Curt and Edith Levi lived in Wiesbaden, Germany. They came as refugees to St. Louis in with their one year old son. They describe their experiences in Nazi Germany as well as in St. Click on the location markers to learn more about Curt and Edith. Use the timeline below the map or the left and right keys on your keyboard to explore chronologically.
In some cases the dates below were estimated based on the oral histories. We have no Curtis in Germany. It was unknown. But when I came to America I discovered that my father must have been anglicized already 70 years ago because he put in the original German β what do you call it?
They had to make a big, big thing out of it in New York. They had to make a big, big thing out of Kurt B. Levi, alias Curt B.
He had to sign, I would say, half a dozen different kinds of papers. LEVI: Yeah β well. What has it meant to you to be a survivor? LEVI: Well, this is a big question. I mean, to save your life is all a human being expects, you know. But I know later it was completely destroyed and we had a business which was almost a hundred years old. LEVI: Oh, textile.
We had β E. LEVI: Good morning. Thank you for letting me come. LEVI: A kaufhaus, or little department store, you know β clothes, no furniture or anything like that. The main thing was piece goods and we had a department of tailor made suits and tailor made shirts. It was different but all comes in the one group. I worked for 14 years for a shoe factory and became a buyer in that factory.
