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Interview with Eva Rickles

 Collection
Identifier: SR12288

Scope and Contents

This interview with Eva Rickles was conducted by Paul Fardig and Judith Fardig in 2018. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States. This interview was conducted informally during a photo shoot. In this interview, Rickles discusses her childhood dog, Wippi, whom she had to leave behind when her family fled Nazi Germany in 1937. She also talks about some of the items her family brought with them to the United States, particularly family photographs and a grandfather clock. She speaks about the family background of her husband, Norman H. Rickles; the Enlightenment as it applied to the European Jewish community (known as Haskalah); and several of the artworks in her home. She and the interviewers make small talk away from the recording device for several minutes. Rickles closes the interview by reading from her father’s diary; discussing her early education at a synagogue in Berlin, Germany; and describing the differences in English dialects. She and the interviewers make small talk for the remainder of the audio recording.

Dates

  • Creation: 2018

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and The Immigrant Story. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/.

Biographical note

Eva Simons Rickles, nee Evamarie Simons, was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1927. Her family fled Nazi Germany in 1937 and sought refuge in England. They immigrated to the United States later that year and settled in Seattle, Washington. She attended Reed College for two years and then transferred to the University of Washington, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She then attended the New York School of Social Work for one year. In 1950, she and Norman H. Rickles were married; they later had two children. She co-founded the Native American Arts Council.

Extent

147 Megabytes (1 online resource (1 audio file (1 hr., 47 min., 7 sec.))) : MP3

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Interview with Eva Rickles conducted by Paul Fardig in 2018 for The Immigrant Story. Rickles' family fled Nazi Germany in 1937 and eventually immigrated to the United States.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of The Immigrant Story, July 2020 (Lib. Acc. RL2020-018).

Related Materials

An oral history with Eva Rickles held by the Multnomah County Library is available online at https://gallery.multcolib.org/audio/eva-rickles-oral-history.

Related Materials

An oral history interview with Eva Rickles held by the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education is available online at https://www.ojmche.org/oral-history-people/eva-simons-rickles/.

Publication note

An article about Eva S. Rickles, "Escaping Through the Back Door" by Rebekah Hildebrandt, was based on this interview and published on The Immigrant Story website at https://theimmigrantstory.org/escaping-nazis/.
Title
Guide to interview with Eva Rickles
Status
Completed
Author
Sarah Stroman
Date
2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library Repository

Contact:
1200 SW Park Ave.
Portland OR 97205 United States
5033065204
5033065240