Document Type

Oral History

Publication Date

4-19-1991

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

Paula Kornmehl was born in Vienna, Austria, on December 1, 1909. Her family owned butcher stores. She married Felix Pollak in Vienna in 1932, and studied x-ray technology just before leaving. They left for Shanghai in September 1938, via the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Her parents also were able to go to Shanghai on the "Conte Verde." She taught French and worked as a governess for French families before the war broke out. Felix started a tailor shop. Her parents opened a small coffee shop and then the St. George Buffet. Because of the Japanese Proclamation of February 1943, Paula and Felix Pollak and her parents had to move into the Designated Area. She still worked as a teacher and governess for French children. After the war, she got a job as secretary for the Director General of Crédit Foncier d’Extrême Orient, from August 1946 to September 1949. She and her husband went with her parents to Montreal. Later they moved to the United States. Paula Parks lived in Florida and died June 8, 1994.

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