“Life was very unpleasant to put it mildly. I had grown up there under very normal circumstances, but suddenly, life changed like from day to nighttime, all of my friends avoided me in school, I was really left out of every activity that went on.”
Frieda had a normal childhood until about 1933 when she began to be ostracized and left out of all activities by her non-Jewish friends. After the one day boycott of all Jewish stores, Frieda’s father lost his job. Frieda and her sisters were no longer admitted to the tennis club or public swimming pools or social activities at school.
Frieda’s older brother had immigrated to Buffalo, New York, in 1929 to go to college. Her sister had initially studied at the University of Jena, in Germany, completed all of her courses to become a doctor, and prepared for her final exam, but she was not allowed to take it, because she was Jewish, so she decided to immigrate. At this time, Frieda chose to go with her to the United States, but their parents decided to stay in Germany, because her father did not believe that Hitler would hold out long.
Frieda and her sister joined their brother in Buffalo, New York in 1937. On November 9, 1938, during Kristallnacht, Frieda’s father was arrested and taken to Buchenwald. He was held for 10 days at the camp until her mother convinced the guards to allow him to immigrate to the U.S. In June 1939, Frieda’s parents finally joined them in the United States.
Frieda went to business school in Buffalo, later moving to New York City, where she met her husband, Jack. They married in New York, and eventually moved to Virginia to begin a business. They soon sold the factory in Virginia and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, close to their new plant in Smithville.
Frieda said that the freedom in America was a marked difference. They experienced the ability to “walk on the streets and feel relaxed and be able to say anything you wanted to say which you could not do in Germany anymore.” She also noticed the absence of the ever-present fear that she had to live with while in Germany. As a result of her experiences in Germany, Frieda also made a concerted effort to educate her children about their Jewish background and to be proud of being Jewish.
