Ellen Garbuny and Vivian Prunier oral history

In their interview, sisters Ellen Garbuny and Vivian Prunier share the story of their mother Melitta Garbuny’s escape from Austria in 1938 during the rise of the Nazi party. The sister’s recall their parents never wanting to speak about the Holocaust or life under the Nazi party. They discuss their father, Max Garbuny’s, tenure with the Defense Department during the Vietnam War. They recall living in Penn Hills, living in the “Golden Ghetto” of Churchill, moving to Butler, and their education at the Pittsburgh School for Reform Judaism. Vivian Prunier shares that she worked for the FDA before moving over to the EPA. Ellen Garbuny recalls meeting her husband at Penn State University and moving back to Butler in 1979.