My parents, brother, and I were trying to get out of Vienna.  I, being the youngest, would travel under my parents’ passport when I was younger.  As we were trying to get out in 1938, I went to apply for a passport at the police station.  I was issued a new German passport with a swastika on it.  We heard that Italy was accepting fleeing immigrants; I was able to get into Italy in November 1938 with that newer German passport.  I wrote to relatives in New York who signed an affidavit.  Later, those relatives wrote affidavits for my brother and later my parents to come to the U.S.  

 

Interestingly, my brother and husband became high ranking officers in the U.S. Army however I had to routinely register with the American government as an “enemy alien” because I entered the U.S. with a German passport with a swastika on it.  

Please G-d, it should never happen again.  To the Jewish children, never forget that you are Jewish.  You have to know your background.  Be honest.  Be the best you can do in whatever you do.