Inserts:

00:03 Report / Ines Pohl
01:02 Ruth Gruenthal / Holocaust survivor, 103
01:51 Ruth Gruenthal / Holocaust survivor, 103

Script:
At 103, a Holocaust Survivor Looks to Germany for a Way Out of the U.S.
PICS – German Consulate, NYC
VO:
These people are doing what was once unthinkable.
They’re Jewish American families with Holocaust history — and they’re reclaiming German citizenship.
(They want the option of returning to the country which murdered six million of their kind.)
+++ VOX (German Consulate, NYC):
“It has a lot to do with the Trump administration. My father already had to flee one country. He's no longer alive. But given that family history, I feel compelled to have a plan B.”
+++ VOX:
“For many years I thought that what happened to Germany could only have happened to Germany. And I realized that was wrong. It could happen here. It may happen here.”
+++ VOX (German Consulate, NYC):
“I think it’s a terrible political environment here. We are deeply concerned about the erosion of our democratic norms.”

VO:
Those at the German consulate are not the only ones.
Ruth Gruenthal is 103 years old — one of the oldest Holocaust survivors — who has just reclaimed her German passport.
The Nazi regime took away her citizenship because she was Jewish.
She began the process when it appeared Donald Trump was likely to win a second term.

+++ Ruth Gruenthal, Holocaust survivor, 103:
“And so I mean it really evoked feelings that I thought I would never in my lifetime have to deal with again.”
+++ Ines Pohl:
“Do you think Donald Trump is anti-Semitic?”
+++ Ruth Gruenthal:
“Basically, yes. I mean, it’s hard to know. He’s anti whatever’s not good for him. He will use anti-Semitism. I mean, he has, you know, his family has a long history of housing discrimination against anyone of color and Jews as well, I'm sure, as I think he thinks that Jews are black.
(VO:
Recent events have undermined her sense of belonging in the United States — where she has lived most of her life.
+++ Ruth Gruenthal:
“I would certainly introduce myself as foreign born, but American. And now I would put a question mark.”

VO:
Ruth was born in 1922 in Hamburg. Her father was a decorated War veteran and  a very successful publisher.
Ines Pohl: Witch role did it play that you were jewish:
+++ Ruth Gruenthal: 
“Very little. We were barely cultural Jews. The Jewish community in Hamburg was particularly assimilated.”

(VO:
When Hitler came to power, her father was stunned.
+++ Ruth Gruenthal:
“What was shocking to him was the people he considered his friends turned out to be Nazis.”
)

(VO:
In 1935, the Nazi regime enacted the Nuremberg Laws, stripping German Jews of their rights and citizenship.)

By 1939, Ruth and her sister were sent to France. When the Nazis invaded, Ruth was arrested and sent to the French internment camp Gurs.
+++ Ruth Gruenthal:
“The circumstances were pretty terrible [...]
VO:
Ruth was lucky and got out of the camp, escaped via France and Portugal  and reached the United States in 1940. 
(There she built a career as a psychotherapist and a family spanning four generations.)

PICS – German Consulate
VO:
The idea of having another option is becoming increasingly appealing.
In New York alone, applications for restoration of German citizenship revoked by the Nazis have more than doubled in the past four years.
(Because the Nazi regime deliberately made Jews stateless, Germany allows victims — and descendants up to great-grandchildren — to reclaim citizenship.)

(+++ VOX:
“You know, my father already had to flee one country… given that family history, I feel compelled to have a plan B.”
+++ Ines Pohl:
“So what is threatening for you right now?”
+++ VOX:
“We have, I think, 70 percent of all hate crimes in the U.S. now against Jews. It’s not a comfortable feeling.”
)
+++ VOX:
“[...] My grandmother keeps saying: this is not good.”

(+++ VOX:
“I thought what happened in Germany could only have happened in Germany. I realized that was wrong.”)
+++ Ines Pohl:
“So where is the red line?”
+++ VOX:
“When they start coming for the Jews… they always do. And when that happens, Germany might be my way out.”

VO:
Not everyone says their decision is political.
+++ VOX:
“The main reason is to reconnect with who we are and expand possibilities.”
(+++ VOX:
“The political environment is absent from my decision.”)

VO:
Others prefer not to explain.
+++ VOX:
“We’d rather not get into that. [...]”
(VO (closing on Ruth):
For Ruth Gruenthal, the fear is familiar — and newly revived.
+++ Ruth Gruenthal:
“Unless you’re Jewish, it’s hard to appreciate that you’re walking around with the feeling that your right to walk the earth could be questioned at any time.” )