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I interviewed my grandmother, Mary Slagle. She is a survivor of World War II. media type="file" key="WWII Podcast.mp3"

My name is Suzanne Klein. I was born in Romania. I was one of five children. After my father died in the First World War, my mother was left with five children. We were poor, and my mother could not support us all so she gave us up for adoption. I was 3 ½ when this happened. I was adopted by a Jewish family in Budapest, where I grew up. I lived a very normal childhood. My adopted father had been a ladies’ clothing manufacturer, and when he died in 1925, my mother took over. My mother was no good at running my father’s business, and I soon took over. I ran the business until 1942, when the Germans came. I belonged to a Zionist organization, Batari, and I soon became the leader. Our goal was to illegally send people over to Israel (Palestine) in boats. People paid us and then went on their way. My mother kept insisting that there was nothing to worry about, so when I asked my brother to go, he refused. I, on the other hand, could not get a passport because I was born in Romania, and with my adoption, I never obtained citizenship. I had no other choice but to stay. In 1941, I married and then bore a daughter in 1942. When she was four months old, my husband was called to the Hungarian army to work. He was to work 30 miles from Budapest, and we were allowed no communication. Somehow, he got word to me that he would be taken to the Russian front. I went to where they were deporting him. I never saw him again. In 1943 he was said to be missing in action. I never found out what happened to him. In 1944, that March, German troops came into Hungary. By April, new restrictions were set for the Jews. Mass deportations were taking place all over and soon began in Budapest in April. Jews now had to wear the yellow Jewish star on their clothing. My husband’s aunt and uncle lived in one of the houses that had been marked with a star, and we moved in with them. We were only allowed a few of our belongings. The house was extremely crowed; there were ten of us. By this time, Jews weren’t allowed to read the newspaper and were only allowed outside during certain hours of the day. If we were caught out after the curfew, we were to be sent to a concentration camp or shot. In November of 1944, all the women under the age of forty were taken away. We had to walk such a long way. We were given only a cup of soup to eat. I was cold and raining, and we were to sleep out in the open with nothing, guards all around us. We walked so far, and we crossed the border to Austria. We arrived at a train station and were taken to a building with a high fence. We spent months there, waiting. One day several of us found a house in a nearby village and stayed there. Russians found us the next day and took pity on us and rescued us.

Interviewing: My Grandmother-Mary Slagle About: World War II Question 1: How did you feel being an American in World War II? Question 2: What did you do to support the war? Question 3: Did any of your family members serve during the war? If so, where? Question 4: How did your family, as well as others, support the troops? Question 5: There were gold stars that people hung in windows, did you and your family hang them? Question 6: Where were you during the attack on Pearl Harbor? Question 7: Did you hear President Roosevelt's request for Congress to declare war on Japan? Question 8: Did you ever buy any War Bonds? Question 9: What are your thoughts about the role of women during the war? Question 10: What are your thoughts about Hitler? Question 11: If any, what memories do you have of D-Day? Question 12: What was your reaction when you found out about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Question 13: In general, how did most Americans respond to the bombings? Question 14: What did you think of the German concentration camps? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Question 15: What did you think about the U.S. holding Japanese-Americans in camps across the country? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Question 16: Do you think that there is enough being taught today in schools about World War II? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Question 17: What do you think of the draft?

Podcast Script: My name is Mary Slagle, and I survived World War II. When I was asked how I felt about being an American at this time, all I can say is that I felt good about protecting my our country. A lot of people joined the service. Two of my brothers joined up, as well as my husband and four of his brothers. One of my brothers went to Europe. My other brother went into the air force and flew out of Italy into Germany. My husband was station in Kentucky at Fort Knox. He was injured though so he didn't go overseas. My husband's youngest brother was in the Navy and landed troops in the Pacific on the islands. One was in the army and landed in Italy and wound up in Germany. Another went to England, then France, and then Germany. The last one went to Africa. He was actually in the first group of soldiers out of Africa and served unto General Patton. He went to Germany from there. All of the people who I knew who joined the war though were volunteers. I thought the draft was good for the war, but I think now that it shouldn't be reinstated. It seems unnecessary these days. At home, we did our best to help out. We were given coupons for gasoline, sugar, or any item we could be saving to help the war. We had groups like the Red Cross, that's what I did to help out. We supported our loved ones who were away by hanging the gold stars in our window too. We hung two at my house. At my mother and father-in-law's, they hung 5. I also bought war bonds, 25 dollars worth ever two months. Lots of women went to work. I thought it was great that we got the chance to help out. Everything changed, and it changed the thoughts of women. It almost reversed the roles of men and women. There were, of course, the more dreary parts of the war. Like the attack on Pearl Harbor. I remember clearly where I was when I heard the news. I was in my mother's living room listening to the radio. Then, all of the sudden, it broke out into the news about the bombing. My heart broke when I thought about the destruction and all the deaths. Then there was D-Day. I was actually glad about D-Day. None of my family was in it though. When the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I wasn't so happy. I was glad, I suppose, but all the deaths made me sad. I was happy that the war was going to end though. I also had friends who were being held captive by the Japanese and I hoped that they would be returning home. Most other people were happy about the bombings. Though there were many who were afraid that the atomic gases were going to reach the U.S. People have asked me in the past what I thought about the concentration camps that were used to hold the Jews. Personally, I thought it was terrible what they did to all those people. One of my brothers went through them and said it was horrible. He told me about how they used the peoples ashes and ground up bones as fertilizer. That disgusted me. It seemed so inhumane what the Nazi's did. But, we also had internment camps. People's reactions to these camps for the Japanese-Americans was initially angry. But as the war went on it tapered off. I thought it was bad that these legal American citizens were taken out of their homes and put in these camps. Today, I think more should be done to teach children about World War II. I think that you need the history because we learn from what has happened in our past.