My 1920's Immigration Project Part 1
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- Could you tell me again about what it was like immigrating here?
- Oma? We're doing a project in school.
- Of course Blume. Now if my memory serves me right it was August 18, 1920 when our boat arrived in NY.
- It was two years after the war and, I decided to leave my home in Germany and start a new life here in America. I remember the overwhelming feeling of excitement and slight fear as we passed the Lady Liberty and came closer to port.
- I had a cousin who was raised in the states. He had an apartment in the city and allowed me to stay with him until I got on my feet. I was so grateful for him because this offerd me the opportunity to start looking for employment.
- I got a job as a coin counter a few weeks after I had moved in. It wasn't much but the hours weren't terrible and the pay wasn't terrible. A few of the other girls there didn't like that they had to work with an immigrant but I did make one good friend with an African American woman. Your Großtante Sarah to be exact.
- One night a few weeks after I had started working there I was cornered by some men. They were the husbands of three of the women I worked with. Apparently it didn't sit well with them that their wives were working with an immigrant. They shoved me and I fell to the ground. that's when your Opa found us and him being the big tall german he was, was able to scare the men away.
- I found he lived in the apartment building next to mine and worked as a tailor in the shop across the street from my own job. Needless to say he convinced me to let him escort me to and from work.
- As time went on there were only a few other occasions like that night and we ended up getting married. two years after our wedding we had your Mama and moved into a house outside the city.
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