Berta Goetz
Berta was born in Tubingen, Germany, in 1927, the youngest of three children. Her father, a traveling salesman whose territory included Serbia, took to heart a warning from an old Jewish man to leave Germany, and after reading Hitler's book he resolved that the family would go. While Berta, then a small child, felt little of the growing turbulence, her older brother and sister encountered it at school, where her brother's bicycle was repeatedly thrown into the water and her sister was chased down the hallways. She remembered her grandparents, including a grandfather who ran a men's clothing store on the main square in Stuttgart and farming grandparents in a small town.
In 1934 the family moved to Yugoslavia, living mainly in Belgrade, where her father opened a factory that took about six years to prosper. Her grandfather from her father's side joined them around 1936. As working permits shrank from years to just months, the family understood it was time to leave. In 1939, when Berta was eleven, they departed weeks before their visas were ready, traveling by train and then by limousine with seven people, including her ailing grandfather and his nurse, across the border into Italy and on to Switzerland. After collecting their papers in Zurich and spending time in Lucerne and Paris, they sailed to America. Much of her mother's family, including her grandmother who was in a concentration camp, was lost in the war.
New York's dirty buildings and crowded apartments were a shock, and within six weeks the family moved to Philadelphia, where her father and Uncle Martin started a scrap metal business. Placed in an English class with children of many nationalities, Berta took about a year and a half to learn the language before being mainstreamed into public school. She studied at Moore Institute of Art and became a textile designer, working in a studio in New York where she met Arno, whose parents were friends of her family. They married in 1951, and Berta moved to Dallas the day after her wedding when his cotton firm relocated. She embraced Texas warmly, joined Shearith Israel and its Sisterhood, and volunteered at the Jewish community center. She and Arno raised four children and enjoyed a long, happy marriage.
Full Transcript
of 1927 in Germany what was the name of the town tubing you were born there and it was a very turbulent time in that part of the world what can you tell me when you were a little girl there wasn't that much of a turbulence yet the turbulence started a couple of years later I I as a child really did not feel that there was a lot of emotional things going on it was just normal life it was normal life now my brother and my sister encountered things when did you in your family first realize that there were things going on that we didn't need
to be involved in my father was a traveling salesman and he encountered an old Jewish man on his travels and he said to him why do you want to be in this Rous Germany go leave that was 1927 mhm and he sort of took that by to heart and kind of figur figur that maybe maybe he should consider leaving then when Hitler's book came out M K he read the book and he decided that this was serious and that we would leave but you guys didn't leave until 1934 7 years later correct okay your brother and sister were older than you yes what did your
folks tell you about that about you know leaving and how it was to get out of there you have to understand I was 6 years old what do you tell a sixy old at the time did you sense the urgency of your folks wanting to get out of there I did not it's only by my brother and my sister relating to what has happened to them at school that I would what and what was that well like my brother's bike was continuously thrown into the river or the lake and my sister was chased down the hallways little things like that mhm but I yeah I
didn't go to school yet so I didn't encounter any of this do you remember your grandparents at all yes I do tell me about them I had a set of grandparents that lived in stutgart and my grandmother died or when my mother was about 10 years old so this was my step grandmother right but both of them lived quite normal lives actually in fact when I went back to Germany a couple of years ago I looked up the graves of my real grandmother and my um grandfather he was actually buried before all of this Hitler stuff started you know what he did for a living
yes he had a big store on the main Square in STO guard and he sold men's clothing MH what they called off the rack what about your grandparents on the other side my grandparents on the other side uh they will Farm people oh Al in Germany in Germany okay and they lived in a little town called Len schinfeld okay which is um quite a ways from stut guard now did you ever see your grandparents when you were little yes okay I did okay now it's it's 1934 and it's time to leave what did your folks say did you guys I mean you know you knew
you were going to move to another country right tell me this story it was so exciting we were moving to the Balkans you know this was was a magical time for me really and how did your folks know where they wanted to go my father's territory included Serbia so he knew the territory right and he decided that he would open a factory in Yugoslavia okay and then uh you stayed there how long six and a half years okay and what was life like when you were little there now now the war um breaks out shortly thereafter after you get there we did not feel anything
as far as the war was concerned the main thing we were interested in is getting this business started right and by the time it was 6 years it was doing well now what about your grandparents have they remained in Germany uh my grandfather from My Father's Side came to Yugoslavia I think in 36 right my grandmother was already dead Okay okay so your family was able to get out before uh Hitler really started taking over yes and then the decision by your family to come to the United States do you know why that was well because when you are working in any other country but
the United States first of all you need a partner in your business M and it usually is a majority partner even though it's only by name but it's a majority partner and after a while you needed working permits which you need to renew and to start out with the working permits were for two or 3 years then they became for one year then became for 6 months then became for 3 months so I mean the handwriting was on the wall right so we just picked up and left when was that that was in 1939 okay and then the excitement again for you to traveling to
