Leslie swift thank you. Kurt klein my name is kurt klein and i was born in 1920 in a town called waldorf which is very close to heidelberg in germany. Linda kuzmack tell me about your parents and your family . Kurt klein i grew up in the postworld war i era, and of course, those were very difficult times. My parents were struggling to get along during this economic chaos that existed during those times. You may remember, there was this very serious inflation, i mean ludicrous in a sense, such as has never been seen before, and that made it very difficult to carry on. Anything at all. My father had a business that was made extremely difficult because of the Economic Conditions that existed after world war i. He was a broker for hops and tobacco and grain that he would buy from the farmers in the town that we lived in, and my mother helped him all she could. And of course, they, along with so many others, were struggling to exist in those days. I but still, you might say that i grew up i
He died in 2002. In the interview he describes how as an interrogator for the u. S. Army he questioned hitlers driver and discussed hitlers final days. But first a discussion of the Holocaust Museum correct the museum collection. Museum collection leslie collection. Leslie swift my name is leslie swift, and i represent the oral history collection. What is the purpose of the collection . This branch is intended to collect similar types of media together, so audio and visual media, and of course, oral history. Interviewer how long has oral histories been collected by the museum . Leslie swift we have been collecting since 1989 in preparation of opening the museum, and we have also gotten oral histories from other museums. From a somewhat later time. Interviewer what was the motivation behind the history project . Leslie swift this came into being and to illustrate the point of the museum, which opened in 1993, so it was to tell personal stories of experience with the holocaust for the mu
The opening of the museum. And weve also been collecting oral histories from other sources, so not museum created industries from a somewhat later time. What was the motivation behind the oral history project . The oral history project came in to being with oral histories the purpose of the museum, which opened in 1993. So it was to tell personal stories of experience with the holocaust for for the museum visitor. How did you persuade people to recall such painful memories . Its its a delicate issue. We have our volunteers and staff are trained in dealing with this this delicate sunt matter. Some are more willing to talk than others. Some people did not talk for many, many many years about their experiences but then later in life, when their family is asking them questions or historical trends within the larger culture came to realize that their stories were very important to be told. How did you go about identifying people that you would like to interview . We really there are so many
Ludicrous in a sense such as has never been seen before or since, i believe. And that made it very difficult to carry on anything at all. My father had had a business that was made extremely difficult because of the Economic Conditions that existed after world war i. He was a broker for hops and tobacco and grain that he would buy from the farmers in the the town that we lived in. And my mother helped him all she could. And of course, they along with so many others were just struggling to exist in those days. I but still you mig say that i grew up in a middle class family, and, of course after going to Elementary School in this town kpfs expected that i would go to high school in hidenberg. It was really then perhaps on a somewhat higher level than high school. But those were of course already quite eventful times and i grew up amid all this chaos of the different parties, of the weimer republic fighting each other and from my earliest childhood on saw the formation of the nazi party.
With what crime and policing is like in your community. If you live in an urban area, dial in at host you can also join the conversation via twitter, facebook or sent us an email. Phone lines are open. We want to know what crime and policing is like in your community and what sort of reforms, if any, you want to see. Heres the Baltimore Sun this morning front page courtesy of them. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings blake asked ooh fullscale civil rights investigation into the practices of the Baltimore Police department it would exam Excessive Force discriminatory harassment and false arrests and unlayoffal unlawful actions. Justice Department Said they received it. This is after Loretta Lynch the attorney general went to baltimore and met with the mayor and other officials in that community and now the mayor asking for a full probe of the citys police. This after a jack young and 10 members of the city county critical asked for a fullscale investigation. All are democrats. Robert is up first i