Overview

Evi Seidemann was born into a loving family with an "Aryan" Catholic mother and a Jewish father in 1920's Berlin. All was well until life changed abruptly when Adolf Hitler came into power. Evi was labeled as a First-Degree Mischling under the Nuremberg Laws established in 1935 just prior to World War II. Tranquil childhood memories soon vanished as the lives of Evi and her loved ones were thrown into chaos. Her parents were separated. Education was interrupted. Jewish family members disappeared. Evi endured the invasion of Belgium while living in Antwerp, the bombing of Berlin, the Russian occupation, and severe postwar economic depression in Germany. After the war, Evi boarded the S.S Marine Shark in Bremerhaven to start a new life as an immigrant in the USA. She overcame language and cultural barriers to work and live in a Jewish neighborhood in Los Angeles while secretly practicing her Catholic faith. Evi translated the trauma she experienced in her years in Nazi Germany into lifelong advocacy for social justice, equal opportunity, and labor rights in her new homeland.