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Erna Lewald Interview Trailer, Michigan

As told by St. Joseph student curators
St. Joseph, Michigan

Story Narrative:

In a vintage photo, a girl and a boy, stand in a back yard with a wooden fence

During the summer of 2016, Michigan students took part in the Youth Ambassadors program at the Heritage Museum and Cultural Center, developed as part of Museum on Main Street's Stories: Yes program. The students researched, conducted and transcribed the oral histories of area locals. They created short "movie trailers" for each interview so that museum visitors could quickly glean the content of the longer-format oral histories.

The story of Erna Lewald is explored in this oral history "trailer" which explores her childhood in East Germany and eventual immigration to Michigan where she started a family. The full oral history can be found at the Heritage Museum and Cultural Center in St. Joseph, Michigan.

Movie headline (00:05): This summer. The story of a girl.

Movie headline (00:24): Who escaped East Germany.

Movie headline (00:36): Leaving behind her friends and family.

Movie headline (00:46): To go to America.

Movie headline (00:52): And started her own family in the process.      

Movie headline (01:03): This gave me the feels. –Abby Lalonde

Movie headline (01:07): Truly amazing. –John Lalonde

Movie headline (01:28): The life of Erna Lewald.


Asset ID: 2022.20.04
Themes: Women, history, Cold War, East Germany, Family, Storytelling
Date recorded: 2016
Length of recording: 01:34 s
File Type: Video
Related traveling exhibition: Crossroads: Change in Rural America
Sponsor or affiliated organization: Heritage Museum and Cultural Center, St. Joseph, Michigan
More informationhttps://museumonmainstreet.org/blog-node/st-joseph-benton-harbors-youth-ambassadors

Museum on Main Street storytelling platforms provide an opportunity for small and rural communities and their residents to share their thoughts, opinions, and anecdotes. However, the opinions, ideas and language expressed by individual storytellers’ may not necessarily be those maintained by the Smithsonian. Individual storytellers’ and their collaborators are solely responsible for the content of their narratives and stories.  

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