Posted on 07/07/2009 9:53:23 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
The biggest number of Westerners arrived from Austria and Switzerland. Some were Communists, others had worked at institutions in Soviet-occupied Austria that were later closed. Many were scientists and medics whose expertise the GDR needed.
"SOMETHING PRECIOUS"
Rapoport, a pediatrician, was one of them. Born in 1912 in the former German colony of Cameroon, she grew up in Hamburg and studied medicine but emigrated to the United States in 1938 because the Nazis wouldn't let her complete her studies.
Her family has Jewish roots and the horrors of fascism turned her toward Communism.
"I was quite religious when I was younger but I saw that after 2,000 years injustice had not been done away with in society. So I looked for something else," said Rapoport, now a sprightly great-grandmother.
In the United States she met her husband, Samuel, also a European Jewish emigre and prominent physician -- and a fellow Communist. Soon they found themselves targets of the crackdown on Communist influence spearheaded by Senator Joseph McCarthy.
They moved to Zurich, and then to Vienna before settling in East Germany in the early 1950s. For Rapoport, life in the GDR fulfilled many of the Communist ideals that she still holds.
"I still think it was the best society I have seen, despite its faults," she said. "I saw the Weimar Republic, then fascism -- obviously that was not the best -- and then the States. I love the States -- I would never have left without McCarthy -- but I think the GDR in many respects was even better."
She recalls the GDR cradle-to-grave medical system: "The dedication of the physicians toward their patients was untouched by money."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
“...Soviet-occupied Austria”
When was that?
Anyone note the the thing about her "prominent" physician husband. I thought the GDR was a classless society? Odd how party apparatchiks and their goons and stooges were more “prominent” than the peons. What phonies.
“Her family has Jewish roots and the horrors of fascism turned her toward Communism.”
What kind of moron wrote this!? Number one... they’re the same DAMN THING, just different flavors. Number two... oh wow, communism, that’ll ensure a better quality of life. Why don’t you tell that to the 12 million Russians that Stalin let starve? Oy vey.
When was that?
1945-1955.
One pit bull mauls you so you get rid of it and take its littermate for a pet?
Reuters is now officially the new Pravda.
interesting. I was not aware of that. Why did they leave in 55, just as they were about the go into nearby Hungary?
“The dedication of the physicians toward their patients was untouched by money.”
Riiiiiiiight.
Pull the other one, commie.
1945-55. Austria was partitioned just like Germany.
““...Soviet-occupied Austria”
When was that?”
Right after world war two the Soviets took most of Austria and parked their kiestas on it.
they left after a denazification program and some other diplomatic finagling in 1947 i think
thanks. see my other post with the follow up question, namely, why did they leave in 55?
Communists fleeing the USA in terror.
What more needs to be said? “
amen
ok...sorry to belabor the point...but why did the Soviets accept the invitation to leave and why did they accept the Austrian declaration of neutrality? That is rather uncharacteristic of the Soviets of the era....
Reuters talking up communism.
Why don’t they suggest that readers move to Cuba, Venezuela, or some other communist country? They never do. Instead, it’s always the same: let’s be communist! Let’s not. Simply emigrate to a country that has the system you want. What? They are all cesspools? Maybe that is a telltale sign that communism stinks.
Uncle Joe (McCarthy), thanks for getting rid of these people. We’ve missed you for many years now.
I think it was a mutual agreement among the US, USSR, Britain and France to end the occupation. All four had occupation zones both in Austria on the whole and in Vienna, just like in Germany and Berlin. I don’t know why it didn’t become as hostile as the occupation of Germany with the Berlin Blockade and two separate governments formed.
Probably had their hands full in Hungary and Austria was reunited and neutral.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.