WEBVTT
00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:09.000
Beth Strasser: I have to go through the first question again. Your name?
00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:29.000
Dr. Pauline Reinkrant: Pauline. Sometimes it's Pauline M. Reinkrant. Since
I was my mother's daughter, I had to be called Maria also. You know, it was
from your mother [door opens]. You don't always have to-- Strasser: Have
them married. Reinkrant: Yeah. So it's Pauline Maria.
00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:40.000
Strasser: And your age? Reinkrant: 73. Strasser: And your place of birth?
Reinkrant: Vienna, Austria. Strasser: And were you born in the city or a
certain section?
00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:51.000
Reinkrant: Well. I think I was born in an older part of the city. Not new.
Yeah.
00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:57.000
Strasser: In the central part?
00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:42.000
Reinkrant: It's again, very difficult to answer because Vienna is built in
three circles, the innermost circle, the old city. There's another band,
which included all the suburbs, which were incorporated into Vienna in the
19th century. Then there was the outskirts. It's as far as I know, your
mother lived in [??]. It's one of the suburbs, outlying parts. That was the
one who-- second belt, not in the city. I don't know any more about this.
00:01:42.000 --> 00:02:02.000
Reinkrant: I don't know, But not around-- the good part of the city
because in the apartment. And another apartment, which we had was very
large. It was 5 rooms, no bathroom.
00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:22.000
Reinkrant: And this was very unusual. I could mostly, could mostly not
afford such a large apartment. My father could only afford this because it
was in poorer neighborhood and he had already kind of well-known name. So
the landlord accepted the responsibility.
00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:38.000
Reinkrant: He didn't have an apartment, but it was a very nice apartment
and quite close to the university. It was very convenient to everything, to
all the seniors with all these places, interesting places for them to give
lectures. So it's very colorful.
00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:52.000
Reinkrant: There very was not the best. Well, maybe it means anything to
you. It was two blocks away from the Sigmund Freud [laughter]. It was
walking distance to Sigmund Freud.
00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:55.000
Strasser: And did you walk to Sigmund Freud?
00:02:55.000 --> 00:03:59.000
Reinkrant: No, no, I-- we heard of him. We saw him once for a few minutes
a time. I was not so famous. It would be a great deal of money. To have
[unintelligible]. I know by name all important people in politics,
literature and art in certain circles. I knew most of it was off many
people. So if you want to make it close to where we lived, you tell me we
lived two blocks away from Sigmund Freud. Which was also a very old house,
but which provide to us. _____________________________ [unintelligible]
friend because it was cheap. A large, large apartment up in a very modest
neighborhood because--
00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:08.000
Strasser: And what other sort of people lived in that neighborhood to make
it a modest neighborhood?
00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:56.000
Reinkrant: Mostly, I suppose what we called _____________________________
[unintelligible] Not at all. But that's because, didn't-- wasn't so very
important at this time is because the [??] on his own but the social
position that things are for others. The [??] masses of them because it's
not so easy for them. Even to this very day to come here-- maybe it's not
the correct expression.
00:04:56.000 --> 00:06:15.000
Reinkrant: But say if a youngster is at the end of public school at the
age of 14, he was apprenticed to the practical but also something. And it
was three years of training. Then you had to to have some years of
experience as a journeyman. And only then could he become a master builder,
a master tailor, a master cobbler, a master something. And that was hired
regardless of high position. So you see later on this [??] children, 14
years, a little bit more have to go work in the factory. That's when the
industrial [??]. But this was not the case for the, for the second half of
the nineteenth century. So this past. The first [??] embroidering, mostly
for church purposes.
00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:18.000
Reinkrant: Women who sewed. That one could bring some--
00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:21.000
Strasser: Seamstress.
00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:59.000
Reinkrant: Seamstress. That's right. Seamstresses on the second floor with
the landlady. They got some 5 or 6 rooms which she rented out after the
First World War because there was no way how the forces of a frenzy. On the
third floor we lived and another couple on the other side. On the fourth
floor of the [??] not people of consequence, not people that are very
friendly. And when my father passed away when I was very lucky that I could
hold on to this apartment. Of course, I remember.
