Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Lucy Glaser Merritt - July 8, 1991

Um, what prompted you to, to decide to talk now?

Well uh, Gladys thought that it would be helpful. And it has gotten less painful. Lately I have been the last few years. I'm only fighting this other thing is what do I owe the Jewish community for having brought me out. My father said that when I got married. He mentioned that they had supported me, which they had. So I called them and I paid back the money that they invested, which of course you can't pay back. Just the money is not. But they also wrote a very nice letter and said it had not been a loan. It was very nice. And then he felt bad because I had paid, so he paid back. But I am concerned that I felt that they saved me mainly uh, to continue the Jewish tradition and I'm not continuing it. So that I'm-in a way I've turned out a disappointment to that group, but I don't know what to do. It uh, obviously that was their motive, why they brought me here. I'm a relative, so they assumed.

Um, do you think that such um, enterprises as this one um, taping stories, has some function?

I think to those who have never been near anything, yes. Because it will give them a bird's eye view of what it was like.

And why do you think they should know about that?

'Cause of the general human condition. It is, it is not anything specifically Jewish, as I thought prejudice was only against Jews until I found out that there are other minorities and you can be just as prejudiced. And you can get hatred to such a pitch, where it willing to murder. Like it has in the States too. And so they should know the mechanism that built it up, hopefully so they can diffuse it. Because the young children don't seem to feel it. I work at the Haven now. I'm retired and I work at the Haven, the home for abused women and children. And we get all kinds of backgrounds. And I don't see any prejudice in the young children. None. They have to be older to feel that way. They're aware that they're different, but it doesn't bother them.

Is there any last message to add to this tape?

I don't think so. I've talked a mile a minute.

Thank you very much.