Devon Bennett testimony #2

Devon Bennett

Mr. Neuburger

English 102-118

13 March, 2013

Survivor Testimonies

“Edith Coliver”

            Edith Coliver was a survivor who was actually not in Europe while the worst of the killings were taking place.  Coliver actually got out of Germany in 1938 before all of the Jews were starting to be exterminated.  Her father got her whole family visas and they sailed across the Atlantic to New York City.  She shortly after moved to San Francisco where she attended school and graduated from Berkeley. 

            After graduating she moved to Washington D.C. where she found work as an assistant to a senator.  She found herself looking for work shortly after however because she didn’t like her job.  She was very fluent in German and French so she found a job as an interpreter at the Nuremburg trials.  She was interviewed by many people including the United Nations head of interpretations.  She got the job and found herself faced with what she narrowly escaped and moved to America from. 

            In Germany she got to interpret the trials of all of the highest officials of the Nazi party.  She found herself faced with the fact that all of the Germans where wanting to escape and say as though they had no idea what was going on.  She knew this was untrue however because they knew about it all the way in the United States.  The trials that were ending in most of the officials getting hung were very hard for her because she was tired of the killings. 

            One of the things that she talked about in the interview that I found as being very interesting was the fact that Roosevelt did not help the Jews and she was very upset about it.  According to her he knew about the stuff going on and the deaths and didn’t do a lot to help.  This is something that I myself had never heard before.

            In closing I feel as though this lady although not being in Germany and dealing with the concentration camps first hand did get to see the true utter destruction.  She was there after and got to help clean up the mess therefore did understand it.  I feel as though she is a hero stepping up and helping put away a part of history that so many people want to forget.

1.      “Jew’s have no demeanor or character.”

2.      “You belong to that generation disenfranchised by Hitler, but as you go do justice be just.”