Summary(01:00) Maternal grandparents; mother (Ruth Hoff); and uncle were in a displaced person camp in Germany. Arrived in America, August 1949, settled in Brooklyn. Father of Eleanor, Haskell Schlusselberg came from Stuttgart, Germany to Brooklyn in 1950. Survived Auschwitz and the Death March. Parents met in Brooklyn in 1951, lived at 551 Hendrick street. First language was Yiddish. Both parents worked in sweat shops, grandfather had kosher butcher shop -- (08:30) Mixed neighborhood of new immigrants, pushcarts in the streets, it was "fun". Adults never spoke about the camps or the war -- (12:54) Family moved to Brownsville. Eleanor discovered theater in Junior High School 275, 1967-1968, many teachers were young men trying to avoid being drafted to Vietnam -- (00:20) Remembers Grand Army Plaza library and Botanical Garden. She moved to Manhattan to become an actress. Sees Brooklyn as an international place.
NoteTitle supplied by cataloger. Audio interview conducted online 2021 March 3, by Ariane Loeb. Collected through the Brooklyn Collection Jewish History Project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is funded by the David Berg Foundation.
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TitleOral history interview with Eleanor Reissa on May 5, 2021.
Biographical NoteEleanor Reissa, author, actress, director was born and raised in Brooklyn in a family of shoah survivors. She remembers fondly her Brownsville neighborhood and growing up in Brooklyn in the 60s.