Evelyn Wilcox reviews their personal connection to the Rosentrassee Protest in ties with the Rosentrassee film.
First I would like to say I'm pleased that "Rosenstrasse" has been made.
Even though the film is peppered with assumptions and errors, the subject of
juedischen Mischehen is not a subject that has been turned into many films.
I recall one other film produced in the 1946 in the eastern sector "Ehen Im
Schatten" about a mixed marriage.
I must agree with Ms. Wilcock that mixed marriages in the Third Reich was
one of the greatest risks imaginable. Today a mixed marriage in Israel is
also a taboo.
My parents - father Jewish - mother Catholic - married in 1932. As Hitler
came into power, the Jewish question was not on the front burner. By 1935
with the passing of the Nuremberg Laws, the Jewish question began to
dominate "Das Dritte Reich". My mother was approached numerous times by
Berlin's secret police suggesting that she should divorce her "dirty Jewish
husband" and her life would be much better. By 1938 my parents left Berlin
for Brussels where I was born in 1939.
After the war, my father was advised by the Jewish community in Brussels
that he and family should settle in Palestine. My father being aware of
their attitude on mixed marriages, my father would not go through this
"hell" for a second time.
One of the leading messages in "Rosenstrasse" does focus on love, loyalty
and dedication regarding Mischehen.