Hiding and surviving - Growing up under National Socialism | DW Documentary

"Everyone who survived has a story that you simply can't believe.” Charlotte Knobloch survived the Holocaust - because farmer's wife Kreszentia Hummel passed her off as her own, illegitimate child and kept her hidden on her farm.

Charlotte Neuland was born on 29 October 1932. She was born into a dark time: Just three months after her birth, Adolf Hitler came to power. Once the National Socialists were in charge, years of terror ensued. Boycotts against Jewish businesses and professional bans on Jews, including Charlotte's father, the established Munich lawyer Siegfried "Fritz” Neuland, were just the beginning. As time went on, life for Jewish people became increasingly threatened. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 denounced and banned relationships between Jews and non-Jews. Charlotte's mother, Margarethe Neuland, left the family. She had converted to Judaism but could not withstand the pressure from the Gestapo. Charlotte's grandmother, Albertine Neuland, now became the girl's most important caregiver. On the night of 9-10 November 1938, six-year-old Charlotte witnessed the November pogroms: Jewish stores were destroyed and looted in front of her eyes, people were beaten, abused and taken away.

When the first deportations from Munich to the concentration camps began in 1941, Siegfried "Fritz” Neuland took his daughter to the deeply religious Catholic farmer's wife Kreszentia Hummel in Middle Franconia. With her help, Charlotte Neuland survived the National Socialist dictatorship.

Now Charlotte Knobloch, she’s President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria and former President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. In this film, she tells viewers about her own life - and a past that is full of fear and loss. Despite all her devastating experiences, she would go on to become one of the most important figures representing Jewish life in the German-speaking world. She has dedicated her life to the fight for peace, equality and democracy.

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