Elizabeth Tilles, Susan Goldstein, and Rebecca Tilles

00:04 I'm Susan Goldstein. I'm 66. This is July 16th 2009. We're in San Francisco, and I'm a friend to Liesel.

00:16 My name is Rebecca Tillis. I'm 21 years old today is the 16th of July 2009. I'm in San Francisco. I'm here with my grandmother liezl Tillis and my grandmother's friend Susan.

00:30 My name is Liesl Tillis. I'm 89 years old. Today's date is July 16th 2009. We're in San Francisco and I'm here with my friend and my beloved granddaughter.

00:46 Lisa will you tell me something about your life in Germany?

00:50 Yes, that's what I'd like to do. I want to start out with my grandfather my grandfather and his brother two-door lived in a small Village near husband and husband and is my home town in Germany Northern Germany and my grandfather and his brother had one call with the between them and they came to her house Mendon.

01:20 To make their Fortune. That's what they tell me and they went into this scrap metal business. I guessed you might call it recycling nowadays, and I said, I don't know what to happen to the brother, but my grandfather did well.

01:41 And

01:43 You big can't he won the time he was traveling on business and he was staying overnight in a sort of like a Jewish bed and breakfast place and there was a young man, there are also staying there and

02:05 To spend the time they played a card game called Scott and my grandfather like the way this young man played the game. I guess you can tell about a person by the way, they play the game. So he said to him come and visit me and husband and I would like her to meet my daughter and that's how my mother and father found each other.

02:31 And I guess they had a pretty good marriage. So my father and my mother's brother and my grandfather were in the scrap metal business together and I remember a song that I think my uncle composed and to me it seems like one of the first commercial songs that we're ever done and this is this is the translation of it.

03:04 Rags

03:08 Right. Well, maybe I should sing it.

03:17 Aunt

03:24 I sent one pack Pier come to email Hong Kong back here.

03:34 Loom turn on clock on Eisen on patio, So a me a call back that stress or fear and the translation is rags and bones.

03:50 Iron and paper come to a McCormick, West Chester, PA.

03:56 So, okay. That's that takes care of that. Would you tell me about your parents what they were like? Oh, yeah, my parents like my father was a good man.

04:11 And I

04:16 I thought well of him, but I never had a real close relationship with him and I think he was disappointed because I was only five foot tall and he would have liked to have a wonderful tall younger daughter.

04:31 And my mother my mother was a good housekeeper and she loved to have company and she loved make nice meals for the family.

04:46 And the strange thing is that

04:50 Whenever I when I was young I never thought my mother was a very special person but in my later years when I started writing about my history and my family, I began to realize.

05:09 That she was really a very

05:13 Capable very capable person, like for instance during my teenage years. We lived in the small town and anti-Semitism was getting to be a real problem. This was around 1934 or so, and I was in high school.

05:36 And my mother arranged for me to move to Dusseldorf and stay with friends in order to finish High School in a Catholic school that was less anti-semitic then my hometown and looking back on that. I thought that was really a wonderful thing that you did for me. I remember how you thought about it at the time of having to go to this other school. I've welcomed it and I enjoyed the family I lift with because they had two daughters.

06:17 And so I feel comfortable there, but I never really gave my mother credit for to have taken the initiative to do that and then after high school for some reason she found this Jewish Seminary and Berlin where I could become a nursery school teacher which would have been a pretty good profession for me because I enjoy children and playing and music and so she found this place and I attended this Jewish Seminary for 2 years and graduated from it. And this this was

07:01 In 1938. Are you saying she picked your career? Yes, she definitely did and I don't think she ever really asked me it was she just figured this thing side herself and they really weren't that many opportunities, especially during the beginning Nazi years.

07:26 And I also want to mention that when I graduated from the Jewish seminary in the snow and then and then from the German government came to the school and made a speech and he said think kindly of your Fatherland and that was a totally unexpected.

07:51 Sink for fall for this German to do and I think in a way he took a chance and I I want to give this strange man credit for having said that to all the Jewish girls in this class.

08:07 And now I want to sing the song that I learned in there.

