Coming to America, 1922

This is the second excerpt from Elsie Schwartz's oral history, recorded when she was 88 years old. 

“Finally, finally, the day came when we got a letter from my father in America that he had the papers to allow us to leave Europe.  I was 11.

We took the train to Hamburg and then we went on a little ship called the Hanza. 

They gave us a thorough examination before we could leave from Hamburg—you couldn't have any kind of a sickness. My brother Lou was almost sixteen, and Hymie was ten, and during the exam they found out that both of my brothers had developed a disease of the eyes, due to the fact that they kept looking out the window on the train and the dust got into their eyes.  So, the officials said they can't come; they had to be checked into the hospital there. 

“Okay, so we'll stay, too” my mother said.  No, that would have been too easy.  They said that we had to use my visa and my mother’s now, because otherwise, if we stayed, the visas would not be good anymore. Since the boys were going in the hospital, they would grant them new visas when they get better.  But for us they would not extend it; we had to leave. 

My sister Irene’s visa had expired because she was on a Hungarian visa, not a Romanian visa, so she had to stay with the boys.  My mother felt very happy about it.  My sister went to visit the boys, and bring whatever they needed. 

We finally got on the boat, and I was sick as a dog all the way.  I could not get out of my room.  If I stood up, I was standing by the rail and feeding the fish.  I don't know where I kept the stuff to throw up because I couldn't eat.  If it wouldn't have been for a nice boy on the boat, I wouldn’t have eaten.  He would bring me black bread. He said, “This is going to keep it down.” I kept eating the black bread and nothing else I could eat.   He was making the trip by working as a waiter; it was his third trip.  He told us he was jumping the ship this time, and was going to stay in America, illegally. I never saw him again.

We were on the ship ten days, and on Yom Kippur we arrived.  So I said, “Ma, I'm fasting!” 

We arrived here October the 12th, 1922.

On the way to America, they had somebody who died of diphtheria on the ship, so when we arrived to Ellis Island, we went through a bathing period of hot tubs and scrubbing and cleaning and examining, and they were going to keep us there. But my father knew a congressman, and he got permission to get us after we got through with that physical.

A small boat came by, and they took us off the ship. My mother said, “There he is!”  And I said, “You mean that big man is my father?”  I was so excited!  It was so wonderful to see my father. I had not seen him for ten years and I didn’t remember him. 

My father was a very loving, hugging, kissing kind of a person.  That's something that you either have or you haven't, you know. My mother was reserved.  When I hugged and kissed my own children, she said, “Don't do that; you're spoiling them.  Kiss them when they're sleeping.”  That's the way she felt.  Of course, I didn't go by that, but she felt that way and she was that way with us. 

We got into the car with my father and my aunt, and went up to my aunt's house for a couple of days until all the arrangements were made for our moving in.  My aunt lived uptown, and as my father was driving through, I saw the kids were all playing blackjack and hop-skip on the street, because it was Columbus Day.  I didn’t know that, so I said to my father, “Why aren't they in school?” 

“Oh,” he said, “you didn't know?  The President of the United States found out that you were coming, and he made it a legal holiday.” I stopped and was thinking for a while, and then I said, “Aw, come on, Papa!”  And he laughed. 

In the car, I remember my aunt handed me a banana.  I had never seen a banana in my life!  She said, “Here; eat this while we drive home; you must be hungry.”  I wasn't sure what to do with it.  I just looked at it. “How do I eat this?”  I touched it and said, “It's too hard.”  She said, “Oh, no; you've got to peel it off.” In Europe we had apples, pears and plums. We had oranges, but they were very expensive.  In Europe, when you were taking some very special gift to someone, like at Purim, you would have an orange as a special gift.  I remember my aunt in Europe who was very comfortable, would have an orange with some cake that she brought us, and my mother peeled it and cut it into little pieces so all of us would get a little.  It was a rare thing.

Finally, it was time for my sister and two brothers to arrive. Naturally, when my mother came here without them, she didn't know what to do to help the boys.  She said, “Hymie’s pants must be all full of holes already,” because we didn't have too many things to bring with us; we just had maybe one or two outfits. So my mother borrowed $50 from a shylock who she had to pay interest to. She sent my brothers the money. When my brother got the money, the German mark went haywire, and for 50 dollars he got so much money, that literally he couldn’t fit it all in the valise.  So he went shopping. 

When we went to pick them up at Ellis Island, my mother said, “I’m sure that Hymie needs a pair of pants; I'll be ashamed to bring them home in pants that are all ripped.”  So, we bought some clothes for them to change into. 

When they walked down the plank, my brother Lou came first, proud as punch.  He was wearing the sharpest yellow pair of shoes, and his briefcase was matching his shoes!  And he was beaming!  He was all dressed up.  And my brother Hymie had knickers on.  We were flabbergasted.  And he said, “We didn't know what to do with the money you sent us, it was so much!”

We finally had moved on to a new life in America.”