Walter Stark
"Judge people as individuals rather than their race, nationality, or religion."
Name at birth
Walter Manfred Stark
Date of birth
09/13/1919
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Munich, Germany
Name of father, occupation
Herman Stark,
Men's clothing merchant
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Klara Rosenfelder,
Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents, brother, Werner; sister, Lilo Fauman and I
How many in entire extended family?
Large family with many cousins
Who survived the Holocaust?
All of my immediate family. About 70 percent of extended family perished
Because of the Nuremberg Laws, I was not allowed to finish my education. I went to England for school from 1935 to 1937, from ages 16-18. From outside Germany, I saw what was happening. Germany had stopped the transfer of any German money abroad so I had to return to Germany in 1938. I convinced my family, even though it was very hard, to leave. I left Germany with my brother Werner in September, 1938 for Detroit. They were able to get an affidavit from a former German employee who worked at Sam’s Cut Rate in Detroit and Herman Osnos, a man from a prominent Detroit family. Two weeks after leaving Munich, the Germans came to arrest me.
On Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938 my father got a phone call, “Herman, get out!” My parents and sister joined me and Werner in February, 1939 in Detroit.
Occupation after the war
I went to a Ford Motor Co. trade school and later received a chemical engineering degree. I worked developing paints for Ford.
Spouse
Margaret,
Language Teacher and interpreter
Children
Robert, physician Barbara Ann Stark Nemon, teacher Joanna Lynn Abrahmson, attorney Julie Alice Stark Lowenstein, consultant
Grandchildren
Eleven
What do you think helped you to survive?
Being in England allowed me to see what was happening in information controlled Germany. I was able to see the danger.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
Judge people as individuals rather than their race, nationality, or religion.
Interviewer:
Charles Silow
Interview date:
08/27/2008
To learn more about this survivor, please visit:
The Zekelman Holocaust Center Oral History Collection
https://www.holocaustcenter.org/visit/library-archive/oral-history-department/stark-walter-m/
https://www.holocaustcenter.org/visit/library-archive/oral-history-department/stark-walter-m/
Experiences
Survivor's map