08:13 Training of Nursery School teachers and I've never all these years. I've never heard this song again, and it's so unique that I want to preserve it. And so I'm going to sing it now and there's a certain Rhythm. That's so I have to clap my hands to keep the rhythm going and it goes there the words.

08:38 There once was a

08:45 There once was a boomerang and it was just a little bit too short and the boomerang flu a little ways.

08:57 And it never came back.

08:59 And the public stood for hours waiting for the boomerang. I don't know who composed this song. It could have been the teacher at the nursery school training. I'm not sure but they here's the song.

09:15 I'm not on Boomer Envy negus to like, I think I'm too low.

09:28 I'm not lying Boomarang. I envy in Augusta to lanc flow constriction accomplished mitsui work.

09:50 Who played Khan in Denmark?

09:54 Shut off at 3 part song and I would love to hear three groups of people singing it. Maybe someday I will.

10:11 Would you tell about how you went to England?

10:15 Yes, this is another thing. I guess my mother mostly my mother maybe my father to arranged in a way. I don't think I have I mean I just did what I was told they said well, it is an anti-Semitism was becoming very difficult in those days and my parents would have liked to have emigrated but by that time by it's 1939 it was too late for them already. There were too many there were no no country wanted to accept them without bringing out any kind of money which we weren't a lot to do.

11:02 So my parents arranged for me to go to England to become a student nurse and there was a refugee Committee in England and my parents car is funded with a refugee committee.

11:19 And then and I think it was February 1939.

11:25 I left for England and my parents took me to the train station and waved. Goodbye. And that was the last I ever saw them.

11:37 And over during the War I used to get Red Cross letters from them and they were I think the limit was about Fourteen Words and they could just say a few things and I could write Rick Red Cross letters back to them.

11:55 With a limited amount of words and in 1943, they wrote to me that they were now moving to another house in Berlin on mom is an awesome and that was the last I ever heard of them.

12:13 And when I got to England there was a family Eric Jackson and his wife Eve who offered to help me get over the adjustment of being in a strange country and they were a wonderful couple and Eric was the one I think if he was very involved in the refugee committee and

12:41 They took me to their home and I stayed with them for a week and they made me feel very comfortable and then Eric called the hospital for women in Nottingham where I was assigned to become a student nurse, and he took me over there and we went to the matrons office.

13:09 And she was a very Charming looking lady very tall very well in doubt full of words full of empty words. I would say I never liked her. Anyway, she was very impressed with Eric Jackson and she gave us the tour of the hospital and

13:33 I saw all the warts and I saw some of the student nurses and some of the sisters.

13:40 And then she took us over to the nurse's home, which had just been built a few years ago, and it looked really nice and each nurse had her own little room with her own bed and sink and a little desk and window to look out onto the green grass.

14:03 And I looked like the looks of the place and then she took us to the

14:11 The nurses of living room and we sat down and it was sort of a really ugly room with some leftover furniture and there was a radio

14:27 And then the matron

14:31 Set some of the nurses will be back at 4 and they'll show you around and then Eric has said that he would have to leave too. And he said I should come and visit them as soon as I had a day off and so he left and I sat in this ugly living room and there was a radio playing air on the G string on a never forget. It was a beautiful beautiful Melody and I felt so lonely.

15:07 I've never felt so lonely in my life as I did while I waited for the girls the nurses to come and meet me.

15:18 And ever since then.

15:21 My life has become Fuller and Fuller.

15:25 And now I have a wonderful family and a lot of friends.

15:31 What was it like being a nurse during the war?

15:36 Oh well.

15:43 It was really hard work. We we have long shifts.

15:51 And I got very tired very physically tired, but I enjoyed the work. In fact, I really even didn't mind the bed pads and bedtimes were a big part of taking care of people who are not allowed to get out of bed. And this was a hospital for women and we had a lot of hysterectomies and dnc's and mastectomies and a lot of other women problems. And in those days when women had surgery they had to stay in bed for at least a week now it is it make you get out of it the next day or even right away and those days you didn't and I must say that I enjoyed taking care of the women because they were so appreciative of whatever we were doing for them.

