Hanna Krebs and Eva Maiden escaped Nazi Europe in the nick of time.

Both were young girls when their families secured passage out of Germany and Austria respectively by 1938, before such escape for Jews became impossible.

Both women recently sat down with GV Wire and also told their stories for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Day of Remembrance) at Temple Beth Israel.

“They just marauded everywhere. There were no reasons. I mean, by that time, everybody knew what the reason was and they would go through the houses. They would take everything they wanted,” Krebs, 87, said. “When they arrested Jews and put them in the camps, some of them would move into the homes.”

While both women were able to escape with their immediate families, each had several family members who perished in the Holocaust.

‘Never Again’

Maiden, 88, said it is important to remember, so history does not repeat itself.

“It’s important for people to realize that a political movement that begins with propaganda can actually end up becoming a terrorist state. And that’s something that everyone needs to watch out for, even Americans,” Maiden said.

“The bottom line is never again,” Krebs said.

Krebs is worried people will forget.

“I don’t know if it’s just a matter of our education or if something like the Holocaust is just not talked about or taught enough, but that’s a concern,” Krebs said.

Hear Hanna’s Story

Even With Father Detained, Krebs Escapes

Hanna Krebs’ family owned a clothing store and manufacturing company in Augsburg, Germany. Her father even served Germany during the first World War.

“My story kind of begins with Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass,” said Krebs, known then as Hanna Jacobson.

That night, Nov. 9, 1938, Nazi Germany started its physical destruction of the Jewish people. Businesses and synagogues were burned. Already, laws restricted freedoms for Jews.

The Nazis arrested her father, and sent him to Dachau, the first concentration camp. Even her grandfather was arrested while vacationing in Baden-Baden, but eventually was let go after Nazis forced a humiliating parade on the street.

Her parents had a premonition of bad things to come. New York-based cousins had agreed to sponsor them if they needed to leave. That gave the Jacobsons papers to leave, if they could.

Before his arrest, Krebs’ grandfather met a couple from Manchester, England, the Jacksons.

“If they needed to leave, they could come and live with them, which was amazing that perfect strangers would offer something like that,” Krebs said.

Krebs’ father was eventually released from Dachau, so they could leave Germany forever. The family stayed in Manchester for eight months until their paperwork to enter America was approved.

Taking the SS Georgic, the Jacobsons moved to New York.

Krebs met her future husband, John Krebs, an aspiring lawyer. They eventually moved to California, and then Fresno.

John Krebs served in the U.S. Congress from 1975 through 1979.

Hear Eva’s Story

After Going Into Hiding, Family Leaves Austria

Eva Maiden’s story began in Vienna, Austria. Both her parents were doctors — once studying under the famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud.

“It was quite a dilemma for them when patients were calling up and they were no longer allowed to practice. Their licenses were immediately canceled because they were Jewish,” Maiden said.

Her father went into hiding, while her mother practiced secretly.

“His closest friend (Dr. Lande), who had been a medical school colleague, hid him in his pantry,” Maiden said.

Eva was 3 at the time.

“My parents, of course, were able to keep track of what was happening in Germany. It was quite alarming, and yet it was a great shock when Hitler and his forces actually marched into Vienna, which was in the month of March 1938,” said Maiden, born Eva Wenkart.

After the Nazis invaded, her father lost his license and was fired from a second job with the city of Vienna.

Her 8-year-old brother was kicked out of school. He was even arrested, then released, while at the playground.

One of her father’s patients — who worked for the city — tipped them off that the Nazis were coming to their neighborhood.

“Doctor, you have to disappear fast. And so he went to this colleague who was a Christian. And the colleague and his wife hid him and that happened several times over,” Maiden said.

A refugee organization helped Eva’s family get their papers, and they were able to move to Switzerland. A cousin was the chief rabbi in Zurich.

“We had to leave without money and without any clothes except those on our backs,” Maiden said.

Life was safer in Switzerland, but Maiden said they did not feel welcome. They eventually received their documents and took the SS Rex out of Genoa, Italy to America — the last trip before Italy joined World War II and shut down the liner.

Maiden eventually moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she worked in the mental health field, specializing with helping Holocaust survivors. She moved to Fresno five years ago, where her sons live.

Realizing What Happened

Krebs said she was a young girl when she realized what happened to her family.

“I always felt everything through my parents. And my mother had depression after that,” Krebs said. “A lot of the people, as well as my parents, they didn’t want to talk about it a lot. They kept it very close to them.”

Her parents continued in sales after moving to New York.

Maiden was more aware.

“I can’t even think of a time that I didn’t know,” Maiden said.

Her parents continued to practice medicine in America and became a center for German-speaking refugees.

“They wanted to talk to this two-doctor family about it, and I would be quietly sitting there, nobody noticed me,” Maiden said.