As part of its Night Out With Meaning series, harp-weaver invites an inspirational woman to share her story and encourage women to think deeply about the difference they can make.
One Night Out With Meaning storyteller, Mrs. Renate Breslow was scheduled to share her story in March 2020, but then COVID hit and the series was postponed. We have decided to share her story here, so that you can learn from her and the dangers of “othering” people.
Born in Kirchheim, Germany, Mrs. Breslow experienced anti-Semitism under Nazi rule and fled the country as a child with her parents. Her journey was not without hardship, as she and her mother were refused entry into Cuba and had to return to Europe on the eve of World War II. She and her mother were finally reunited with her father in the United States several months later. However, many of her extended family members perished in the Holocaust.
In her words…
“Every story is different. Every story is individual.”
“They started slowly… As it became obvious that there weren’t many protests from the German people they could become then stronger and stronger against the Jews.”
“I had everything they had. I had a doll carriage, and a doll and I used to walk with my doll and the doll carriage on my side of the street. My former girlfriends walked on their side of the street. Nobody was rude to me, nobody threw stuff at me… it’s like you’re invisible. You’re not there. You’re doing what they’re doing, but you’re alone. You’re totally alone. I think I felt that more than anything, that I just felt, it’s just me, I’m alone, and I have nobody to play with. Nobody likes me.”
You can read Mrs. Breslow’s story here, or watch and listen to her share it at Chestnut Hill College.