Edith Coliver Summary

Summary

Edith Coliver

Edith Coliver was born July 26, 1922 in Karlsruhe, Germany.  She was the oldest of two brothers and came from an upper middle class family.  Her father was a banker.  She attended public school until 1937 then was kicked out of school for being Jewish so parents sent her to England.  In June 1938 they left to go to the United States, spending four weeks in New York.  She stayed up all night on the ship so she could be the first to see the Statue of Liberty. Coliver's family then ended up in San Francisco where she graduated from George Washington High School.  After going to Berkley for college, she applied to the War Department to be a German Interpreter. Whereas Coliver participated in the hearings and interpreted throughout the trials.  Hitler committed suicide the day before Germany surrendered to the alley. Hitler's #2 man, Guerin also swallowed poison to commit suicide and to keep himself from being hung the following day.  The extent of the Extermination Camps was new to Coliver.  She felt very lucky to have gotten out when she did and was ashamed of being German.  Over 40,000 people died after liberation because of being starved and the medical problems it caused. The German's attitude was very unique during the trial.  The soldiers thought they should be shot by a firing squad instead of hung and would say things like, "I'm just a little guy" not taking any blame for what they did to the Jews.  Coliver was married for 31 years to Norman and they had 2 daughters, one an architect and the other an attorney.  She retired in 1992 from the Asia Foundation where she worked for 40 years. "I had the courage of my conviction, " is how she was able to be a public speaker.   (306 words)

"See the smoke coming out of the smoke stacks if you lived anywhere close and the smell, so we never believed the German's didn't know."

"I had the courage of my conviction."