00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:09.000
Reinkrant: And I came back from his funeral. There was-- this was two days
after his passing.
00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:59.000
Reinkrant: There was a note on the door. You have to vacate this apartment
within 2 or 3 weeks because you are not allowed in such a large apartment.
And only a guardian who was in reality a [??] old man. A lifelong friend of
my father could arrange it so that I could hold on to the apartment. I had
to rent out most of the rooms, I could only keep one. That's all First
World War stuff which is unimaginable, moving after the First World War.
Americans sometimes think they went through hell during the Depression
times, that's nothing compared with what we went through in Europe. And
it's, it's just very [??].
00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:06.000
Reinkrant: So I could hold onto this apartment, but I rent out this was
just like very unpleasant.
00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:11.000
Strasser: It was a great influx of people into Vienna?
00:08:11.000 --> 00:09:08.000
Reinkrant: As long as the war went on. There was an influx because Vienna
was the intellectual center and cultural center. During the First World
War, many Polish Jews immigrated. Because they were afraid of the Russians,
because the Russians got all this and send it. [unintelligible] They just,
um, finished. Did what people [??] to do. To unite with the Jewish people.
So they came to Vienna as refugees and it was very hard for the population
because there are different. Different outlook, different education,
different looks, mostly very highly educated in the original biblical story
and every story.
00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:16.000
Reinkrant: Best of people. Really fantastic people.
00:09:16.000 --> 00:11:04.000
Reinkrant: The amazing thing about this Polish Jews was they are capable.
Very capable. Jews have always lived-- The economic position of their
neighborhood or their environment. So as long as they lived in Poland,
which was an extremely poor country, we were very poor. So I know different
from this small farmers who have very low income to pay high taxes to
execute mobility. When they came to Vienna, this was a much higher economic
level and they hooked on immediately and were successfully businessmen.
Send their children to very good schools. The school children were very
capable because maybe, you know, Germans, but they had to demonstrate a
religious training in reading the Torah, reading the Bible and discussing
very complex things. So they had all this intellectual and capabilities
that made them to very successful students in gymnasium and universities.
But then, of course, they also had a great deal of intellectual positions,
which formerly had been reserved for the Gentiles. And so there were all
this, all this [??]. As far as I'm concerned, I was not considered gentile
because my Judaism, and my father was.
00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:38.000
Reinkrant: Indifference as far as his Jewishness went. Religion. One who
would never have converted to Christianity, to Catholicism is not-- because
he said it's one of the few things I remember. One doesn't change one
religion like it should. Although he did not practice this religion, he
could never have considered converting to Catholicism just to get--
00:11:38.000 --> 00:12:23.000
Reinkrant: A better position, Eventually which could happen if he
converted to Catholicism. Then a highly educated person could enter the
service. Government service. It was all a possibility. [unintelligible].
The best of them, after the years of the First World War. And there was so
much poverty and so much sadness. [unintelligible].
00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:49.000
Reinkrant: Allies would pump as much money into this miserable central
[??] the Second World War. He was afraid that this nationalist government
would again use the establishment [??]. After the First World War we didn't
know anything at this point. We just left our [??].
00:12:49.000 --> 00:14:20.000
Reinkrant: That's a very famous read. Very good. Very interesting. But in
general, I think now it's time for the Americans. It's too complex. Just as
I didn't know anything about American business. When I came to this
country, I knew of three cities of Washington, D.C. and New York, maybe of
San Francisco. I knew very little about America. I didn't know anything
about Pittsburgh. And when I went to school, back to school to get my
degree in education. I had to take three semesters of American history and
history of Western Pennsylvania. I flunked my first exam because I just
couldn't understand the problem. It's so entirely different. So entirely
different. Maybe it's not so different now because United States has spread
out and Americans are in all parts of the world and try to understand the
common problems there. But, we didn't know until it was all [??] and this
kind of taxes and that kind of taxes. Terribly monotonous. American
History.
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:23.000
Strasser: Could you tell me the maiden name of your mother again? And
where she was from?
