Fred Stamm, born in Wrexen, Germany, discusses his prewar life; not experiencing antisemitism; the radical change after the rise of Hitler; the effects on his education; serving as an apprentice in a clothing store and as a cabinet maker till 1938 in Neheim (near Ruhr); being forced into a Jewish labor unit; his father's friend warning him to flee immediately after Kristallnacht; receiving papers from cousins to immigrate to the United States; leaving for the United States with his brother in November or December 1938; joining the US Air Force at the end of 1941; training in South Carolina; receiving American citizenship; serving in India and China during the war; and the deaths of his father, mother, and younger sister.