16:45 And they were mostly hard-working.

16:49 Middle middle class women

16:53 Who worried about their families at home and worried about their health and whatever they did we did for them. They really appreciate it.

17:04 And we had a sister tutor who taught us about nursing procedures.

17:11 And she was I don't think I don't think we learned that much from her and now I want to mention my friend Lucy Lucy was also a student nurse and she had come from Vienna.

17:28 And she and I became good friends right away, and she was very very smart and she would see you if she would she would she was much smarter than I am and we really became good pals and

17:51 Oh, no, I want to talk about the night.

17:57 Off the bombing this road.

18:02 In those days I was assigned to a modern part of the hospital that had a lot of large windows.

18:14 And there was a concern about the safety of the windows if there should be a bomb. So every night we would have to take all the beds that we're on the wheels and put them into the car at all.

18:31 And that was a safer place for the patients.

18:36 And so one night we had gotten all the beds out of the Lord. It was late already. And one of the patients said to me or nurse, I forgot my purse which it will back to my locker in the bed in the world and bring me my purse.

18:56 And I went back into the world and it was pitch dark.

19:02 And I found my way over to her locker and at that moment there was the sound of an airplane overhead and off of bomb being dropped.

19:16 And I heard it coming down.

19:20 And I thought of myself well, I guess this is it and for some reason I failed resigned to my fate and then I heard the bomb drop and it didn't have to hit the hospital it hit the university and they were trying to hit the railway-station but the hit the hit the university instead. But anyway, I got my patience.

19:47 Purse out of her locker and I ran back to her and gave it to her and everybody was in a panic and for some reason I Found the courage to reassure them that everything was okay.

20:06 And I felt proud of myself afterwards because I think I did well last night.

20:12 And that was the most remarkable night and nothing else.

20:19 So that the Colonists came from facing death?

20:26 Maybe song Maybe maybe my parents had given me a basic good basic.

20:35 Feeling about life and what to do and how to react in an emergency. I have to give him credit for that.

20:46 How tall are you? I love to tell the story of when I was a small child. I was riding my bicycle and I fell and I had a I fell into some little stones.

21:05 And my knee was just bleeding and a hundred little Stones right embedded in my knee and I was screaming and crying and I was so so so upset and my mother just you said nothing. She just took me she put me in the bathtub and she's took a brush and she rushed out all the stones out of my knee and I screamed.

21:32 And she just went ahead with that job until all the little Stones were out of my knee and then put a bandage up and I felt better and I thought to myself why was she had courage doing that and I'm sure glad she did it the way she did it to somebody else. It couldn't have taken an hour and she just did it and got it over with.

22:00 How did you learn what happened to your parents?

22:04 How did I learn that?

22:08 Well, let me just say that.

22:13 Lucy and I went to the movies one day.

22:17 This was the world was finally coming to an end and I haven't heard from my parents for years, but there were all these rumors about concentration camps and stuff Lucy and I saw this we're going to the movies and before they show their was in news. Every time you went. There was a news.

22:41 Program for about 5 minutes telling about how the war was going.

22:49 And

22:53 At this time this was a show.

22:59 For the first time

23:01 The our American Army went into a concentration camp and they filmed what was going on in the concentration camp.

23:12 And I saw the bodies of bodies piles and piles of dead bodies.

23:21 And I thought to myself.

23:24 Is my mother and my father and that body in that pile?

23:30 And

23:32 I didn't want to know.

23:37 And

23:40 My brother is the one who made the inquiries.

23:45 About my parents

23:47 And

23:50 They lived in Berlin at the time and

23:56 There was a woman who was a friend of theirs falooda.

24:01 She was Jewish and she was married to a Christian.

24:06 And she was allowed to stay in Berlin and she visited my parents and she said that my father said

24:14 If they come for him, he has something that they can take.

24:20 And I don't know where that actually what happened. But anyway.

24:26 They were deported.

24:29 And when I made a written request to find out what happened to them, they gave me a date which I have written down somewhere.

