WEBVTT
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Beth Strasser: Okay, can I ask you your name?
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Ernestine Anne Rosenfield: Ernestine L. Rosenfield.
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Strasser: Ernestine. Ernestine?
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Rosenfield: Ernestine. E-r-n-e-s-t-i-n-e.
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Strasser: Right. And your age?
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Rosenfield: What do you think? Will I go on now that I'm questioning you?
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Strasser: Yeah, but that's all right.
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Rosenfield: I will be 92 the end of this month. Strasser: Really?
Rosenfield: A leap year girl.
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Strasser: A leap year girl, are you? And has that affect--hm--what year
were you born in? Rosenfield: Pardon me? Strasser: What year were you born?
Rosenfield: '84. Strasser: 1884? Rosenfield: Yeah. Strasser: And your place
of birth? Rosenfield: Pardon me? Strasser: Place of birth? Rosenfield: In
Germany. Strasser: Where in Germany?
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Rosenfield: Yeah. Wittenberg.
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Strasser: How do you spell that?
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Rosenfield: Well, W-u-r, you know, with the hyphen on.
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Strasser: Okay.
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Rosenfield: Pronounced Wittenberg. Right. Strasser: T-e-- Rosenfield: I
think it's double t. T-n. W-u-r-t-t-e-n-b-u-r-g.
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Strasser: And can you tell me what county-- Rosenfield: Pardon me?
Strasser: What region of Germany was that in? Do you know?
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Rosenfield: Wittenberg is in--
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Strasser: Is the region? Rosenfield: In Heilbron.
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Strasser: Heilbron. Rosenfield: Heilbron.
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Strasser: H-e-i-l--
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Rosenfield: B-r o n.
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Strasser: B-r-o-n. Okay. And the maiden name of your mother?
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Rosenfield: Lowen--my mother, Kingsbacker. Strasser: Kingsbacker.
Rosenfield: My mother. Strasser: Right. Okay.
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Strasser: And then your maiden name was Lowen?
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Rosenfield: Lowenthal. Strasser: Lowenthal. Rosenfield: L-o-w-e-n-t-h-a-l.
Strasser: Okay.
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Strasser: And your ethnic origin and identity?
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Rosenfield: My religion is Jewish.
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Strasser: Um, Orthodox, Conservative?
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Rosenfield: Strictly Reformed
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Strasser: Stric--okay. And your occupation or your former occupation?
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Rosenfield: Well, yes. I worked for my relatives, my uncles, in the
jewelry business, and I think I was ten years old when I came from Germany
to Pittsburgh.
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Strasser: And you worked here with them. Rosenfield: Pardon me? Strasser:
You worked here with them? Rosenfield: Pardon? Strasser: You worked in
Pittsburgh with your--
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Rosenfield: My uncles in Pittsburgh. Kingsbacker Brothers.
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Strasser: Kingsbacker Brothers. Rosenfield: Yeah, that's it. Strasser:
Where were they located?
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Rosenfield: Sorry. Not here anymore.
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Strasser: Not here anymore. Where were they?
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Rosenfield: I have no family anymore. The entire family had died,
including their sons. And both--both brothers have neither son or daughter
living. [??] Pittsburgh
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Strasser: Where--
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Rosenfield: And I have no sister. I had three sisters and one brother.
They're gone. And brother died two years ago.
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Strasser: Oh. Can you tell me where--where the shop was located, where you
worked?
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Rosenfield: Well, at one time on Liberty Avenue, they were at one time on
Wood--on Wood Street. They were wholesale and retail. The upstairs was
wholesale. Downstairs was retail. Does that all go in there? Strasser:
Uh-huh. Rosenfield: Can't you turn it out?
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Strasser: You don't want--you don't want that taped?
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Rosenfield: No, I don't think that was necessary.
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Strasser: Oh it's all part of it. It would it all comes into it.
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Rosenfield: No, they're gone. I have no one. I have no relatives. My last
aunt died about a year ago. She was wintering in Florida for years with her
husband, and he had died six months before. Only daughter [???]--no, I had
one. One daughter. But we're not friendly. She was younger and went away to
school so that I completely forgot that we were related. But she is really
a cousin, a full cousin, and not living with her husband at the present
time. I'm sorry to this all goes down.
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Strasser: Oh, okay. Well then you needn't say it.
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Rosenfield: Somebody will read it.
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Strasser: Yeah, eventually. Okay. When did you come to America?
Rosenfield: Pardon me? Strasser: What year did you come to America?