a new for that was exciting well that was a little different because by that time I was 11 I knew what was going on right it was a little different what did your folks tell you about America what were you thinking really actually very little because they didn't know anything about America we did have relatives over here obviously because you couldn't come to the United States without an affidavit you needed the backer and my father had a brother that came I think in 31 to the United States and he gave the affidavits for the family right now was there any problem at all the war
just was about starting when you were leaving was there any problem at all to get out we were lucky let's put it this way and the F your folks knew the urgency at this time yes the urgency but but the leaving the country was kind of treacherous because we left a few weeks before our visas were ready and our visas were to be picked up in Switzerland so we came across the borders 6 weeks ahead of time and there was that precarious time where you didn't know are they going to let us go are they going to ship us back oh my goodness yes you
know yeah so what happened at the border at the Border in I don't know whether you know the Topography of um Yugoslavia you have to go from Belgrade which basically we lived in you have to go all the way I guess it would be East to Italy and then from Italy go into Switzerland cuz Switzerland does not border on Yugoslavia right right how how were you guys traveling well there from the one section we took by train and that was no problem getting into into um Italy was no problem but getting out of Italy we traveled by limo mhm and it was seven people in
the limo it was my grandfather who by that time was Ill his nurse whom we had to take along with us my mother my father my sister myself and of course the driver and was there tension and fear all along this well there again I was 11 you know how much do you fear when you're 11 but I set on my father's lap for 11 hours I mean to get across the border and then we get to Switzerland and we are there 10 days earlier than what we were supposed to be there and that was a little precarious right but whether the Swiss would let
us go across the border I mean we had all the papers waiting for us and proof of it but we were 10 days early so what happened when he got to the Border there well they looked us over we looked like a bunch of gypsies coming across if you can imagine we had one of these what was it the 1935 I think car mhm well they had the the suitcases in the back you know they had a rack in the back we had suitcases strapped between the fenders I mean it looked like a bunch of gypsies and the guy looked at us and he really
had felt sorry for us so he let us come across the border yeah now was there any problem at the border with being Jewish when you got to Switzerland or that didn't matter to that I don't think that really mattered at the time because they were neutral at the time now in Switzerland what did you guys do there I mean you had to make home in well we stayed in a small hotel now my family did have relatives in Switzerland we went to luzern and how and how long were you there 6 weeks six weeks and then you came to the United States then we
then we were legal so to say because after we picked up our papers and you had to pick those up in they were not in and they were in zor okay they had to be picked up in zorich and all of us had to be present for the consc to see us to make sure that we're all healthy because in they didn't let anybody into the United States that wasn't wasn't well after we had the papers then we went 2 weeks to Paris and then we had a great time in Paris because we were legal we were we had our tickets for the boat and
everything was up and above board okay now you're traveling through Paris family enjoying its time right had Hitler started did he overtake Yugoslavia now at this time yes okay he started to I mean we were out of there but they had made preparations already the year before I'm sure yeah you know that the storm troopers were mingling with the populace know were your folks saying anything to you guys to the kids at all about this um yeah we talked about it but do I remember not really yeah yeah yeah not really all right tell me about what was it like to come to the United
States I'm sure your parents were probably very much at ease once they got on that ship my first impression of the United States was not very pleasant it really wasn't when you land in New York at those peers with those dirty buildings with those fire escapes which I had never seen in my life I had never seen a dirty building like that that it wasn't it was a shock it really was a shock and then living with our relatives that was another shock why was that because living in those dark Apartments they were just I mean I came from the back woods where there was
lots of sunshine and what have you you know and all of a sudden you come into these apartment buildings with the with the smells and the dirt and the the noise and one window facing the front and everything else faces the wall you know so you looked at your mom and said what am I doing here really yes so now that you you got to the United States what what was your dad's plans what was he well my father said I am not staying in New York okay so therefore within 6 weeks we moved to Philadelphia okay and the reason we moved to Philadelphia was
that the brother that gave us the affidavits had property in Philadelphia he had exchanged his house in what was it uh well it was in Germany it was in C will come to me in a minute um for property in the United States and it happened to be what they called negro property and one small cottage where a white person could live I mean everything was so segregated that was another thing that was a shock the segregation the segregation I had never seen that that was a real shock and what did your dad get into what did he do scrap metal because we came with
my uncle Martin is the one that came with hunts and across the border he had experience in Germany and scrap metal so they decided to start a scrap metal business in Philadelphia and then you went to school in Philadelphia I went to school in Philadelphia so is this a culture shock for you well yes because not speaking the language right they put all of us children into an English class and into an English class and you were thrown in with Chinese with uh Vietnamese Italians Portuguese Germans you had nobody you could talk to we had to speak English and the teacher did not speak any
