Stories by author "Hershel Greenblat": 12
Stories
The Statue of Liberty
"On the sixteenth of November of 1950, we boarded the U.S.S. General Belleau which was a converted type Army transport ship.
My father was able to get a job in the commissary on the ship, so we had pretty good food. They had places for…
Arriving at Ellis Island
"When we got off the ship at Ellis Island, [it was] just a big open area. We had to wait, and we were processed through and given coffee or milk. There were red-cross people hovering around trying to make people comfortable.
I remember…
Moving to America
"The International Relief Organization -- came into the camp, and they set up an office where the American soldiers and commander of the camp said, “Anybody that wants to go to the United States, sign up.”
My mom went ahead and signed up. …
Displaced Once Again
"[At the] end of 1947 we were transferred to a camp called Beth Israel outside of town called Hallein, which is about fifty miles east of Salzburg. And in this particular camp, there were actual rooms.
It had a door. It had a…
Atrocities in the Ukraine
"My mother's family, her brothers, and her parents were taken to outside of Kiev at Babi Yar-- where they were made to dig their own graves. And were lined up and shot in the back of the head.
Both of her sisters survived the Holocaust…
Living in the Priest's Grotto Caves
"[The German invasion] forced most of the young Jews into hiding, into groups of resistance fighters living in the caves. Living in the forest. Coming out at night trying to get food. Or do whatever damage they could to the Germans. The…
Father's Hometown of Lublin
"My father was born in Lublin, Poland. 1919. He was a student. My father was the youngest of sixteen children. Fifteen of those children were girls. He basically was just a typical teenager -- growing up with a fairly Orthodox Jewish…
Mother's Hometown of Kremenchug
"I was born April 24, 1941. In a small town called Kremenchug. About fifty miles east of Kiev in the Ukraine.
My mother was born in Kremenchug, Russia in the Ukraine. 1916. She was one of six children. She had two sisters and three…
Life in a Displaced Persons Camp
"We arrived -- outside of a DP camp, a displaced persons camp, outside of Salzburg, Austria. This was late 1945 or early 1946. I believe it was either December or January because I remember very, very strongly how cold [it was] and the snow as…
Transferring through Union Station
"That night we were taken off the train in Washington, in Union Station. Very, very late, late at night. This was the day before Thanksgiving of 1950.
The five of us. My mom holding Ethel, and my dad holding my hand, and my, my sister…