Ruth gabriele silten biography for kids
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- irn515347
- Language of Description
- English
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Ruth Gabriele Silten was born to a Jewish family on May 30, 1933 in Berlin, Germany. She was the only child of Dr. Fritz and Ilse Teppich Silten. Both parents were born in Berlin; Fritz on February 16, 1904, and Ilse on February 23, 1909. They were married on August 6, 1931. As assimilated Jews they did not adhere to Jewish dietary laws, observe holidays or attend synagogue. Her father had a doctorate in pharmacology and was a partner an apothecary business with his father. After Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in 1933, increasingly severe restrictions were placed on Jews. Gabriele’s grandfather was forced to sell his pharmacy and her father, concerned about his family’s safety, left for Amsterdam in September 1938. He established a business to produce and distribute pharmaceuticals to foreign companies. He then sent for Gabriele and Ilse. I
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Gabriele Silten
Born May 30, 1933 - Berlin, Germany
Gabriele, the daughter of Fritz and Ilse (Teppich) Silten, was born in Berlin, Germany. Berlin, a sophisticated and cosmopolitan city, was home to a highly assimilated Jewish community. Gabriele's father was a pharmacist and the Siltens had a comfortable life.
After Hitler came into power in Germany in 1933, life for Germany's Jews became increasingly difficult. Hitler's Nazi party passed various antisemitic measures stripping German Jews of their citizenship, cutting them off from all social interaction with non-Jews, and harshly restricting Jewish economic life. Jews were barred from most professions and the majority became impoverished. In 1938, Gabriele and her family fled to Holland. Settling in Amsterdam, Gabriele made friends with a girl her own age living in the same building. They attended kindergarten together, and Gabriele quickly learned Dutch.
The Nazis invaded Holland in May 1940, just before Gabriele's seventh b
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Ruth Gabriele Silten
Gabriele was the only child of Jewish parents living in the German capital of Berlin. Her grandfather owned a pharmacy and a pharmaceuticals factory, where Gabriele's father also made his living.
1933-39: In 1938 the Nazis forced Ruth's grandfather to sell his factory and pharmacy for very little money to an "Aryan" German. After that, her father decided they should move to Amsterdam where it was safer for Jews. She was 5 years old and wanted to stay in Berlin. She didn't understand why she had to leave her toys and friends. In Amsterdam Ruth had to learn a whole new language when she began elementary school, but she soon began to man new friends there.
1940-44: In May 1940 Germany invaded the Netherlands. Ruth remembers being frightened seeing the German troops march into the city. When she went to school she had to wear a yellow Jewish star, and she couldn't play with her Christian friends anymore. When she was 9, her family was deported to a camp in the e