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Rosenfield: I'm sorry, I can't. I don't remember. I only know I was either
10 or 11. Strasser: Right. Rosenfield: I don't really remember what year
that was.
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Strasser: So would have been about 1894? 1895? Possibly.
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Rosenfield: Would that make it--I doubt it.
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Strasser: You were born in '84?
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Rosenfield: '84. Yeah.
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Strasser: Did you come with your parents? Rosenfield: Yes. Strasser: Yeah.
Yeah. On a boat?
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Rosenfield: My family. Both parents. They had brothers and sisters. They
would come over. There's no future after all these years. There was no sign
of a Hitler at the time. Strasser: Right. Right. Rosenfield: But they
wanted the family to be together. And so they insisted and we came and they
had a furnished home for a house when we came.
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Strasser: Very good. Very good. What did your parents do back in Germany?
What were their occupations?
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Rosenfield: I really can't just tell you. Just what, I don't really
recall. I can't tell you what my father did. The years that he didn't work.
He had an asthmatic condition and he didn't do anything for years. I don't
even know what he did in Europe, I don't know.
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Strasser: When he came here, he went into the jewelry business also?
Rosenfield: No. Strasser: No? Rosenfield: No, he didn't work.
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Rosenfield: He didn't do anything. Strasser: Oh, I see. Rosenfield: No.
That was another reason why her family wanted the family to come over
because he was not able to do anything [??] healthy and just couldn't--just
continually suffering from asthma.
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Strasser: Right. Right. Did your mother work then to help out?
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Rosenfield: No, my mother. She was [??] when she became an invalid.
Strasser: Oh, I see. Rosenfield: Really. And at that time, they didn't have
the doctors that we have today. And I--my son has often had. And the
examination that she had [?????] she turned around and said to me--does
this all go down? It doesn't mean anything.
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Strasser: No, it's all part of what we'd like to know. .
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Rosenfield: Well. Just what her condition was, I really don't know.
Something internal. It was never pronounced. I know that we had--I don't
know how many physicians and the best from the Mercy Hospital. X-ray was
out. That never was mentioned. I don't think they had X-ray at the time. I
know that the to get the inside--to the inside and find out what was wrong,
they put a tube all the way down to the abdomen, to the intestine to see
what they could find. She possibly had an [??] Who knows? I don't know. She
was an invalid. Ate very little. And didn't go out much. In fact, she was
practically an invalid. She was at home so that none of us had too much of
a hilarious time having a mother suffering. While my father was
[???????????]. He didn't mind it, but he couldn't do anything. Whenever he
strained himself, he coughed.
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Strasser: Right. Right. That must have been hard for them. Rosenfield:
Pardon me? Strasser: It must have been hard for them.
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Rosenfield: Well, we had very kind relatives. And it made it possible that
[??????] here. They were a very, very close family.
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Strasser: Your relatives sent the money for? Rosenfield: Pardon me?
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Strasser: Your relatives sent the money-- Rosenfield: No. We had the money
to come. Strasser: You had the money. Rosenfield: No, no, my father
[????????????] he was a young man. I think he dealt in selling, um,
horses.
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Rosenfield: And cows to the farmers. Not that he had any stables, but he
knew where to get them and deliver them. And they knew who to call, where
to get the place in order that as much as I know about it.
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Strasser: Right. So, yeah. Uh, so you were here in 1921. Do you remember
who you voted for or your family voted for in the presidential elections?
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Rosenfield: At one time, I think Republican. I think. At one time I
remember not too--that a friend of ours was running, I think as a
legislator.
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Strasser: Ah.
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Rosenfield: And on account of him, my husband changed and he has never
changed it over again. [laughter] And we have been-- [sound of a lighter
flicking on] Oh, you have one, too. I have one. You filled it. Thank you.
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Strasser: Okay. [sound of a lighter flicking on]
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Rosenfield: I can't even tell you who or whom.
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Strasser: Eugene V. Debs was running in '21. Rosenfield: Pardon me?
Strasser: Eugene V. Debs. Do you remember the name? No?
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Rosenfield: The name doesn't ring a bell. No.
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Strasser: Okay.
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Rosenfield: I don't know. Do you want to ask a few questions to my
husband? Is Dad sleeping? Rosenfield's Son: No, he's right here.
Rosenfield: Tell him to come in. Rosenfield's Son: Dad. Rosenfield: He's
very hard of hearing.
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Strasser: Okay.
