Ruth Sumner interview and transcript, April 17, 1991
Scope and contents note
Series is comprised of audiotapes and printed transcripts of the interviews.
Dates
- April 17, 1991
Language of Materials
Most of the interviews are in English but a number of them are in German.
Conditions Governing Access
Access to the administrative files is restricted and also to some of the interviews. Contact staff for further information.
Biographical note
Ruth (Wendriner) Sumner was born in Silesia and grew up in Bobrek and then Beuthen. When she was six, her mother was killed by an intruder to their home. Her father owned a bar, but sold the business and retired to Beuthen. On Kristallnacht, her father's brother was arrested and killed at Buchenwald. Her father and she then sailed to Shanghai on the "SS Hakuna Maru" in Janurary 1939; shortly afterward, her sister left for the United States.
In Shanghai, her father opened the Roof Garden Mascot restaurant. She got married in Shanghai to an American soldier and had a child within a month of arriving in the United States in 1947.
Extent
2 audiocassette(s)
Creator
- From the Collection: Hochstadt, Steve, 1948- (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library Repository
70 Campus Avenue
Lewiston Maine 04240 United States of America
207-786-6354
muskie@bates.edu