AHC interview with Charlotte Brown.

Abstract

November 24, 20170:00:15-0:02:50 Overview of the life story0:03:30-0:04:02 Family members0:04:05-0:04:31 Jewish school in Lackenbach0:04:35-0:06:08 Parental home0:06:15-0:07:06 Religion0:07:39-0:08:03, 0:44:50-0:45:10 Moving to Vienna0:08:32-0:11:23, 0:31:54-0:33:30 Kindertransport to England0:11:24-0:12:08 Family members getting arrested0:14:59-0:16:04, 0:35:35-0:37:55 Life in England and work at an ammunition factory0:16:05-0:17:25, 0:33:35-0:34:14 Coming to New York0:18:45-0:20:09 Family life in New York0:20:25-0:23:37; 0:38:50-0:39:14 Relations to Austria0:25:03-0:26:47 Attitudes towards Holocaust memorials and Holocaust education0:27:25-0:28:31 Siblings Godfried and Hella Geller0:29:40-0:30:25 Jewish community and synagogue in Lackenbach0:30:46-0:31:54 Feeling threatened in ViennaCharlotte Brown née Geller was born on April 2, 1924 in Lackenbach, Austria. She grew up with her parents (David Geller and Elsa, née Clederer Geller), grandparents and younger sister and brother in a house in Lackenbach. Charlotte attended a Jewish school in Lackenbach until 1938 when she had to move to Vienna with her whole family due to the "Anschluss". She lived in Vienna with her father’s sister for several months. In August 1939 Charlotte left Vienna and came to England on a Kindertransport. Her family got arrested shortly after, and she was never able to find out what happened to them. After having arrived in England, Charlotte first lived in tents in the fields with children who had also been on the Kindertransport and then lived with an English family and helped with domestic work for about a year until war broke out. Charlotte then worked at an ammunition factory for the navy in Leicester for six years. Charlotte was able to leave England in 1947 with help of her father’s brother in New York. She came to New York in March 1947 and worked in her uncle’s restaurant. In 1948 Charlotte got married and lived mostly in the Bronx with her spouse Murray Brown (Braun) and their two children for 13 years while working at a department store. In 1978 Charlotte moved to Eugene, OR.Austrian Heritage Collectio