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Rosenfield: You'll have trouble getting-- Strasser: Okay [laughs]. We'll
ask him-- Rosenfield: You might want to know where he was born and what
he--at the same time? Or were you going to interview him separate?
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Strasser: Possibly separately, I think.
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Rosenfield: Separate. Not yet.
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Strasser: [laughs] Sorry. Right. Um. How long have you lived in the
Pittsburgh area? Rosenfield: [unintelligible] Strasser: Since you came?
Rosenfield: Yeah. Strasser: You came just. You just passed through New
York. You didn't stay there?
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Rosenfield: No. My mother had a better living than New York. Well, we did
spend a day or two days with him before we came here. And one brother met
us in New York at the boat. Strasser: Right. Rosenfield: You want to know
what boat, I don't know. Strasser: Okay. [laughs] Rosenfield: And. Oh, I'll
tell you, when we came, the Spanish-American War. Strasser: Was going on?
Rosenfield: When was that? That is when we came. And our friends in Europe
and just other things [???????] that my mother said, maybe we should listen
and wait and not go. But it looked if it was fairly well over and the
relatives said, you come now.
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Strasser: So you did.
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Rosenfield: We did. That's it. Now you can trace that it was fairly well
over for the time being that settled with war was over.
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Strasser: Right. And have you had any membership in organizations for
Jewish people such as Landsmanshaft? Rosenfield: Such as what? Strasser:
Landsmanshaft.
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Rosenfield: What is that?
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Strasser: I think it's a German organization. Landsmanshaft.
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Rosenfield: The name does not--I belong to various organizations.
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Strasser: Which ones are they? Would they be?
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Rosenfield: Well, they are practically Jewish. Council of Jewish Women.
Hadassah. I was president of the Jewish Home for Aged about 15 years ago.
And I'm still as active as I can be. I'm not well enough to really say that
I can take a chairmanship, I can assist. I think my work is principally to
call or give advice or go to a a finance meeting, something of that sort.
I've done war work during the war. Red Cross. I got blood. At six in the
morning to go to the various factories and meet the men and sign them up to
give blood. And Aged Council. Hadassah.
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Strasser: So we'll get on to them in a little bit. Rosenfield: Pardon me?
Strasser: We'll get on to them in more detail in a little bit. Okay. I just
want to know a bit about your family history. Would you know the birthplace
of your parents?
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Rosenfield: I think Berlin, I think. Strasser: Both of them? Rosenfield: I
think both of them.
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Strasser: Okay. Do you--
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Rosenfield: Yeah. In fact, I'm positive. Strasser: Right. Rosenfield: And
my family here, they came from the-- Strasser: Same area.
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Strasser: And your parents initial intention when they came-- Rosenfield:
Pardon me? Strasser: Your parents initial intention when they came was to
stay? They weren't planning on going back?
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Rosenfield: At no time. Strasser: No time. Rosenfield: They came to stay.
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Strasser: Right.
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Rosenfield: That they made up their mind that they would accept going and
family wanted them. They're getting all--almost all getting older and you
cannot tell what will happen. So there's no question of ever going back.
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Strasser: Right. The, what neighborhood did you move into when you first
came to Pittsburgh?
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Rosenfield: Chateau Street. Strasser: Churchill? Rosenfield: Chateau
Street.
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Strasser: Chateau Street?
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Rosenfield: Yes. My mother had a sister living there and she furnished the
house was completely furnished when we arrived there.
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Strasser: And where is Chateau Street?
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Rosenfield: On the North Side.
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Strasser: North Side. And how many brothers and sisters do you have? Or
did you have? Rosenfield: One brother. Strasser: One brother and three
sisters?
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Rosenfield: Pardon me? Three sisters.
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Strasser: Did anyone else share the home with your immediate family?
Rosenfield: No. No. Strasser: And how many children do you have now?
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Rosenfield: I have two boys.
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Strasser: And how old are they?
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Rosenfield: My--the doctor will be 61 this year.
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Strasser: And your other son?
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Rosenfield: This one is 50. Strasser: 50. Rosenfield: 51. Strasser: 51.
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Strasser: Can you tell me about your education?
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Rosenfield: Well, I went to school in Germany up until 10 or 11. Then I
went to public school, Sixth Ward. Then I went to a private school--a
make-up school, but you know, you learned.
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Strasser: Right.
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Rosenfield: She took one subject at a time and I went to her. I even
worked and went to her at night.
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Strasser: Really?
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Rosenfield: And it was called Mary Nelson--Nelson School.
