[etni] Fw: Letters from Germany, 1933-1936

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Fascinating and chilling. I'm sure we could all use these letters in =
class.
Aviva



Subject: : Letters from Germany, 1933-1936




Ann Belinski, nee Goldstein, grew up in Wellington and was very active =
in Habonim. She made aliyah to Israel many years ago and lives near =
Mod'iin with her family.






On this Holocaust Remembrance Day, and on the day when Ahmadinejad can =
stand up in Geneva at a UN conference on racism and be given an =
international podium to lash out his hate against Israel and America, I =
feel it is important to send you 4 letters written by a 20 year old =
German girl to a penpal, my mother, in New Zealand, between the years =
1933 and 1936. She did not know that my mother was Jewish, thus we have =
a rare opportunity to see the reaction of the "ordinary "German to the =
rise of Hitler. I have coloured these parts in blue, and you can see how =
the mundane chit chat of a young girl becomes more and more entwined =
with the overtones of the Nazi doctrines. The change in tone over the =
years in the German woman=E2=80=99s letters is telling and chilling as =
she describes her adoration and support of Hitler.

The letters, which were kept by our mother, are over 70 years old, and =
are in a delicate state. I managed to transcribe almost all of what was =
written there, but there are some places where the paper was torn, or =
the wording illegible, thus there are some gaps.=20
The family have donated the letters to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust =
Memorial in Jerusalem, where they will be carrying out the proper =
preservation of the material.The archivist at Yad Vashem was very =
anxious to receive the letters as it turns out that they have no =
documentation of this sort, i.e. the simple German  citizen=E2=80=99s =
reaction to the rise of Hitler.

You are welcome to pass them on by email or use them in any other forum.

Ann


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