Speaker #2

In 1925, a man was born on the Rhineland in Colon.   He was an ordinary citizen of Germany.   His father was fighting in World War I and it was a mess in Germany.   The factories produced more money whenever it was needed.   Thus, it became a disaster after the war.   Bread cost 4 million marks in the morning of a particular day and 5 millions later that in the evening.   People had to buy food and sell it off later in the evening just to keep up with inflation.   Some of the citizens took tons of money early in the morning just to prepare for another day of sky rocketing prices.


Germans were angry with the Jewish people too.   They blamed the Jews for losing the war.   Our speaker was a Jew and he lived in Germany at the time of dismay.   Hitler gained power and became chancellor.   The brownshirts walked into the streets and beat up all the Jews.   The speaker stayed with his family in an apartment.   When the brownshirts came, his father put on his World War I uniform.   He wanted to show them that he was strong and fought to protect this country.   He convinced the brownshirts, and he was giving his freedom.   He was considered lucky compared to all the other Jewish families that were beat up even the children.   Later, the speaker finally moved into the United States with the help of a business in New York.   He had a painful and dangerous life to live.   I can only hope that we can learn from this and hopefully prevent another tragedy in the future.