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Strasser: And that was on the North Side also? Rosenfield: Oh, yes, it was
on the North Side. The North Side.
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Rosenfield: You needn't be afraid to walk at night.
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Strasser: Then, yeah.
Rosenfield: Yeah.
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Strasser: And the name of the public school was called Sixth Ward School?
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Rosenfield: Sixth Ward School.
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Strasser: Sixth Ward School.
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Rosenfield: And and it was really a joke from class to class. They never
pronounce my name or called me anything else but Erne and my last name was
Stine! It didn't bother me. So if they liked it, I got Erne and Stine--my
full name.
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Strasser: Right.
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Rosenfield: They called me Erne! And if you like your name, you have to
write Stine. All right, I'll write Stine, Erne Stine. I liked that name
better to me.
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Strasser: [laughs] Okay.
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Rosenfield: I didn't go to high school. I went to for private lessons and.
My parents thought that--my mother--it would be a good idea to develop my
abilities, which are considered ten years younger, maybe 12 years younger
than where I am. He wasn't working at the time and it would be nice and I
was anxious to help as much as I could. Wages at that time, it's a joke.
But in my [??], is getting a fabulous [??] today and which doesn't mean
anything to anyone, no matter what you get, you never get enough. Look,
look what the teachers have been doing.
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Strasser: So how old were you when you first went to work?
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Rosenfield: Well, about 15.
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Strasser: And what did you do?
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Rosenfield: Well, being that tray of jewelry, show it and watch it steady
and pay attention. Finally, I started doing. Fine jewelry, solid gold,
diamonds and didn't work in the wholesale department, in the retail
department. And I took out jewelry. In fact, when they came to buy, I
understand why. They liked me better than they wanted--then they wanted any
salesman that they had.
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Strasser: Right. Right.
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Rosenfield: I always helped them make the selection. Jewelry or silverware
or something that they wanted.
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Strasser: So then you went to--
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Rosenfield: We were well-established at the time.
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Strasser: You went to school in the evenings then. So you worked and--
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Rosenfield: [????] the day. Then I went at night.
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Strasser: And when did you finish going to school?
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Rosenfield: I can't begin to tell you. I took lessons off and on and got
books from the library and books from Mrs. Nelson, what she recommended.
You can study when you want to. You know, my son once said, Well, if I
don't get the medical school, I'm not going to college. I don't need
college. I can teach myself and do that. He said it in a matter of a
feeling. You know, if he doesn't get it, determined to become a doctor.
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Strasser: That's right.
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Rosenfield: But I didn't know that he is determined not to stay in
Pittsburgh. And he was.
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Strasser: So you worked with your uncles always. You never--
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Rosenfield: Oh yeah. No other position.
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Strasser: No other job. Mhm. When did your income first--your income
helped your parents from the very beginning?
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Rosenfield: To a minor degree. To a minor degree.
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Strasser: When did you finish working?
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Rosenfield: Well, I think I was a--been married 65 years. So I must've--I
think I was 20, 21, or 22 when I got married. Mhm. Then I did organization
work. And you don't think that that is learning. You can get a good
education by listening to lectures and going to lectures. We had nothing.
No television or no radio at the time. Only the only news that you got was
the newspaper. Today children can really learn if they're attentive and
want to learn from radio and television.
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Strasser: Do you remember what the nationality or ethnic background was of
most of the people in the North Side when you moved there?
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Rosenfield: I can't say. Well. I can't tell you when we moved there, what
they were. But the Catholic and maybe Catholic, there was no animosity or
any prejudices. They were very friendly, very nice. As I told you, my
mother was an invalid. She was in the house more or less, and they would
inquire, would your mother like to have company in? I don't think, she has
a terrible headache today. She just was not up to par and things like going
to the hospital was never suggested. How little our doctors knew at the
time.
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Strasser: Do you think they were mostly Germanic people on the North
Side?
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Rosenfield: Well, not Jewish.
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Strasser: Not Jewish? Rosenfield: No. Strasser: No.
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Rosenfield: But no. We didn't live in the neighborhood where the where my
family lived. The brothers and sisters, they lived in better homes, than
what we lived in. It was an unpretentious home and not a location where I
would say, well, today I wouldn't even consider my relatives wealthy and at
one time they were among--the--wealthy people. But we didn't live there and
there were no Jewish people. Anyone that I know, no one that I know of.
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Strasser: Uh, how long did you live in that--in--on Chateau Street?
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Rosenfield: Well. A good number of years, maybe 40 years. 50 years.
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Strasser: Really? Wow. But you moved out when you got married.
