Dora Gross Moszkowski - Life Story : [1901-1987].

The memoir was written in California in 1987. Description of the Jewish history in Poland in the 18th and 19th century. Childhood recollections in Cracow. Her father was an insurance broker. Her mother came from a famous family of rabbis. Childhood friends and introduction into their Hasidic life style. Wish to continue with high school (Gymnasium) met with difficulties due to the implied tuition fees for girls. Outbreak of World War One and move to Vienna. In 1916 the Russian invasion of Cracow diminished and the family returned to Poland. Her father was called to the military. With her mother's help the family found the means to enroll Dora in the Gymnasium, where she became a full-fledged student. Engaging in the Zionist movement. Speech about the role of Jewish women in society and engaging in campaigns for equal education for girls. Graduation and applying for medical school. Being a girl and Jewish she was not accepted since there was a Jewish quota at university. Death of her mother. Application at medical schools in Berlin and Leipzig. In 1920 Dora moved to Vienna where she lived with a widowed cousin and took care of his children. Difficulties to be accepted at medical school as a foreigner. Taking classes at university as an extern. Position as a Polish language tutor. Business school in order to earn a living. Outings with friends. Cultural activities and the Viennese Burgtheater. Return to Cracow and position in a export business. Acquaintance and courtship with Arthur Moszkowski, an engineer from a well-to-do family. Return to university and studies of German and Polish. Political and Zionist activities in the WIZO (Women's International Zionist Organization). Graduation from university in 1925 and work on her Ph.D. with a thesis on Ibsen. Position as a German teacher and initial difficulties with the government due to her being Jewish. In 1928 her Ph.D. was accepted.Official engagement with Arthur Moszkowski. Trip to the Baltic Sea and wedding in 1929. Honeymoon in Austria. Pregnancy during the time her husband lost his position due to the growing antisemitism in Poland. Birth of their daughter Dunia. Difficulties in married life due to her new duties as a housewife and mother which did not fulfill her. Renewed political engagement. Lectures and speeches. Opening of a Montessori preschool in her apartment. Dora became the chairwoman of WIZO in Katovice. Awareness of political changes due to rising National Socialism in neighboring Germany. Temporary financial difficulties. Birth of their second daughter Zosia in 1937. Influx of German Jewish refugees and relief organizations. Outbreak of World War Two. Capture of Czortkow by the Russian military and life under Russian rule. Deportation to Siberia in 1940, which in the end saved them from being taken to German extermination camps. Labor camp in Sverdlovsk. The family was set free and could travel to Uzbekistan in west central Asia. Her husband, among many Polish refugees, contracted typhus and survived through the help of a befriended physician. He was able to obtain a position in Iran and Africa with the Polish military. Affidavit for the United States from a cousin in California. Arrival in New York in 1950. Move to Berkeley and difficulties in adapting to the culture and start of a new life. Master degree in child development and work with retarded children.Dora Gross Moszkowski was born in Cracow, Poland in 1901. She studied in Vienna and Cracow and became active in the Zionist movement. She was chairwoman of the WIZO organization in Katowice and taught German and Polish as the only Jewish teacher at high school. In 1940 she was sent to Siberia together with her family. After the war they emigrated to the United States.JohannisburgKatowiceSverdlovskTeheranSouth AfricaAustro-Hungarian EmpireChildhoodCourtshipEducation, primary and secondary, 1918-1933Emigration and immigration, 1939-1945, IranEmigration and immigration, 1939-1945, South AfricaSocialismVoyages and travelsWomen, educationWomen, organizationsWomen, political activityYouth movemen