First read of the Margot Dränger Holocaust testimony

First read of the Margot Dränger Holocaust testimony

• Apr 28, 2021
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The USC Shoah Foundation came through with instructions to access the three-hour Holocaust testimony interview of Margot Dränger, whom we had recently discovered was a second cousin of our mother. It is important for several reasons beyond the glimpse it gives into the lifestyle of affluent Berlin Jews before and after Hitler's election in 1933. 

Among other fascinating aspects, Margot's brother-in-law Szymon Draenger was one of the leaders of the Jewish resistance movement in Krakow, and thus she found herself caught up in clandestine activities. She also recounts her experiences in ghettos, prisons, camps and in hiding, in locations around the Krakow area, 

As advertised, the interview is in German and there is no translation available. Helpfully, there are German subtitles given, and thus I am able to make out the meaning from the subtitles. Used together with Google Translate, and my improving German language skills, I am able to assemble a rough English transcript without too much pain. 

Margot was age 76 at the time of the interview in Antwerp in 1998. Yet her memories of the details of her ordeal—names, places, events—are remarkably crisp. Frequently as I read her account, I am able to turn to Google for confirmation that her recollections are on point. 

So far I have translated three of the six half-hour segments. That takes the account into the spring of 1943. I don't know yet what happens after that other than her eventual survival. 

There is so much interesting detail in each chapter of her story that it makes sense to post a summary of each of the six parts of the interview, which I will begin to undertake next with part one, the Berlin years.