Austrian States: Styria

Trudie Solarz was born Gertrude Braun in Graz in 1931 and spent her early years in Carinthia where her father owned a series of small department stores. He was arrested during the November Pogrom (“Kristallnacht”) in 1938 and deported to Dachau. The family were able to escape to London in March 1938. The family emigrated on a Kindertransport ship to the USA, settling in Philadelphia. Trudie Solarz worked mainly as a secretary and held lectures about her experience as a refugee. At the time of her interview she lived in Levittown, Pennsylvania.

Brigitte Wachs was born in Graz in 1932 as Brigitte Welisch. After the Anschluss her father and her uncle were imprisoned in Dachau Concentration camp for a short period. After their release the family fled to the Philippines via Italy, where they experienced the Japanese occupation. In 1948, Wachs emigrated with her family to the USA. After completing high school, Wachs studied art at a college in New York. Afterwards she worked as a textile designer and later as an illustrator. At the time of the interview, Wachs was living in New Jersey.