Warren+R.

Warren R.

My name is Kurt Lenkway. I escaped from Germany, during the Holocaust, into Switzerland, and into the United States. I have three children named Peter, Brenda, Donald, and Margaret. In 1934, my brother was kicked out of the university he was attending because he was Jewish. The store I worked at had been what we call, “gleichgeschalted”. That means that all laws were aligned with what Hitler wanted. I was fired from the store for being Jewish, so I went to work at my dad’s furniture store. All of the Jews in the area were highly convinced that Hitler’s regime would not last. We believed that England and France would stop Germany before they could come to any real power… we were wrong. Hitler’s army continued to grow across the DMZ, on the border of Germany with France and Belgium. My father was confident that Hitler would not touch our family, for he was a World War I veteran and was decorated with an Iron Cross. My family was prepared to move out of Germany, but they did not want to face uncertainty. We planned to escape to France, and then apply for an American visa. We realized that we would not have any money in America because all we had were German marks. Father became close friends with a diamond dealer from Antwerp. Father and he made the following deal: We would bring him German marks and he would convert them to American dollars. Smuggling money out of the Deutschland was punishable by death. We were willing to take the risk. We bought a 1936 Mercedes designed by a man named Porsche. He had constructed a double bottom design to hide the money in the doors. When we reached border checkpoints, they would thoroughly check the car. The money was very well hidden and they never found it.

Survivor Interview Questions By: Warren Rivera Subject: Sgt. Paul Wise


 * 1) What helped you through?
 * 2) Did anyone help you? If so, who was your support and how did he/she help you?
 * 3) How did it change your life?
 * 4) What lessons did you learn from your experience?
 * 5) Did you ever feel like giving up? If so, explain them.
 * 6) What methods did you use to overcome your fears?
 * 7) Are you still suffering because of the effects this event had on you?
 * 8) How did you feel about the person(s) or thing(s) that caused the struggle for you?
 * 9) What was the first thing you did when you realized you had officially survived this situation?
 * 10) Is there anything you could've done to prevent this struggle from occurring?
 * 11) What can/should our generation learn from your story?
 * 12) How were your family and friends affected by you enduring this struggle?
 * 13) How has this made you stronger? Explain.
 * 14) Did you realize the gravity of the situation before it actually happened to you?
 * 15) How often do you think about your experience?

My name is Paul Wise and I survived the Invasion of Iraq in 2003.

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