Coming to America Esther
My Father left Poland to pursue my Mother whom he had fallen madly in love. Without proper papers he was forced to land in Cuba. There he tried three times to smuggle through, by ship, to the United States. On his third try, by pawning his ring, he was able to pay his way aboard a ship to New York. Once he arrived, he located my Mother, they married soon after and my sister Rita (1928) and I, Esther (1934), were born. In 1936, after my Father had successfully become an owner of a laundry business, his chief competitor turned him into Immigration. Fortunately, through the aid of Frances Perkins, who was in Franklin D. Roosevelt's cabinet, provided the means that all self-supporting immigrants, who were able to provide for their family, could leave the U.S. and come back to obtain United States citizenship. My Father did this by departing to Canada and retuning over night to New York. AND THERE, FOR THE GRACE OF G-D, MY FAMILY FLOURISHED AND WAS ABLE TO AVOID BEING DEPORTED TO POLAND, WHICH MIGHT HAVE RESULTED IN OUR BEING PART OF THE HOLOCAUST.