Alexandria Gibson

Mr. Neuburger

Eng 102 117

19 March 2013

Holocaust Survivor Testimony Summary: Brigitte Altman

Brigitte Altman was born in Memel, on August 15, 1924. Brigitte’s father, Elias

Friedmann, was born in 1889. He was a businessman, with a flour mill and lumber mill attached

to each other, and then a textile mill. Her mother was Dina-Milka, a very cheerful and social

person. German was the language spoken in her house, until her grandparents came. It was then a

combination of Yiddish and German. She lived in an old, two story house; they had the upper

level. There was one bathroom, two dining rooms, a study, kitchen, and utility room. The rooms

were very large, with fireplaces. She lived in a cultural German Jewish community. Her father

has a container built, in which they sent some of their furniture, dishes, and other items they

could live without, and had it shipped to her grandmothers. A fire started there, and all the items

they had sent, went up in flames. Her and her parents tried to get visas for passage into the

United States but they were towards the bottom of the list so there was nothing they could do. In

June, 1939 the Germans came. Her family left their house and headed to her grandmother’s

village where they stayed a couple of months. In June, 1941 they were relocated to ghettos. At

six or seven in the morning, every person in the ghetto was required to go to “Democracy

Square”, and go to an inspection by SS men. There was a man directing people to the left and

right, the life and death sides, with his whip. They made it to the good side. In March, 1942, her

mother died of pneumonia. Her father tried his best every day to bring home a container of soup

or something for her to eat, even if it meant he wouldn’t eat. A family friend helped her escape

across the river, where a horse drawn cab was waiting for her. She became the house maid, and a

female German soldier was taken in. On occasion she ran into the soldier, asking her questions,

but she pretended like she had no idea what the soldier was saying, so she was dismissed. Things

were getting too dangerous for her to stay in the city so she relocated to a farm. Eventually

Russian troops came to the farm, in order of liberation. It was made the headquarters for the

Russian medical and intelligence unit. Austrians ended up taking her and others across the

border, at a base camp for Jewish soldiers. She found her father after she got to Italy. They

exchanged a couple letters after they found each other, and met him after she got his first letter.

She fell and broke her leg, on her way to meet him. A few months after her arrival in Italy, more

papers were sent to obtain visas for the United States. It took four years, but eventually they

made their way to Dallas, Texas, in 1949.

Quote 1: “The farm work had to be done. The animals had to be fed. Life went on as it did

before.”

Quote 2: “Their graves are mostly unmarked, their names are forgotten, who knows that they

ever existed? But they did. And many were beautiful, and bright, and brilliant.”