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[email protected] for further information about this collection HERTHA BEESE [1-1-1] THIS IS AN INTERVIEW IN GERMAN WITH: HB - [interviewee] Hertha Beese HS - [interviewer] Hanna Silver English translated by Hanna Silver and Edith Millman Berlin, Germany Interview Date - October 12, 1983 Tape one, side one: HS: When and where were you born? HB: I'm a Berliner. I was born September 10, 1902. I had an older and a younger brother and a sister. HS: Were your parents politically active? HB: Yes. When they were young and working they were active in the trade unions, and through the trade unions they came to the Social Democratic Party [SPD]. At that time women were not permitted to organize or to be politically active. This was during the Kaiser regime and the "Anti-Socialist Law." HS: Can you tell me something about your political and social education before the Hitler years? HB: Yes. Even as a little girl I was exposed to the political activities of my parents and experienced everything with them. I must have been ready to absorb all this. All visitors who came to our house were functionaries of the SPD [Social Democratic Party] like August Bebel, Marie Juchacz, Louise Schroeder, etc. [who after 1945 became Mayor of Berlin]. I admired all of them. HS: What kind of schooling did you have? HB: I went to an elementary school for girls. At that time these were separated according to gender. All the children of my neighborhood were my school friends. HS: How long did you go to this school? Until your fourteen’s--or sixteen’s..