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.