00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:43.000
Reinkrant: It was Dolezan. D O L E Z A N. And she was from
[unintelligible]. I never forget.
00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:50.000
Strasser: Was it a nice accent? Reinkrant: No. Strasser: It was a nice
accent? The bohemian accent?
00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:58.000
Reinkrant: Oh, she was my mother. I couldn't decide it because I didn't
know very much about it.
00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:10.000
Strasser: Um, do you know what your great grandmother's-- your maternal
side? Your great grandmother's name would have been? And if the name
changes?
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:17.000
Reinkrant: I can see my mother and my grandmother.
00:15:17.000 --> 00:16:04.000
Reinkrant: I only know that they all settled around some place which is
called Pribyslav in Bohemia. Strasser: Do you know how to spell--
Reinkrant: Pribyslav. And I was never there. P R I B Y S L A V. And as far
as I know, my mother, my grandmother, my great grandmother. But they had
always tremendous amount of children. My grandmother on my mother's side.
They were small farmers and people had to go to work. Many girls went to
Vienna to become Nursemaids, cooks.
00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:11.000
Strasser: It was commonly accepted that you'd leave home-- the country to
go?
00:16:11.000 --> 00:17:18.000
Reinkrant: No. It's just like in Switzerland, if you grow up in Austria.
The Swiss in the 15th and 16th century could not stay in Switzerland
because there was not enough work to do. And so there were the mercenaries.
In all the wars of 16th century, up to the very days of the Pope as the
Swiss Guard. But this is the consequence of the fact that Swiss were
mercenaries. The country just could not support them. There was no
industry. Only after the country was industrialized could they support the
higher population. And so my mother came to Vienna and [unintelligible].
Anyway, she got the permission from my grandmother to
_________________________________________________[unintelligible]
00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:33.000
Reinkrant: Unfortunately, they got married and my grandmother said she
would [??] She wanted to be the housekeeper.
00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:49.000
Reinkrant: My father was the last of the children who stayed unmarried for
such a long time because he was
____________________________________________________[unintelligible].
00:17:49.000 --> 00:18:17.000
Reinkrant: I know of at least-- of at least three people who [??]. One was
a fairly well-known author and novelist who became my godmother when I was
confirmed.
00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:18.000
Strasser: What was her name?
00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:41.000
Reinkrant: This woman? Oh, this author? Her name was Maichael [ph], but
her pen name was Amy Marriot. M A R R I O T. Nobody reads her novels
anymore, but I certainly loved them.
00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:48.000
Strasser: Were they romantic or fiction? What sort of novels? Reinkrant:
Fiction, fiction.
00:18:48.000 --> 00:19:53.000
Reinkrant: Mostly questions of the place of where-- in society, conflicts.
I tried to read one of her novels lately, two years ago. I was terribly
bored. I remember really liking them. And she was my godmother when I was
confirmed. And she gave me a rare book, in which she wrote her phone for me
which I always keep by heart. But I don't have this rare book anymore
because I gave it to my half sister in England for safe guarding. Because
who would be interested in [??] so I gave it to my sister. And my sister
passed away some years ago. [unintelligible]
00:19:53.000 --> 00:20:25.000
Reinkrant: But I wrote it in some of the books, which I'm going to leave
to my daughters or to grandsons. No one's going to pay attention to them.
This [??] has just passed down from generation to generation. This doesn't
exist anymore. I have two sets of the collected works of my father. And we
lost everything when we left Austria because [??] when we arrived at the
United States.
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:50.000
Reinkrant: My husband was always moving. He was a civil engineer by trade,
but he was a wonderful novelist. And and one of the features of Vienna was
that so many people who were not professional musicians could play
instruments so well. They could sit together and play quartets and
quintets.
00:20:50.000 --> 00:21:06.000
Reinkrant: So he was one of them. Played wonderfully. He suffered a stroke
and then lost all his recollection.
00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:11.000
Reinkrant: [unintelligible]
00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:16.000
Strasser: The collected volumes.
00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:22.000
Reinkrant: But I'm quite sure nobody wants to see one of us.
00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:25.000
Strasser: After the interview.
