A Retelling
Three years ago I shared a story here, and on Facebook, that originated on Twitter. The story is about my mother, Jutta Salzberg Levy. One week ago, a bunch of people discovered, or re-discovered it, on Facebook. I don’t know why, but I am not complaining—I want my mom’s story to live on and on.
So today, I’m recreating the story here so that anyone who’s interested can easily read it and examine the images. Also, the first time I shared the story, I linked to the original postings on Twitter. Since I’m no longer active there, and neither are plenty of others, I wanted to make this a stand-alone post.
At the end of this post, you’ll find higher-quality scans of some of the more interesting images.
And I have to circle back to The Year of Goodbyes, my book about Mom’s last year in Nazi Germany as a girl, leading up to her exit from that country on the eve of Kristallnacht. Of course I’d like that book to live on and on as well. It first came out in 2010, with a refreshed edition in 2019. Books do go out of print once they reach a certain age unless they are continuing to sell. I’d love the publisher—originally it was Disney, now it’s Little, Brown Books for Young Readers—to have every reason to keep this title in print. I hope you’ll get a copy for your home library, and encourage everyone you know—and especially educators—to acquire it, too.
Here goes. (The “last month” in the first block below refers to December 2021.)
And now, a few higher-quality scans:
Jutta’s report card, 1934 - see how her mother (my grandmother) signed it?
Jutta’s swim certificate, 1938
List of Alien Passengers on the Queen Mary sailing, November 12, 1938
Alien passenger race categories, including “Hebrew,” with this instruction: “‘Race or people’ is to be determined by the stock from which aliens spring and the language they speak. The original stock or blood shall be the basis of the classification, the mother tongue to be used only to assist in determining the original stock.”
My mother (left) and her sister Ruth (right) on board the Queen Mary, making their way to the United States, November 12-17, 1938