I Remember - Ich denke an ...
()
About this ebook
In a bilingual edition, this memoir tells the story of the escape from Worms and Hitler Germany as well as the arrival in America and New York in 1938 as lived by Tanya Josefowitz née Kagan, born in 1929. She became an artist and first set down her story in 1999 for her descendants. The book is edited with notes and an afterword by Jörg W. Rademacher.
"
Related to I Remember - Ich denke an ...
Related ebooks
Weg von hier! Teil II: Vom langsamen Ende einer Jugendbewegung Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeben und Überleben in Mecklenburg und Bremen 1943 bis 1948 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDanzig - Gdansk 1989: Erinnerungen an die alte Heimat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWer Beine hat, der laufe: Geschichten von deutscher Flucht und Vertreibung Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDer Koffer auf dem Scheunenboden: Erinnerungen bis zur Flucht aus der DDR am 20. Dezember 1960 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGeh nicht so fügsam in die dunkle Nacht: Erinnerungen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVom Leben und vom Überleben Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTante Fila, Onkel Checco: Anekdoten einer k. u. k. Großfamilie Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSieg der Zufälle: Ein Krieg - zwei Geschichten Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGesammelte Werke: Philosophische Werke, Religiöse Essays & Autobiografische Schriften Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnemy Alien: Deportation, Internment, Repatriation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsZwölf sind einer zu viel: Eine wahre Geschichte Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeutschland vor der Nacht: Mein Leben in Deutschland vor und nach dem 30. Januar 1933 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGesammelte Werke: Philosophische Werke + Religiöse Aufsätze + Autobiografische Schriften: Kreuzeswissenschaft, Endliches und ewiges Sein, Eine Untersuchung über den Staat, Zum Problem der Einfühlung, Aus dem Leben einer jüdischen Familie, Der Aufbau der menschlichen Person... Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHilkes Tagebuch: Deutschland Juli 1940 - August 1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWer Beine hat, der laufe: Geschichten von deutscher Flucht und Vertreibung – Erweiterte und aktualisierte Neuauflage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsErinnerungen an Menschen und Ereignisse: Geschichten aus unserer Zeit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrauen erzählen! Frauen berichten! Frauen dokumentieren! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWir gingen: Erzählung Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmoketime - Geschichten von und neben der Seefahrt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMein Beitrag für ein besseres Leben Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStöbern im Schatz meiner Erinnerungen: Meine Autobiographie Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsÜberleben als Verpflichtung: Den Nazi-Mördern entkommen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSo war's - Ein langes Leben Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIrgendwie nach Westen: Von Breslau nach Frankfurt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAusgetanzt: 4392 Tage unschuldig im Gefängnis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMein Opa, der SED-Bonze: Ein Nachwendedrama Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEin Leben hinter Gittern: Knastgeschichten Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Personal Memoirs For You
Die verlorene Generation: Gespräche mit den letzten Kindersoldaten des Zweiten Weltkriegs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMein Kriegstagebuch: 1949-1945 Mit den Gebirgsjägern bis in den hohen Norden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsÜber Ludwig Börne Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHenri Nouwen - Mit Leidenschaft für das Leben: Vorwort von Anselm Grün Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEkstasen der Gegenwart: Über Entgrenzung, Subkulturen und Bewusstseinsindustrie Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbenteuer eines Westlichen Mystikers - Band 1: Suche nach dem Guru Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeelenvernichter: Missbrauch im Klassenzimmer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnter dem Flammenbaum: Wo meine Seele ihr Nest hatte Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDie wichtigsten Psychologen im Porträt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsApropos Gestern: Meine Geschichten hinter der Geschichte Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSternstunden der Menschheit: Historische Miniaturen. Klassiker der Weltliteratur Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verräter ihres Glaubens: Das gefährliche Leben von Muslimen, die Christen wurden Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unter Palmen aus Stahl: Die Geschichte eines Straßenjungen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBurkhard Heim: Das Leben eines vergessenen Genies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeine Lebensbegegnung mit Rudolf Steiner Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings«Viel mehr als nur die Antwort auf meine Frage»: Rudolf Steiner als Seelsorger Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWenn Gott einen Mann ohne Arme und Beine gebrauchen kann, dann kann er jeden gebrauchen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeavenly Man: Die atemberaubende Geschichte von Bruder Yun - Aufgeschrieben von Paul Hattaway Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scivias - Wisse die Wege: Die Visionen der Hildegard von Bingen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeben zeichnen: StricheLinienKonturen – Das graphische Werk Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGeorge Soros: Meine Philanthropie: Philosophie und Praxis eines Wohltäters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wir waren keine Menschen mehr: Erinnerungen eines Wehrmachtssoldaten an die Ostfront Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gedanken und Erinnerungen: Die Autobiografie von Otto von Bismarck Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVom Schreiben und Lesen: Autor werden, Bücher schreiben Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarry – Ein Leben zwischen Liebe und Verlust: Biografie Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDas Lachen der Geister: Meine Reise zu den Schamanen - Magie und Rituale am Amazonas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBriefe an einen jungen Dichter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unterm Rad Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for I Remember - Ich denke an ...
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
I Remember - Ich denke an ... - Tanya Josefowitz
I Remember –
Ich denke an …
Tanya Josefowitz
Edited and annotated with an afterword by
Herausgegeben, ins Deutsche übersetzt, mit Anmerkungen
und einem Nachwort versehen von
Jörg W. Rademacher
Table of contents / Inhaltsverzeichnis
Worms, where I was born and where we lived,
Once on the moving train, it was like turning a page of my life
On our way to Le Havre we spent 24 hours in Paris.
