Questions for You

Questions for You

Film interviews with descendants of Jewish citizens from Fürstenwalde/Spree

By the beginning of the 20th century, around 150 to 160 Jewish citizens were living all over Fürstenwalde. They worked as doctors, dentists, craftsmen, lawyers or photographers. The shopping streets of Fürstenwalde contained 32 Jewish-owned shops. The National Socialist terror robbed these people of their lives – they were humiliated, driven into flight or murdered. After World War II, no Jewish families returned to Fürstenwalde. The town had thereby lost a segment of its inhabitants who had played an important role in the town’s societal, cultural and economic life before 1933.

Five interviews – filmed as part of the “Questions for You” project – are meant to bring this part of Fürstenwalde’s history back into the town’s memory. The interviews trace the lives of Jewish residents of Fürstenwalde from the perspective of their second- and third-generation descendants and show how the experiences of flight and expulsion during the National Socialist era continue to affect the following generations until this very day. The interviews were conducted with the children and grandchildren of Heinz and Dorothea Eisig (New Zealand), Julius, Hildegard and Gerhard Fürst (Australia), Gerda Brandt (Brazil), Werner and Hilde Hirsch/Hurst (England), and Walter and Luise Brandt (New Zealand).

Film interview with Bev and Luise Brandt about their grandparents Walter and Luise Brandt

Read more:
Biographies of Luise and Walter Brandt
Research: Auf der Spur der Familien Behrendt und Brandt (de)

Film interview with Harry and Carol Hurst about Hilde and Werner Hurst/Hirsch

 

Why My Mother Wept. A dedication
By Harry Hurst

Biographies:
Hilde and Werner Hurst/Hirsch
Rosa and Heimann Storch
Eva and Joseph Prager

The project is funded by the federal programme “Living Democracy!” of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ), the town of Fürstenwalde and the cultural promotion section of the District of Oder-Spree.