Anita was born to a German mother and Dutch father in 1936 in Emmen, a small town in northern Holland. In 1942, Anita had to wear a yellow star and was not allowed to go to school anymore. Anita watched her aunt and cousin leave to go to Auschwitz where they were immediately killed. One day a local Dutch government worker came to Anita's home and said he could get her family false papers. In August 1944, when the Americans liberated the south of Holland, Anita's family reunited. They came to the United States in 1952.