My Childhood 1929-1938

I was there.

Klara Tixell* was born in 1929 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her father Leon was an accountant at a small wholesale company, and her Mother Betti took care of the household and Klara and her three siblings. The family was Jewish orthodox, and the children got a religious upbringing.

When Klara was seven, she got to know a non-Jewish girl from the neighbourhood called Kamma, and they became close friends.

* Klara's maiden name was Ruben.

Klara Tixell (1929), Denmark

Klara Tixell (1929), Denmark

Consider here Klara's situation before the war

My Family and Everyday Life in Denmark

Klara talks about her family and childhood in Kopenhagen.

1) Listen to Klara as she talks about her childhood. Answer the questions.

  • 1a. How does Klara describe her childhood?

  • 1b. Klara did not personally experience antisemitism (i.e. predjudice and hostility against Jews). However, her sister felt it in school. What happened and what are your reflections on that?

  • 1c. Klara's family celebrated Jewish Festival of Lights, chanukka, and other Jewish High Holidays. Do your friends keep other traditions than your family?

  • 1d. Klara describes the shabbat services in her grandfather's house positively. In what way do you think that these occasions affected the family's feeling of belonging together?

  • 1e. Do you come to think of anything else that was important to everyone in Klara's family?

2)  Look at the picture and answer the questions.

  • 2a. What do you feel when you look at the picture?

  • 2b. What do think that Klara's friendship with Kamma meant to her?

  • 2c. Did it matter to them that they did not share the same religion?

Kamma and Klara were best friends. Klara recalls: "In the summer we went to the Tivoli amusement park every day. Until two o’clock it was only fifteen cents. In the picture we are thirteen. The photo was taken in 1943."

The History of the Danish Jews

A slideshow about the history of the Danish Jews.

Extra Material