Family Remembers

A Family Remembers is a collection of memories from a German-Jewish family during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Three personal narratives relate the day-to-day activities of life in stories about business, education, health, family obligations, and more, and reveal larger philosophies and tensions in the family and their world.

Julius Brodnitz was a leader in Germany’s Jewish community of the 1920s and 1930s. His memories of his youth and young adulthood show a rapidly changing world, when Jewish families were allowed to enter more freely into German life. With a combination of dry humor and earnestness, Julius records how his early life, education, and work shaped him. This collection also includes a speech Julius made in 1930 about the dangers of Nazism as well as notes about how Hitler’s first year in power affected Julius’ circle.

Julius’ wife Hedwig and Hedwig’s mother Julie wrote their own memoirs, sharing with us their views of women’s lives during these times. Both women detail the joys and heartaches of family life and how the urge to pull away from traditions of previous generations affected them. Mother and daughter present fascinating generational bookend views of independence, marriage, and childrearing.