Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Henry Konstam - October 25, 1991

Sister in Palestine

This was your older sister?

My oldest sister, yeah.

And when did she go to Palestine?

She uh, used, she used to live in Baden-by-Rhein in Austria. In 1933, they had a certificate uh, to go to uh, Palestine at the time.

Why was she living in...

Well, she got, she uh, got ma... She got engaged when she was about seventeen years old. And her fiancé was also Orthodox. And he went uh, he wanted, didn't want to go into the army. So he went to uh, uh, on his way to Palestine at the time and he got stuck.

In...

In Vienna, Baden-by-Rhein, and that's as far as he got. And then uh, she already was engaged to him, so then she went over there and they got married over there. And uh, and they saw what's doing over there with Hitler and uh, applied to go to Israel. And he happened to get a certificate. And so 1933 he, they picked up and went to Palestine at the time.

How did your family feel about the, about your sister going to Palestine?

Well, they were happy about it. They were happy about it, naturally. Because they already, the uh, Hitler Youth was already in Austria just the same like as they were in Germany.


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