Issue link: http://ihouse.uberflip.com/i/703833
91 coyly, and asked: "Do you think if I tried I would succeed?" There was no humor in the bureaucrat. He said: "I'll ask you again, and if I get the same answer, you will be barred from the USA forever." Needless to say, the next question was answered, "NO!" Lottie first went to Virginia, to attend Virginia Polytechnic – it was 1946. After two years, she was offered a scholarship to either New York – NYU – or Berkeley, and she chose Berkeley because she wouldn't have to buy a coat. She also knew some Czechs in Berkeley, Czechs who had emigrated before the war. They suggested she live at I-House. She chose a single room; her first room just had to be a single room. So all her money went to room charges – which left about $5 or so from her scholarship money. This was okay — she was a girl, and she was treated a lot. She wanted a single room because, when she came out of the concentration camp and attended the Virginia Polytechnic, she stayed in a huge dormitory. She just had to be alone for a little while. So she had a room with a beautiful Bay view, looking out into the street and out into the Bay. She just had to have that, for a little while anyway. But then she realized, "Well, it's silly," so she got a much smaller room. Did we talk much about the war in the I-House? Not really. I don't think we discussed it too much. For many people, it was really, really traumatic. Lottie didn't really want to talk about it. If the need occurred, for instance in schools, she would; she would talk about it. Later, she would lecture about the concentration camp in schools. And when people couldn't quite believe her, she would say: "Why do you think the Germans are paying me a state stipend each month. Just for nothing?" Lottie stayed in the I-House a long time, about five or six years. She was special because of the illness; she was allowed to stay much longer than normal. Lottie was at the UC Hospital for a while, had a major operation on her back – caused by a kick in the spine by an SS man. So when she got out, she was in the iron-made corset; she couldn't walk without a corset, a strong corset. This was when she was a TA, and she had a leave of absence to recuperate from the operation. She was attended by many of her friends at the time. Even to the point that, one day, one of the fellows gave her a record player because she loved classical music. She was living in the I-House, and men were not allowed on the women's floor. Evidently, this fellow decided that he was going to install it for her, and he got into her room and left the door open, of course. And the maid— we had maid service at this point — came by and saw it and reported it to the business office. The business office called Lottie on the phone, and she had to get out of her cot, hop over to the phone, which was in the corridor at the time, to answer the phone. They asked her, "Are you having a man in the room?" And Lottie said, "I am not about to make a business of it!" She explained what he was doing there, and it was okay. Those little vignettes have been repeated many times in our household. Was there a division between those who fought in the war and those who hadn't? I think at that time everybody had something to do with the war; there were many