the red cross. As a Red Cross worker he allocated the horses to pull the water of the fire wagon. He was always one of the first to arrive at a fire. </li></ul>

Excerpt of Wattenscheider Zeitung 1 st of March 1961 <ul><li>Max Rosenthal died in 1938 in Wattenscheid </li></ul><ul><li>When he was buried, not one of his friends and colleagues dared to escort him on his last trip </li></ul><ul><li>The Gestapo controlled Germany </li></ul>

Grete Rosenthal <ul><li>Pregnant with her 2 nd child , when her husband, Siegfried, is taken by the SS during the Kristallnacht. </li></ul><ul><li>Her father-in-law dies on December 21 st , 1938. </li></ul><ul><li>In April 1939 labor starts and she goes to the hospital in Wattenscheid. </li></ul><ul><li>There she is refused and kicked out </li></ul><ul><li>Son Jochen is being born in the neighbor town of Gelsenkirchen. </li></ul>

Rosenthal Family 2003 <ul><li>Our ancestors lived for many generations in Germany until the 1930’s </li></ul><ul><li>Nowadays we are scattered around the world </li></ul><ul><ul><li>USA </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Germany </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Argentina </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Brazil </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Israel </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>South Africa </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>England </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Holland </li></ul></ul>