My mother was born in 1940, one month after Germany began it’s attack on Great Britain. A few months later, Pearl Harbor was attacked, and the United States entered the war. By that time, Hitler had been rampaging through Europe for more than four years. Two days after Mom’s fifth birthday, Emperor Hirohito agreed to unconditional surrender and Hitler had been dead five months. Mom was very young when she heard her mother crying late at night when she thought no one could hear. Grandma was heart-broken, but it would be at least another twenty years before Mom would learn why.
Josephine Daniel Rothsprack, my grandmother, grew up in Austria with her four sisters, Giselle, Hermine, Rosa, and Helene. I usually hear them referred to as “Tante” (German for “aunt”). Although Grandma was close to her family, she was tired of being poor. “All our clothes were rags,” she told my dad. “They were patched and patched until there were patches on top of patches,” she complained. Grandma told of a friend who had gone to New York and was living as a maid making $50.00 a month. “That was a fortune to us in Austria,” she said. So Grandma left her three sisters behind to seek her fortune in the United States.
Grandma arrived in Boston September 14, 1923 (National Archives and Records Administration (Ancestry.com), Passenger Ships and Images database). From Boston, she took a train to San Fransisco where she stayed with friends until she could make a living on her own. That’s where Grandma met my grandfather, Wilhelm (“Willie” or “Bill”) Rothsprack. They were married, settled into a home of their own, and had three girls. My mother was the youngest.
Back in Austria, things were getting worse for the Jews. Giselle and Hermine had married influential Germans who kept them safe from harm; but news reports, letters and phone calls told Grandma that Rosa and Helene (Leni), her two other sisters, were still in danger. Grandma began saving money to bring them to the United States.
Hitler invaded Austria in March of 1938, and with very little violence, annexed it, declaring Austria part of Germany. Jews and Gypies were not allowed to vote in the annexation, making the vote nearly unanimous. At that time, what was tough became even tougher. When Kristallnacht came in November, Rosa and Helene remained safe due to the fact that they were the only Jews in a very small town. But things did get worse when my Tante Leni’s boyfriend turned the family in to the Nazis. My mother tells me that Tante Leni’s boyfriend was himself a Nazi. (more…)
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