My teachers in Bunde were horrible.  One never called me by name and said “This is what a Jew looks like.”  Kids beat me to a pulp one day.  My sister’s teacher, Mrs. Milke, beat her on the head with a stick.  Parents forbid me from visiting their children.  I never returned to school after the beating.  There were about 140 Jewish families out of 44,000 in Bunde, with our own synagogue which was burned down.  No Jews live there now except one convert.  The house I lived in is still there as a school.  We could not buy in stores and there were “No Jews Allowed” signs in many stores.  

 

In September 1938, we got an affidavit from a cousin in Chicago saying my father would have a job there so he wouldn’t be a burden.  Doctors had to certify that we were healthy.  My 85 year old aunt had diabetes and was put into a nursing home.  She was later taken to a concentration camp.  

 

There are streets with Jewish names in Bunde today.  Names of former Jewish residents are on plaques on houses.  When leaving, we were only able to take 50 Deutschmarks for four people in a nie-by-nine box.  We took a train to the Belgium border and the SS said, “All Jews off!”  An English couple on the train said “Stay still.”  And probably saved our lives.  We had jewelry sewed in a doll.  

 

We left Europe on a boat.  My father had a job in a Chicago coal yard but hated it.  He went back to selling linens.  A Chicago synagogue provided help.  At 9 years old, I had to start school in the first grade because I did not speak English.    
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I will forgive but I won't forget