Margot Massey
"Don’t judge people by their name and by their heritage. Don’t judge people by what they say are. Judge people by what they do and how they act and how they speak, and how open they are to other people. "
Name at birth
Margot Eva Ruth Grunewald
Date of birth
09/22/1926
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Dusseldorf, Germany
Name of father, occupation
Fritz Grunewald,
Merchant, ran a tire factory
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Emmy Weisskopf,
Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents - Fritz and Emmy, children Klaus, Lore and Margot
How many in entire extended family?
19
Who survived the Holocaust?
Eight cousins, brother, sister, aunts, uncle
Grandparents and uncle died before the war
Parents died in the Holocaust in Auschwitz
Mrs. Massey, a gifted writer, extraordinary cook and hostess, and loving wife, mother and grandmother, was a citizen of the world who spoke seven languages fluently. She was born to a prosperous German-Jewish family on September 22, 1926. After Hitler's rise to power, she lived with her maternal grandmother before joining her parents, who had established residence in Belgium, in 1939. She lost her parents in Auschwitz, and survived the Nazi occupation of Belgium in hiding. In 1946 she joined an aunt and her family in Sydney, Australia. There she met and married Vincent Massey, a friend of her cousin's. The young couple immigrated to England, where Mr. Massey finished his doctoral studies at Cambridge. The family moved to Ann Arbor in 1963, where he became a professor of biochemistry at the University of Michigan. The couple was renowned among friends in Ann Arbor and around the world for their hospitality and generosity. Mrs. Massey wrote a novel, published in 1994, titled Spring Into Winter, which was based on her pre-war experience in Germany. She was working on a second novel about her wartime years when she suffered a massive stroke in 2001.
Mrs. Massey, a gifted writer, extraordinary cook and hostess, and loving wife, mother and grandmother, was a citizen of the world who spoke seven languages fluently. She was born to a prosperous German-Jewish family on September 22, 1926. After Hitler's rise to power, she lived with her maternal grandmother before joining her parents, who had established residence in Belgium, in 1939. She lost her parents in Auschwitz, and survived the Nazi occupation of Belgium in hiding. In 1946 she joined an aunt and her family in Sydney, Australia. There she met and married Vincent Massey, a friend of her cousin's. The young couple immigrated to England, where Mr. Massey finished his doctoral studies at Cambridge. The family moved to Ann Arbor in 1963, where he became a professor of biochemistry at the University of Michigan. The couple was renowned among friends in Ann Arbor and around the world for their hospitality and generosity. Mrs. Massey wrote a novel, published in 1994, titled Spring Into Winter, which was based on her pre-war experience in Germany. She was working on a second novel about her wartime years when she suffered a massive stroke in 2001.
Where were you in hiding?
In boarding school in Belgium. I passed as a gentile along with other Jewish children at school
When did you come to the United States?
1963
Where did you settle?
Ann Arbor, Michigan
How is it that you came to Michigan?
Husband was a professor at University of Michigan
Occupation after the war
Homemaker and writer
When and where were you married?
Sydney, Australia in 1946
Spouse
Vincent Massey ,
Biochemistry professor
Children
Charlotte, Journalist, Andrew, Pilot, Rachel, Real estate appraiser
Grandchildren
Four grandchildren - Brittany, Erik, Daniel and Owen
What do you think helped you to survive?
I had blonde hair and I had assimilated when Nazis raided my boarding school in occupied Belgium they passed by me because they didn’t think I looked “Jewish”
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
Don’t judge people by their name and by their heritage. Don’t judge people by what they say are. Judge people by what they do and how they act and how they speak, and how open they are to other people.
Interviewer:
Dr. Charles Silow
