Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Clara Dan - July 1, 1982

Thoughts on Survival

When you think back on everything, do you have any feeling or thoughts why you survived? Was it fate or wa...was there some reason you survived?

Reason? Fate. I was--I consider myself most of the time, sometimes when, when I see so many injustice done and again anti-Semitism and again the corruption and again Jews can't get here or there, I really wonder if it was worth the whole thing. I just hope and pray that the gener...younger generation, and I'm not talking about your generation, I'm considering you between my, my Shirley's generation.

Our children.

Your children. Your kids will have the strength and... The strength and uh, what word should I use... To recognize, to recognize when the evil, before the evil really gets to you. Because right now, if they be in hell, but they're going ??? Israel. But I still believe as long as religion is a problem, it will always be anti-Semitism. Always, always will be. Just this. This is me personally, okay? I'm a very, very strong faith. I do believe in God. I will do to anything for humanity. I'll do anything for anybody. It can be, it can be any religion, to me it wouldn't matter. I really--we had for instance going back to Germany, we had in Munich a dear friend. We lived together with a friend of ours who was a doctor, Jewish guy. And uh, he worked in a hospital. He was a graduate of German medical school. He had a Jewish wife and he had German friend's doctors. We had them. They were very nice people. We were--we celebrated Christmas at their house. We were invited to their house for Christmas dinner. And in fact this doctor--this German doctor, his name was ??? used to tell us that sometimes when he would get called in the country, people don't have money to pay. So they bring eggs or whatever they had from the farm. So my husband told him, "How can you make a living? Do you sell the eggs or chicken or what, how do you make a living?" So he says, Well uh, why don't you come out when I make my housecall with me." And this was a German, a German Munich born guy, okay? And um, my husband went with him on a housecall and in the country. And they started talking and one of the young girl, my husband wanted to know whether--how her, how her thinking is. Now this goes back thirty-two, yeah year thirty-two, yes. So probably must be '34 here, okay? This girl from the country uh, my husband asked me that, asked the girl if she likes her place and she said sure.


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