other English I mean any other language but English took me a year and a half to learn the language and then I was mainstreamed into in the public school and where did you go to school in Philadelphia only High School I forget what the junior high was called not not you're becoming American eyes what was high school life for you not easy for me really it wasn't socially it was not easy yeah because I wasn't accepted what did you guys know about the war did you have family still back in Germany definitely and and we lost them uh my father ventured back to Germany several
times from Yugoslavia trying to convince the families to leave right he went back in 36 and he went back in 38 early 38 mhm was he afraid he would get stopped back in there then well in 38 it was kind of nip and Tuck he did get out did he get the other family members out could not convinc them and then they didn't have they didn't have the papers you know you were on a quot system yeah yeah and even we who lived in Philadelphia still fell under the German quota yeah now the family that stayed behind were they lost in the war most of
them yeah most of them on my mother's side of the family yes my grandmother was in a concentration camp all during the time she was in tran my uh the family on my my husband's side they all died the family of my father the the brothers my my father's Brothers one moved to Israel in 34 and one already was here and Uncle Martin came with us now did you have any contact with the people that stayed until uh uh for a While Were you able to communicate with them at all I I think I think there were a few letters that went back and forth
But there again I was a child you know I wasn't particularly interested yeah now after high school was it on to college or did you go to I went to college where you I went to Art School okay where was that in Philadelphia it was called Moore college now it's called Moore College then it was called Moore Institute of Art okay and then where did you meet your husband our parents actually were good friends I knew of him oh for a long period of time I knew that he was around but I actually met him in New York when I was working I was working
for a for a studio okay for a textile studio and I met him there okay and what and what kind of work were you doing I was a textile designer uhhuh okay and then uh how long did you guys date before you got married not too long I think four five okay yeah and then when did you get married what year was it 51 51 okay and where did you guys settle down in Dallas okay what so what was that brought you to Dallas well he worked for an international cotton firm mhm and he was a buyo or the office in New York actually was
a buying office for cotton lint and they decided the high decided that actually they should be closer to the to the source you don't grow cotton in New York state so they moved us to Dallas I came to Dallas the day after I got married I loved it did you I love the drolling Texans I I fell right in with them that was that was no problem here tell me about your involvement with the Jewish Community here well we joined Shar Israel just about as soon as we got here we felt that we needed to belong to a synagogue mhm and I don't know I
mean I was never that involved with the with the synagogue itself I did Belong To The Sisterhood and I did work some for the uh what was it called Ben Shep's community center right you know with some of their functions and I did their decorations and stuff like that you know and then your kids were all born in Dallas they're all born in Dallas what was the happiest time in your life I don't really have a sad time in my life I really don't I really don't I mean I've had 45 years of wonderful marriage I have nothing to complain about it I really don't
I I like that I have nothing to complain about I don't I I think that's great in your lifetime you've traveled you know across the world and everything was there an invention or something that came along in your lifetime that you went wow where has that been well when you travel you get exposed to all kinds of things was I really wowed with something the worst times for me was because I traveled with my husband quite a bit mhm uh having to go back to Germany when he was doing business there yeah what what was I was never comfortable there I still am not comfortable
did you go back to the camps I I could not get myself to go to the camps how did you find the German people now when you were there when youd go back somewhat apologetic how have you seen the Jewish Community grow in Dallas when you first it was 51 you arrived here how was it grown oh tremendously you know when we got here there were three synagogues there was Temple Emanuel there was Sher Israel and there was theret now how many synagogues are there yeah a tremendous tremendous change in the city as well as the Jewish Community now in your lifetime you've lived through
obviously so many momentous occasions you know you know the war of course yes um President Kennedy assassination something good the moonlanding the first time in' 69 uh the tragedy of 911 what is it that really stood out in your mind that you said oh my goodness I know exactly where I was when this happened um probably the Kennedy assassination I know exactly where I was and I know exactly when 911 happened yeah well tell me about where you were when Kennedy was assassinated I was in the middle of the sangers department store and all I could think of I need to get home yeah big
shock that was that was a tremendous shock and how did 911 affect you well I was at the JCC watching it on television that was another shock when you see how kids are growing up in this country compared to what you really had to go through I know you you were somewhat shielded by it because of your youth but do you ever explain to them what what you had to go through your family had to go through there is no way of really verbalizing that to your kids because no matter what you say it doesn't doesn't sink in mhm it really doesn't yeah yeah if
you don't feel it on your own skin forget it yeah yeah well you and Arno had four children right are all four in the Dallas area no just two the boys stayed your boys are in Dallas area and your daughters are where one daughter lives in New York City and the other one lives in Portland Maine you have seven grandchildren no great-grandchildren yet um what advice does Grandma want to leave to those seven grandkids in the Next Generation never take anything for granted it's great advice thanks for doing this today thank you you did a great job thank you