On the day of arrival Mother again was simulating emotion rather than illness.
In Germany I don’t recall ever having been allowed alone on the street,
In 1933/34 Vladi and I went to a Kindergarten run by nuns, where we were very happy.
When Mother had fully recovered,
I feel I had to write this true story …
I wish also to remember those 30 members …
I want to thank …
Photographs/Photographien
Worms, wo ich geboren wurde und wo wir lebten,
Als wir im fahrenden Zug saßen, schien es mir, als sei in meinem Leben eine neue Seite aufgeschlagen.
Auf unserem Weg nach Le Havre verbrachten wir 24 Stunden in Paris.
Am Ankunftstag simulierte Mutter erneut Gefühle, statt Krankheit.
Ich entsinne mich nicht, in Deutschland je allein auf die Straße oder in einen Park gedurft zu haben …
1933/34 gingen Vladi und ich in einen von Nonnen geleiteten Kindergarten, wo wir sehr glücklich waren.
Nach Mutters völliger Genesung …
Mich drängte ein Gefühl zur Niederschrift meiner eigenen Geschichte
Denken möchte ich auch an jene 30 Mitglieder …
Danken möchte ich …
Editor’s afterword
Nachwort des Herausgebers
Acknowledgments / Danksagungen
Picture credits / Abbildungsnachweise
Editor’s notes / Anmerkungen des Herausgebers
Index of names and places / Namens- und Ortsregister
I REMEMBER
Tanya Josefowitz
Edited and annotated with an afterword by Jörg W. Rademacher
This is the second book authored by Tanya Josefowitz, while the first, entitled Capinero. A Bird, was privately published in Switzerland in 1992. Discovered in May 2019, it is in the process of being edited and translated, and it will appear in due course.
Editor’s note, January 2021
Ilya Kagan arrived in Worms as a Russian Prisoner of War in 1914. Interned, he created a carpenter’s workshop, producing furniture and training people, thus doing useful work and gaining friends. Once well-integrated, he decided to stay on in Worms.
J. W. R., editor
I dedicate this book to all the generous people who have the courage to vanquish their fears in the face of unquestionable danger, in order to help others in imminent oppression.
T. J., London, June 1999
Tanya Kagan at age 12.
Worms, where I was born and where we lived, was a small but beautiful old town¹. My parents were quite well known there and everybody seemed to like them, including the officials of the city who would close an eye to the warm relationships they had with Christian friends. Many of my parents’ friends were not Jewish, and after Hitler’s rise to power they were not permitted to mingle with Jews. In spite of it, as food for Jewish people was rationed, my parents’ friends would secretly come at night with baskets full of eggs, cheese, meat, butter, etc. concealed under some cloth.
I remember the one particular crucial night when we had such visitors. It was around 9.30 in the evening in March 1938.² My brother Vladimir and I were already in bed. He was nine and a half and I was eight years old. In the next room we heard the guests and parents laugh and talk in hushed voices. They seemed quite animated and full of fun. Outside, as usual, there was the click and clack of booted feet marching in unison along the cobblestone pavement under our nursery window.
The Gestapo always marched in groups, wearing high boots with metal tips and heels whose rhythmic sound could be heard all over town. Vladimir and I had gotten used to these sounds. But that night, when the loud steps came to a sudden halt outside our house and when the door bell hit us like a bolt, we sat up in bed, all ears, frozen and paralysed with fear.
The intimate, cheerful conversation in the sitting room had also come to a stop. I heard my parents open the front door and close it after a moment. Then the click clack in the street resumed its course and faded into the night. We peeked through the slit of our door and saw the friends gathered around my parents. They were all frantically busy, reading the letter that had just been delivered. Then everybody began to speak at the same time, and the ominous sound of their frightened voices made me fearful, as I strained to hear what was being said.
Mother realized our door was open and saw our little faces peeking through. She reassured us and tucked us into bed. But for a long time I couldn’t sleep, trying to understand what was going on, and feeling that a terrible message must have been in that letter. In the morning Mother explained to us that we had to leave Germany very quickly. There was great hustle and bustle in the house. Many friends came to help pack. There were phone calls all day long, and we were told to keep out of the way and to stay in our rooms. We felt totally confused and isolated, particularly when it turned out that Father had to depart in a great hurry, and that he was going far away.
The hand-delivered document was an official notice informing us that we, the whole family Kagan, being Russian Jews, were ordered to leave Germany within exactly ten days. If we did not comply and stayed even one additional day, we would be deported and put into a concentration camp.
During the First World War, Father had been taken a Russian prisoner in Germany. After the war he did not wish to return to Communist Russia. Though he kept his Russian citizenship, he was more than happy to remain in Germany where he had made many good friends. Thus he stayed on to work and to enjoy his freedom. When he met Hildi Wallach³, my beautiful mother, it was love at first sight.
They got married, had two children, and as he had retained his Russian citizenship, my German born mother and her children automatically had to become Russians as well. Ironically, this was now one of our saving graces. As Russian Jews we were forced to leave Germany and thus had a chance to save our lives.
At that time, I understood very little of what was happening. But I was terrified and full of apprehension even before the fatal night of our expulsion. Our gentle, cozy home had suddenly become a fearful place, and