Family Stories

My fathers side of the family both immigrated form Europe and Im so grateful that I was able to hear first hand the stories about my grandparents and great grandparents coming to America. I think family stories are something that everyone should cherish because its what we can tie ourselves back to.

About 70 years ago when my grandmother immigrated to New York from Weisbaden, Germany, she didn’t realize it yet but her whole life was about to change. Her father was a German fighter pilot in World War II and was killed in combat. Her mother was left to raise two little girls on her own, until she met one special American soldier, who would soon become her husband. He married my great grandmother, adopted my grandma and her sister and brought them back to New York with him. Once the war was over and the American troops were done helping the European countries, they hopped aboard a ship and sailed across the Atlantic for 16 days, until they hit the coast of New York. My grandma describes this experience saying, “We arrived in New York City at night on November 4^th on my 8th birthday (my sister was 4 years old).  My father came to our room, and in our pajamas, brought us on deck to see the lights of the city.  When we disembarked the next morning, my dad stopped at a store to buy us "American" socks so we would not look like refugees!” Already, my great grandfather did what he needed to do to help his new family fit in to American culture. My grandmother might not have known it yet, but she was about to face many challenges being a German immigrant in such a horrific time in U.S. history. Changing simple habits in their lives would be helpful in fitting in but unfortunately not prevent the inevitable alienation because of their German background.