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Rosenfield: Oh I moved out, yes. And I lived on the North Side. I lived
down also on Chateau and Pennsylvania Avenue.
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:11.000
Strasser: Right. And how long did you live--
00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:38.000
Rosenfield: In an apartment? Well, maybe five years. Above a church. The
only apartment on the North Side the church built, then it was a Methodist
Church. And they built about a walk up. A very nice apartment. Very nice.
00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:44.000
Strasser: Uh, so you stay there for about five years and then did you
leave the North side?
00:24:44.000 --> 00:25:12.000
Rosenfield: No. Then we rented a home on Juniata Street. I lived there
until we bought a home on, I can't think it. I just can't even think of
where. Where? Darlington Road. Strasser: Darlington Road. Rosenfield: We
bought a home on Darlington Road. We lived there about five years.
00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:16.000
Strasser: On Darlington Road? Or Juniata Street?
00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:42.000
Rosenfield: No, on Chateau Street. Maybe, maybe only four years. I really
don't know exactly how long, but I know I think I was pregnant at the time.
And then we moved, rented this home. And from there we bought this home on
Darlington Road.
00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:44.000
Strasser: Do you remember-- Rosenfield: I lived there until I was--
Strasser: --when that was?
00:25:44.000 --> 00:26:54.000
Rosenfield: Yeah. Good long time, we've living here 18 years in this
apartment. Strasser: Right. Rosenfield: See, I liked Squirrel Hill, and we
wanted--my friends lived in Oakland. We liked Oakland, and we used to go.
My husband didn't want to go. He said, I like it here, and I like the way
it's situated. My son didn't want it, so I had to look for a newer
apartment. And I said, well, my aunt had been here when they gave up their
home. They lived on Forbes Street in an apartment and it's a steep slope
walking up. And she felt that she could find something that she liked
better. And this was quite a very nice apartment, a doorman and a lot of
help and no help today. Nothing to speak of. And the more you have, the
more trouble you have, that's for sure.
00:26:54.000 --> 00:27:06.000
Strasser: That is true. So. Um, so you didn't find any problems moving
into the Pittsburgh area? It was all easy for you to come here?
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:10.000
Rosenfield: Such as an animosity or?
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:20.000
Strasser: Any sort of problem. Rosenfield: No. No. Strasser: And you never
found problems in looking for housing yourself later? Never?
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.000
Rosenfield: No restrictions, you mean, is this what you're referring to?
00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.000
Strasser: Well. Were the landlords...
00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:42.000
Rosenfield: No, no, no, no. Strasser: Wasn't like that. Okay. Rosenfield:
And haven't to this day. Helped it, work. I had one [????] for 20 years.
Practically died in my arms in the kitchen.
00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:44.000
Strasser: Mhm.
00:27:44.000 --> 00:28:14.000
Rosenfield: I sent for the police commander and he said I'll take her to
the morgue. I said, I'm sorry, I sent for you and she'll have to go to the
hospital. No, [??????????????] to the morgue. She goes to the hospital. I
can't say that she's dead. She may be unconscious. You have to take her to
the hospital. And she was thin. She was dead by the time she got there. But
I can't get her duplicate. That's out.
00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:20.000
Strasser: Yeah. That's hard.
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:39.000
Rosenfield: Even help that I had before the 20 years I have today and
helped and worked for my mother and she [unintelligible]. Strasser: Really?
[laughs] Rosenfield: So I cannot say that I ever had any trouble.
00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:52.000
Strasser: Well, and you can't. There were no problems at all in your life
in growing up in Pittsburgh? You didn't face any hard problems? Rosenfield:
No. Strasser: Nothing. Language when you first moved here?
00:28:52.000 --> 00:29:52.000
Rosenfield: Well. That's difficult, isn't it? In this place, naturally.
But everybody, people that I knew could speak German. Maybe not very well.
Their parents were German. You see, we belong to the temple. And they were
the age of my parents. And they knew about where they come from. They were
not from the same district. But they could speak German, as I said. My
mother couldn't go. But I can't say that we had any any difficulty. And the
temple is said they had no no difficulty such as having damage done to it
because of being Jewish. They have never had any trouble like this. And
since we have Dr. Jacob, I think that our temple's [??????] it's amazing.
I'm going to give you a bulletin. Much to much to give you. Your professor
can put something in. I just wish to goodness that my son would move here
because New York is not like that. They're cold people. They're not warm.
My son is very warm. And they think here. Well, he even--interns they--