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:49.000
Reinkrant: Okay. So I have two sets, and the other day I wanted to impress
my oldest grandson who has this. This [??] because great grandfather is
mentioned as [??]. That he left him-- going to give him a set of books just
to impress him.
00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:51.000
Strasser: How old is he then?
00:21:51.000 --> 00:22:57.000
Reinkrant: He's in sixth grade. Strasser: Well, that's cool. Reinkrant:
That's pretty old but there's [??] with eduction. They know a lot, these
boys. There are three boys. Know a lot in the world of technology. It's
fantastic what they know because they are children. Their mothers-- their
parents give them a lot of attention. But their field of knowledge is just
a very narrow one. Psychology is a branch of psychology. But they give them
a lot of information. Only today [unintelligible] It's an investment,
definitely. Maybe I can find something. But they try to combine these types
of experience. The background. This cultural background. European
background to the United States.
00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:16.000
Reinkrant: So definitely, we're not at all surprised, especially when no
one who keeps them _________________________________ [unintelligible]
00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:30.000
Reinkrant: So, those books will end up in some dark corner.
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:32.000
Reinkrant: What's your next question?
00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:38.000
Strasser: The next one. What languages you speak and understand?
00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:42.000
Reinkrant: German is my first language.
00:23:42.000 --> 00:25:50.000
Reinkrant: French was my favorite language as far as [??] 8 years old.
This was really my second language. Read it. Write it. I hated English
because it's a bit difficult because of the crazy spelling. Also because
of the lack of a grammatical skeleton, I should say. If you study French, I
don't know which languages you study. If you study French, you will learn
several rules of [??] and conjugation and syntax. And you can use it to
form sentences that make sense like and even-- that makes sense. It might
not be phonetic French, but you can learn it. You can learn. English you
can only learn in an English speaking country. __________________________
[unintelligible] Now, I have a very interesting experience recently when I
was in Vienna. My older-- the older. Well, my niece Laura, who is now [??].
She wants to go to the Navy. There is no entrance examination required
anymore. Everybody is accepted, just like me. Other than weeding goes on.
In the sixth grade, in Pittsburgh. It's very hard for children. Okay. So
they must have-- they must be gifted. There must be very industrius. So
this is-- has to take English [??].
__________________________________________________ [unintelligible].
Because it's nearly impossible.
00:25:50.000 --> 00:26:05.000
Reinkrant: English only learns English from them. [unintelligible]
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:11.000
Strasser: Um, can you tell me your occupation? Your former occupation?
00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:24.000
Reinkrant: [??] Teacher. _________________________________
[unintelligible]
00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:28.000
Strasser: Can you give a date for that? Can you give a date for that?
00:26:28.000 --> 00:27:43.000
Reinkrant: Sure. Well, I got my Phd in 1927. And then I tried all kinds of
teaching positions in the public, in the public school system, because I
was very much [??] I saw a change there for children of lower income people
to get an education, which was nearly impossible when I went to school. If
you didn't belong to the middle and higher bourgeoisie you had no chance.
Most of [??] The parents had to help you. Not really doing homework for
you, but talking to you about all kinds of things. You learn to speak
correctly. So background was important. And I think I finally decided to
take my voice. And you had to take one year of practice. [??] years, which
is also [??]
00:27:43.000 --> 00:28:05.000
Reinkrant: And this was a magical. And then I applied for the position in
the secondary schools, which-- those schools are not public schools. They
are private schools.
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:15.000
Reinkrant: And that was considered more than all of my father, and all of
my mother. Strasser: Mhm.
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:39.000
Reinkrant: So I got a position in the same school from which I [??]. I was
probably last [??] to get this position. I think this was [??]. in 1938.
00:28:39.000 --> 00:29:39.000
Reinkrant: When I was married to my husband. And the racial laws of this
town were that if you were married to a gentile, you were [??]. But if you
were married to a Jewish man. So I was the last one to get the position in
this secondary school. [??] I lost my position
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
[unintelligible]. All of them are. Husbands
__________________________________________________________ One, two
cousins. One woman who is now 80 years old
_______________________________________.
