Kurt Benger interview and transcript, June 8, 1990

File

Identifier: SJOH/1

Staff Only

Benger, Kurt oral history interview

Scope and contents note

From the Series:

Series is comprised of audiotapes and printed transcripts of the interviews.

Dates

June 8, 1990

Conditions Governing Access

Access to the administrative files is restricted and also to some of the interviews. Contact staff for further information.

Biographical note

Kurt Benger was born in Grimmen, Germany, in November 1908. He worked in the clothing business, but was fired from Karstadt in Hamburg in April 1933 because he was Jewish. He later moved to Berlin, where he got married on November 15, 1938, just before they left for Shanghai on November 23. In Shanghai he held many jobs, and had to take care of his wife, Friedel, who was very sick. They had a son, Daniel Benger, in September 1939. In 1947 the family sailed to the United States on the “General Meiggs” and settled temporarily in St. Paul, moving to Long Beach in 1948. After Friedel died, Benger married again. Kurt Benger died in 1992.