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RG‐50.030*0907 Oral history interview with Alfred Fiks Part One (8/18/2016): Dr. Alfred I. Fiks, born on June 2, 1931 in Berlin, Germany, discusses his parents and their immigration to Germany from Poland; his father’s service in the Russian army during World War I; visiting an uncle in Poland; going to the Tiergarten in Berlin with his nanny, Marie; his brothers, Max and Fritz; the death of Fritz; the fur coat store owned and operated by his parents; the tradition of going to synagogue for the high holidays; his parents’ desire and efforts to integrate into German society; his family’s apartment near Kurfürstendamm; watching a military parade and being told to leave by a member of the Hitler Youth; being thrown out of public school and sent to a Jewish school in 1937 or 1938; antisemitic propaganda; the revocation of his parents’ German citizenship in 1934; how Max was able to get a student visa to the U.S.; his parents’ unsuccessful efforts to acquire visas to the U.S. in 1938; his family’s experiences during Kristallnacht; his father’s in‐depth letter to Max describing Kristallnacht; his father’s escape to Paris; his father arranging visas to France for him and his mother; traveling by train to Brussels and then to Paris; reuniting with his father; Max’s decision to join the U.S. army and his letter to President Roosevelt; moving to Nirot, France; and getting visas to Cuba in order to wait there until visas to the U.S. were acquired. Part Two (9/29/2016): Dr. Fiks begins by summarizing Part One of the interview and then discusses the fear of gas attacks in Paris; living in the country outside of Nirot, France; moving to downtown Nirot; encounters with German soldiers; his parents’ arrests; the German occupation of France; escaping to Limoges, France with the help of local farmers; his aunt’s refusal to leave Nirot and her later deportation; traveling to Marseille, France; sneaking aboard a ship to Casablanca, Morocco; staying in Casablanca for a few weeks with other refugees; the Serpa Pinto’s captain’s initial refusal to allow the family to board the ship; the ship’s three‐week journey from Casablanca to Havana, Cuba; stopping in Jamaica and spending a few days in a detention camp; arriving in Cuba; spending a few weeks in the Tiscornia detention camp; moving to Old Havana and adjusting to life in Cuba; his parents receiving money from the Joint Distribution Committee; attending English classes; receiving visas to go to the U.S. in the spring of 1943; flying to Miami; receiving an identification card with a stamp reading “enemy alien;” reactions to life in the U.S.; traveling by train to visit his brother Max at Camp Croft in Spartanburg, South Carolina, an army training camp; and traveling by train to Brooklyn to stay with his father’s cousin. Part Three (11/3/2016): Dr. Fiks discusses his arrival in Brooklyn in 1943; the difficulties of learning English in school; the family’s first apartment near Ebbets Field; winning a writing competition with an essay about http://collections.ushmm.org
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his wartime experiences; the fate of his mother’s sister and other relatives; a cousin who came to live with his family in Brooklyn; Max’s time in the army; his parents’ fur store; keeping up with world events during and after the war; the creation of Israel; earning his bachelor's degree in business administration with a major in industrial psychology; earning his master's degree and later PhD; marrying and having children; his interest and career in psychology and languages; traveling and living internationally; not talking much about his wartime experiences; and his thoughts on religion, history, and his U.S. citizenship.