Autobiographical interviews of Jews born in German speaking countries ("Yekkes") - 50/60 years after their immigration to Israel

Original name: Jessy Winkler. Born 03/19/1921, Vienna. In 1939, she emigrated to Palestine with a student's certificate. First two years studies of Humanities, later Law studies and exams in Jerusalem. Employment in the Ministry of the Interior. The Israeli ambassador in Norway and vice-mayor of Jerusalem. ; Introduction: Jehudit Huebner's emigration seen from a later perspective as politician and diplomat: She describes the pain when she had to leave her family back in Vienna when she emigrated in 1939. Her parents were killed during the Holocaust. She considers Jerusalem as her home. When she was invited to Vienna for the 25th anniversary of the Second Republic, she protested when she was listed as Austrian expatriate. She has been in Vienna several times, but always felt homesick after a few days. 15 years before the interview, she was the Israeli ambassador in Norway; the Austrian ambassador there, to whom she had friendly relations, asked her (sometimes naïve) questions about the conditions of the emigration. Jehudit Huebner's youth in Vienna: Luckily she was already a Zionist, which helped her in view of the national socialist threat. Personal antisemitic experiences: Their pharmacist asked her mother (who looked more like an “Aryan”) why her daughter looked foreign. The father of a friendly little schoolmate did not allow his daughter to sit beside a Jew. Her teacher did not want to accept that she did not write on Shabbat. - She joined the Zionist youth movement at the age of 13. This membership saved her life because Zionist commitment was one of the many British conditions to get a certificate. ; Jehudit Huebner's beginning in Palestine: She did not know everyday Hebrew when she arrived in Palestine. She only knew some prayers because of her orthodox family background and her religion classes at school, but within half a year she was able to communicate without any problems. She lived among many friends from Vienna who suffered from homesickness. Like her, they had to fear for the lives of relatives and had to endure poverty. A student found her a part-time job as waitress. She could attend the university for two years because of a subsidy from Vienna. After the two years, she had to give up her studies because of her insufficient Hebrew and could not return to university until she was married. Jehudit Huebner's attitude towards the German language, her relationship to Austria and her personal experiences of antisemitism: In her family, standard German was spoken. They lived in district IV (Wieden), a middle-class district. Viennese dialect would not have disturbed her parents, ; but they might have disapproved of her playmates (“good-for-nothings”). Most of the Jews in Leopoldstadt spoke Yiddish. She does not have any bad associations with dialect, but she associates traditional Austrian costumes with nationalist thinking. If she sees men at the age of her father, she asks herself which crimes they might have committed. Her favorite social and cultural surroundings is Israel. She has only two German-speaking friends and does not see her relatives in Austria often. She spoke German with her husband, but only Hebrew with her children and grandchildren. Her daughter knows enough German to get along during her vacations in Austria. J.H. did not want to burden her daughter with the terrible events of National Socialism, nevertheless she is thoroughly informed. Though her own grandparents were killed, the holocaust is a distant historical period for her daughter (discussion with her young interviewers about these feelings in the 2nd and 3rd generation). Jehudit Huebner's hesitant approach to post-war Austria: She feels disappointed about the lack of remorse. In her perception the Austrian enthusiasm about the annexation provides an evident contrast to the thesis that Austria was a victim of National Socialism. She is ready for a rapprochement with Austria because the new generation is more sincere in facing the past. She observes that there is still too much mistrust between the generations and between Christians and Jews. (Example: how Austrians claimed their early membership to the party when Nazis took over power and how they denied it after they had lost the War.) ; Jehudit Huebner's experiences in the “Kristallnacht”: She saw how a couple jumped out of a window and died immediately. SA-men beat her father, he was not able to get up for several days. They could not get certificates for her mother and younger sister; one year later they were deported to Lodz and murdered in trucks. Her father died in Buchenwald. He was probably frozen to death when exposed naked to the open air in winter. Her mother sent money to get her husband's ashes, but in the urn there was just some soil. Nevertheless J.H. tries to visit this “illusion” of a memorial at the cemetery in Vienna as often as possible. The family did not leave Austria earlier because they had overestimated the Austrians' morality. Today, J. H. considers herself as a wanderer between Israel and Austria. She assumes that several federal states in Austria were more antisemitic than others, maybe because there were more Jews. She was impressed and hopeful because of the sincere interest of Cardinal Schoenborn whom she met in Vienna. (Informations about her many relatives in the USA and in Belgium.) Jehudit Huebner's husband and daughter: Her husband attended a rabbinical seminary in Vienna, therefore it was easy for him to immigrate to Palestine. His father also died in Buchenwald. His mother had almost arrived in Haifa, but the British deported the illegal ship to Mauritius where the mother died. Their daughter was born in 1951 after nine years of marriage. The living conditions were bad during these years. Huebner's husband was an official at the university, she herself worked as an official in the Ministry of the Interior. About her daughters' profession as law consultant in the Ministry of Health and about her grandchildren. ; Statements on Israeli politics: Jehudit Huebner worries about the political safety in Israel. She regrets that this culturally interesting country is so extremely crises-ridden. She observes that the younger generation does not appreciate the obligation to military service any more. She does not feel comfortable with the fanaticism of orthodox Jews here in contrast to the liberal orthodoxy which she knew from her family in Vienna.