Friday, September 27, 1946
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle
Par Six
"I Still Think I'm Seeing An American Movie"
Refugees in NRS Hospitality Center
Are Delighted and Dazed at American
Freedom, Kindliness, Plenty
of their 98 hours' experience in
the land of the free.
The reporter who had inter-
viewed the pretty young girl from
Berlin is not fully satisfied with
his material. The girl is unable
to tell a clear chronological story.
We discuss the girl's experiences,
how she had saved her life by
jumping off a train taking her to
Auschwitz, how she had lived in
Berlin in constant fear. and how
she had gone for days without
sufficient food. How can anyone
tell a coherent story after un-
dergoing such an ordeal? It will
take time to heal the wounds and
to make her think clearly once
again.
We compare notes and discuss
the story of a middle-aged we-
man and her son who are stand-
ing in the lobby talking with an
elderly family friend. The lad's
eyes and face tell what he and
his mother lived through in Ger-
many. Their story? The lad and
his mother, like thousands of
other Jews, are survivors of Ther.
esienstadt. His father was a doc-
tor of law In Berlin who had tried
to leave the country long before
the war. Affidavits and all sorts
of legal papers were deposited
with the consuls of four different
South American countries, but
somehow, all were of no avail.
The result? He died of starvation
in Thereslenstadt. Mother and
son survived.
What makes this story mere
I saw their faces. These were the same room. Their request was
the people who were coming from granted.
A group of young couples, who
the shadow of death to the land
of the living. Hero were victims had been married in displaced
of Nazism on the threshhold of a persons' camps in Germany, re-
new life in America. They were turn from a short walk down
leaving the NRS—chartered bus Broadway. What are their impres-
with battered suitcases, rolled-up sions?
"Everything that happened was
blankets and other personal be-
longings which they had held on a bad dream. This is a good
4 -) during the years in concentra- dream."
"I got a feeling of freedom and
tion camps and months In the DP
liberty right after the boat."
camps of war-torn Europe.
"Here you are treated like a
The lobby of the Marseilles is
soon crowded with immigrants. A human being."
"I still think I'm seeing an
receptionist guides the newcomers
into the dining room for a snack American movie."
"In America, even children have
before supper. She sees that
everyone has cake and coffee or bicycles."
"I'll take out my citizenship pa-
milk. A youngster asks: "Please,
may I have another piece of cake? pers the moment I get to Chi-
I like it so much." The NRS cago."
"There's so much fruit and veg-
worker assures him that he can
help himself and goes to look etables in the stores."
"The skyscrapers are so big."
after other newcomers. Soon im-
A question as to their skills
migrants greet one another in
German, English, Polish, Russian, and trades shows that the new-
Hungarian, and other languages. comers have something to offer
Then one young woman says to America. They are mechanical en-
the group, "I want to start to gineers . . . doctors . . . tailors ...
speak English now. I can't start skilled mechanics . . . locksmiths...
piano teachers, and leather work.
too soon."
"Are all the American people as ers. When one middle-aged man
good-looking and as nice as you?" ,vas asked about his trade, he
the young woman who has an said simply: "Juden." It was dif-
Auschwitz number tattooed on her ficult to forget that his native
arm is anxious to reassure herself Poland was thousands of miles I
that there are people in the world behind him.
The immigrants who had ar-
who are kind and considerate and
Rosh Hashonah Greetings
helpful. "It is hard to believe that rived aboard the first ship "Marine
Flasher"
who
are
still
in
the
city
you can trust people," she con-
tinues. "I always feel that every- come to the center to greet
thing is going to vanish before friends who had arrived on the
"Marine Perch." Although their
the morning."
In the registration room, a re- acquaintance with the United
Lion Steel Co.
porter is asking the NRS worker States is only of four days' dura-
to act as his interpretor with a tion, they are eager to serve as
7490 INTERVALE
very pretty young girl who had a welcoming committee. They als,
been hiding out in Berlin through. offer the new arrivals the benefit
HOGARTH 1355
out the war years. Another work-
ti
er is initiating a newcomer into
the mysteries of the telephone.
Season's Greetings and
There is the busy signal . . . the
Best Wishes
dial tone . . . and then the voice
of the operator. Other workers
check the telephone directories to
SEASON'S GREETINGS!
PAINT and WALLPAPER
assist the newcomers to locate
relatives or friends who may have 8736 12th St.
MA. 1756
A. J. Knoppow, Prop.
missed them at the pier. The Im-
migrants hold on to their little
address books. Those books are
TRUCKING CONTRACTOR
precious things which they had I
Cinders, Slag for all purposes
managed to keep in their hide-
Rosh Hashonah Greetings
outs and concentration camps as
the only link with families living
8800 DIX AVE.
in all parts of the world.
• "We don't want to be separated
VINEWOOD 2.0771
on our first night in America. We
HO WE
want a room together," two elder-
ly women beseech the NRS work-
PRINTING CO.
er. The two women were com-
"HERE'S HOWE"
panions in Thereslenstadt. Upon
their liberation by the Red Army,
they were both brought back to 3430 THIRD ST.
their native Frankfort. They were TE. 1.6870
together a boa rd the "Marine
Perch." And now that they were
about to rejoin their families in
Chicago and Los Angeles, It was
CENTRAL
NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS
only fitting that they should spend
their first night in America in
■
SIMON KNOPPOW
Edward C. Levy,
•
Burke's Prescription
Pharmacy
7446 W. McNICHOLS RD.
dramatic than the others? The
UNiversity 1.5070
boy Is 15 but he looks like a by
We Deliver
of seven or eight. All the years
of homelessness, hunger and
starvation are inscribed in that I
Rosh Hashonah Greetings!
boy's thin face.
Rosh Hashonah Greetings
Standard Asbestos
Mfg. Co.
PRIM
BEAUTY SHOPPE
DAVE BURK, Mgr.
820 W. BALTIMORE AVE.
MA. 1780
2615 CALVERT AVE.
TO. $-9022
Rosh Hashonah Greetings
Greetings of the Season!
•
•
Hyman Perlman
Son
GEO. J. SEEGER
Company
Butter,
KOSHER MEAT AND
POULTRY MARKET
Eggs, Cheese
1951 E. FERRY
11504 DEXTER BLVD.
TO. 7.9818
S
Mr. and Mrs. H. Zolkower
and son William
SEASON'S GREETINGS!
5224 W. Outer Drive
Also
CAPITAL SCRAP
MATERIAL CO.
Mr. and Mrs. Meyer
Zolkower and Family
Ted Wise
Hy Lipsitz
635 WINDER
Extend
CA. 9633
New Year's Greetings
New Year's Greetings
To you, friends and neighbors,
whom we have been privi-
leged to serve over the
many years, we ex-
tend our greetings
and best
wishes.
Greetings
•
•
SEASON'S
GREETINGS
Best Wishes for
Happy Holiday Season
MALDEN
PAPER CO.
1734 W. JEFFERSON
I.A. 0830
TRUNSWAK
INDUSTRIES
We Specialize in
Fancy Fruit Baskets
New York Linoleum
Carpet Co.
9630 JOS. CAMPAU
MA. 8892
FELT, INC.
L'ao's Fruit and
Vegetable Market
•
2626 JOHN R ST.
11732 Dexter Blvd.
TO. 8.9572
Detroit
NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS AND BEST WISHES
TO ALL
•
ROY AL STATE POULTRY CO.
2751 HUMBOLDT
I
THE
DOW
CHEMICAL
COMPANY
Midland, Mich.