Charlotte Wollheim

It wasn’t until the arrest of Charlotte’s father in 1936, however, that her happy childhood screeched to a halt. After the Nazi Party sent notice that all synagogue funds would be confiscated, Charlotte’s father distributed all of the money to the poorest members of the congregation and burned the account books. The incident, and his subsequent arrest, convinced him that the time for Jews to live in Germany had ended.

While her father looked for a sponsor so they could immigrate to the United States, Charlotte and her sister were sent to the Esslingen Jewish Orphanage, run by a family friend. Very frightened, she realized that there are some things even parents do not have control over: “I had to take care of myself, she realized, “ I am the only person who is always going to be with me.”

In 1938, her family secured sponsorship from a relative who had already immigrated to the U.S. On their way to leave the country, they stopped in Koblenz, Germany to see her grandfather. On the night of November 9th, their grandfather’s home was vandalized in what would later be known as Kristallnacht. While reporting this crime to the police, her father was arrested again. He was released only when he showed proof they were leaving the country.

On December 25th, 1938, Charlotte and her family arrived in New York, where she spent the rest of her childhood. She raised three sons with her first husband Harry Sprung,  and then she married Norbert Wollheim. (The two were also Holocaust survivors who had met in Auschwitz.) In 1988 Charlotte met Holocaust educator Vladka Meed, who developed the first program to educate teachers by taking them on summer study trips to Poland to learn about the Holocaust. Charlotte became her assistant.

In 2000, Charlotte moved to Seattle to be closer to her family.  

Charlotte is a member of the Holocaust Center Speakers Bureau.