Oral History Interview with Liesl Loeb
Liesl Joseph Loeb, born on June 17, 1928 in Rheydt, Rhineland, Germany, describes being a passenger on the St. Louis along with her father, Josef Joseph, an attorney, and her mother, Lilly Salmon Joseph; sailing on May 13, 1939 from Hamburg toward Havana, Cuba with 937 Jewish refugees on board; her family background and life leading up to Kristallnacht, during which she hid in her own home while Nazis were vandalizing it; the months leading up to embarkation and conditions which had to be met before leaving Germany and immigrating to Cuba; her family’s plan to be in Cuba until their quota number was called for the United States; the trip and its complications from a child’s perspective; her father’s sense of duty as the chairman of the passenger committee and the commitment and devotion of all its members; the desperate situation of the hapless passengers to whom no country offered a haven; spending 40 days at sea and the rescue efforts of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the countries that offered refuge to the passengers; her family landing in England and their life as World War II began; the destiny of most of the passengers; attending school as an “evacuee” and the internment of her father on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien; arriving in New York, NY on September 10, 1940; and her graduation from high school and her immediate marriage after.
Date: | 11/17/1998 |
Interviewer: | Self-taped Memoir |
Interviewee: | Liesl Loeb |
Language: | English |
Subject: | Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Personal narratives. Jewish children in the Holocaust. Jewish refugees--England. Jewish refugees--Germany. Jews, German--England. Jews--Education--England. Jews--Germany--Migrations. Jews--Persecutions--Germany. Kristallnacht, 1938. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Isle of Man. World War, 1939-1945--German Americans. Women--Personal narratives. |
Location: | Rheydt, Germany Bonn, Germany York, United Kingdom London, United Kingdom Clifton, United Kingdom USA |
Permalink: | https://hoha.digitalcollections.gratz.edu/item/oral-history-interview-with-liesl-loeb/ |
Audio Transcript | Time |
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01:04:34 | |
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0:49:08 |