Dachau contemporary witness talk with Henny Brenner
Dachau contemporary witness talk with Henny Brenner
Born
on November 25, 1924, Henny Brenner’s mother is Jewish, her father a
Protestant. Henny enjoys a sheltered childhood while growing up in Dresden.
With the implementation of the Nazi race laws the fortunes of the family – now
stigmatized as of “mixed race” and “privileged” – change suddenly and
dramatically: Henny Brenner is forced repeatedly to switch schools, her father
has to give up his work, and mother and daughter have to wear the “Jewish
badge”.
In
1945 only 170 out of previously some 6,000 Jews continue to live in Dresden.
Henny Brenner is amongst those who remain. She performs forced labor for
Zeiss-Ikon. As the family receives notice on February 13, 1945, that they are
to report to a collection point in Dresden three days later, the 20-year-old
knows that deportation is in store. But the Allied air bombardment of Dresden
saves her life. The family succeeds in hiding amongst the ruins of the
devastated city until liberation through the arrival of the Red Army.
Today
Henny Brenner lives in the Upper Palatinate. She has written a memoir of her
experiences, Das Lied ist aus (The
Song is Over).
The contemporary witness talk
with Henny Brenner takes place on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, at 7 pm in the Visitor
Center of the Dachau Memorial Site.