24:41 And then it said seal on the can't which means Destination Unknown so

24:48 I'd rather stay was to unbekannte then knowing anymore.

24:55 And how did you come to the United States?

24:59 I left him.

25:03 England

25:05 And before I start with that, I want to mention another family. Oh, yeah. This is a wonderful story and my cousin ilsa who lived in Buffalo to Muffler with her mother was married to Max Max was in the American Army.

25:24 And he came to it. He came to England in preparation for the invasion of Germany with the American Army. He came to visit me.

25:38 And he was stationed in Manchester.

25:41 And when cousin Max had a problem with his glasses he went to optometrist.

25:50 And the optometrist fixes glasses and then he said to cousin Max. How do you like Manchester and knocks it? I like it fine. But where I was stationed.

26:04 We haven't been able to take a shower.

26:09 So mrwheeldeal, the optician said come to my house. I'll bring your friend and come for dinner and you can take a shower.

26:20 And so cousin Max and his buddy went to the wheeldon's.

26:26 And had dinner and then Max told them that I was in Nottingham.

26:32 And

26:35 The wheeldon said if she comes to Manchester, she could become a part of our family. We would she should come visit us and we would welcome her.

26:48 So after I graduated become a state registered nurse.

26:54 I moved to the Jewish hospital in Manchester and spent all my spare time with mr. And mrs. Wheeldon and their children and how do you explain how they were so generous to say that she could be part of our family. I think maybe first they said I should come visit and I visited them and then they made me part of their family.

27:17 And I want to say that here was a Christian family who became my family and also Eric Jackson and his wife became my family.

27:31 And I'm still wondering why there were no Jewish Jewish people in Nottingham or Manchester, especially at the Jewish hospital. Whoever opened their house their home to me.

27:48 In Coming to America. So like my aunt and my cousin said you have no family in England. Why don't you come live with us?

28:00 And they send me the money.

28:03 And I've said goodbye to all the friends that I had made in England and I'm forever grateful to the English people and I also feel like during the world. There was a feeling of community with everybody.

28:25 That sounds really good. And they always used to say all well, there's a war on and they used to call me ducky.

28:35 Come on ducky cheer up and that the patients in the hospital very very good to me to was it a difficult decision to come to America versus staying in England or it seemed clear.

28:55 No, I had no real Roots there. So it wasn't difficult and I don't know how how long you and Harry have known each other or how many years you've been married.

29:08 We've been married 61 years.

29:11 And and I came to Buffalo.

29:16 I met a young man called and noodle, man, and I'll noodle man.

29:24 Used to welcome all the new people that came to Buffalo all the new Jewish girl said he welcomed the girls. And so I dated out for a little while.

29:38 And he had a friend called.

29:42 Harry tilis and so then

29:48 After a while, we we went in a foursome together, and remember we went bowling together.

29:58 And I remember asking Harry about girls and he said they come and they go.

30:06 And I remember him saying that to you know, how he was certain things you remember forever. I remember him saying they come and they go.

30:14 And I don't know what that means. But I still remember. How did you decide this is the one for me.

30:23 Well, I guess we dated and it sounds good and we were on the same.

30:30 Wavelength sodas

30:35 I feel very tired.

30:38 Yes, we just have a few more minutes. Can you do a few more? It's been a wonderful marriage.

30:45 He's been a great husband sensitive smart.

30:52 And we've held each other up when we've had problems.

30:57 And we've had some great family. Maybe I would like to say the names of my children.

31:06 David what's my youngest Michael my oldest

31:12 Sun Kim Susie land came Nancy land kaemark we call Mickey.

31:19 And I want to name my grandchildren Robin.

31:24 Rebecca

31:29 Evan

31:34 Linnea

31:37 Country

31:39 Julia and David

31:43 And I love all of you.

31:46 And I also love my humankind.

31:50 And I want everybody to be kind to each other.

31:55 Because when your kindness

31:58 Infectious

32:01 Ugliness is infectious to

32:05 The kindness

32:07 Is more infectious?

32:12 And even though time is not up yet. I Want to Say Goodbye.

32:18 Shalom

32:20 Peace