Anna Lindeman
"It should never happen again. I always believed that G-d would help."
Name at birth
Anna Zydower
Date of birth
08/05/1931
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Furstenwalde, Germany
Name of father, occupation
Hugo,
De-furred goats
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Erna Placedj,
Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents, Alfred and I
How many in entire extended family?
Many
Who survived the Holocaust?
My parents, my brother Alfred, me, my father's three brothers and my father's parents. We all went to Shanghai, China.
After Kristallnacht, we were no longer able to attend regular school in Furstenwalde. I then went to a Jewish school in Frankfurt which was about a half an hour away.
With the help of the Joint (JDC), my family members were able to get an affidavit to go to Shanghai, China. In August, 1940, I left Germany for Shanghai. My parents, my brother Alfred and me did not look Jewish. I was 9 years old when we left.
We went by train through Russia on our way to China. The windows of the train were covered with paper and we could not see. We sent through Siberia to Harbin, China. We arrived in Shanghai in June or September, 1940.
In Shanghai, we lived in the ghetto. There were about 20,000 Jews in the ghetto. It was dirty, and there was no running water. We had no money because we sold everything we had to survive. We had to pay for hot water. I learned to sew and became a dressmaker. My brother, Alfred, became a baker. The Americans came into China in 1945.
Name of Ghetto(s)
Where were you in the Former Soviet Union?
We passed through by train on the way to China
When did you come to the United States?
We came to Detroit in 1948
Where did you settle?
Detroit, Michigan
How is it that you came to Michigan?
We were sent here because my brother and I both had trades, I was a seamstress and my brother was a baker. The resettlement agency thought Detroit would be a good place for us.
Occupation after the war
Seamstress
When and where were you married?
1955 in Detroit
Spouse
Gunther Lindeman,
Baker
Children
Susan, real estate Deborah, nursery school teacher
Grandchildren
Six: Michael, Sarah, Robert, Jason, Heather and James
What do you think helped you to survive?
Hope.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
It should never happen again. I always believed that G-d would help.
Interviewer:
Charles Silow
Interview date:
12/09/2010
Experiences
Survivor's map
