Document Type

Oral History

Publication Date

6-8-1990

Abstract

Copyright Steve Hochstadt. This transcript is provided for individual research purposes only; for all other uses, including publication, reproduction and quotation beyond fair use, permission must be obtained in writing from: Steve Hochstadt, c/o The Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, Bates College, 70 Campus Avenue, Lewiston, Maine 04240-6018.

Scope and Content 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.

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