Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Krissi Wester
ENG 102-104
Mr. Neuberger
10 October 2011
Ellen Brandt
Escapee not Survivor
Ellen Brandt was born Ellen Ruth Friedsam in Manheim, Germany. She was the only child of her Father who was a banker and mother who was a home-maker. Her family moved to Munich when Ellen was only six months old. According to her they lived in an upscale neighborhood in Munich and she even had a nanny. Her father owned a paper factory and according to her they had a very comfortable lifestyle.
Ellen’s family was not very active in the Jewish community. She stated that she truly never knew which of her friends or her parents friends were Jewish until the beginning of Nazi occupation of Germany. According to her she grew up living one block away from where Hitler resided. “If anyone had any idea what was to come, my father would have gone up on the roof, ….,, taken a gun and changed the course of history.” Her father was a decorated World War I veteran. Her family did not observe holidays, attend Synagogue or Temple. Although never having had real ties to Judaism, and never having experienced anti-Semitism she recalled being ostracized at school for being a Jew. Particularly when school was coming to an end one year during the class picnic she and the other seven Jewish girls in her class were taken to after boarding the bus last and sitting in the back of the bus where they were segregated from the rest of the students. She recalled that they were left out of all activities and not given any food either. When she returned home that evening all she could do was cry and her parents decided to send her to a Jewish private school.
Her father even gave up his paper factory and went to work for an Arian company because it was safer than being a Jewish business owner. When things started to worsen in Germany and Jews were disappearing more and more the family attained an affidavit to go to America. They were required t o have someone in America to provide the affidavit and post a bond for their acceptance to America. She said many wanted to escape but there wasn’t a country that would take them. She said of freedom of speech, “In America, people criticize the President, my God, it was totally unthinkable” in reference to speaking badly of the Nazis.
While she did not experience the death camps, she considers herself an escapee, not a survivor. After relocating to America she truly turned away from being German or Jew, and learned to speak fluent English and really doesn’t carry the German accent like many immigrants. She married a Broadway producer and became a television commercial actress portraying the average American housewife. She said of her sixteen years in Germany that it probably held her back because even today she hates any profession that dons a uniform, especially police, and was surprised that she never ended up in jail.
As a closing to the film she stated that films made by Americans, for Americans, except Schindler’s List, only perpetuated the misconceptions of what truly went on in Germany during the occupation and that Americans should pay closer attention to the similarities of Germany in 1938 and America today.
ENG 102-104
Mr. Neuberger
10 October 2011
Ellen Brandt
Escapee not Survivor
Ellen Brandt was born Ellen Ruth Friedsam in Manheim, Germany. She was the only child of her Father who was a banker and mother who was a home-maker. Her family moved to Munich when Ellen was only six months old. According to her they lived in an upscale neighborhood in Munich and she even had a nanny. Her father owned a paper factory and according to her they had a very comfortable lifestyle.
Ellen’s family was not very active in the Jewish community. She stated that she truly never knew which of her friends or her parents friends were Jewish until the beginning of Nazi occupation of Germany. According to her she grew up living one block away from where Hitler resided. “If anyone had any idea what was to come, my father would have gone up on the roof, ….,, taken a gun and changed the course of history.” Her father was a decorated World War I veteran. Her family did not observe holidays, attend Synagogue or Temple. Although never having had real ties to Judaism, and never having experienced anti-Semitism she recalled being ostracized at school for being a Jew. Particularly when school was coming to an end one year during the class picnic she and the other seven Jewish girls in her class were taken to after boarding the bus last and sitting in the back of the bus where they were segregated from the rest of the students. She recalled that they were left out of all activities and not given any food either. When she returned home that evening all she could do was cry and her parents decided to send her to a Jewish private school.
Her father even gave up his paper factory and went to work for an Arian company because it was safer than being a Jewish business owner. When things started to worsen in Germany and Jews were disappearing more and more the family attained an affidavit to go to America. They were required t o have someone in America to provide the affidavit and post a bond for their acceptance to America. She said many wanted to escape but there wasn’t a country that would take them. She said of freedom of speech, “In America, people criticize the President, my God, it was totally unthinkable” in reference to speaking badly of the Nazis.
While she did not experience the death camps, she considers herself an escapee, not a survivor. After relocating to America she truly turned away from being German or Jew, and learned to speak fluent English and really doesn’t carry the German accent like many immigrants. She married a Broadway producer and became a television commercial actress portraying the average American housewife. She said of her sixteen years in Germany that it probably held her back because even today she hates any profession that dons a uniform, especially police, and was surprised that she never ended up in jail.
As a closing to the film she stated that films made by Americans, for Americans, except Schindler’s List, only perpetuated the misconceptions of what truly went on in Germany during the occupation and that Americans should pay closer attention to the similarities of Germany in 1938 and America today.
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