I was born in our house in Limburg, Germany .  When I was born, I was told that my grandmother said 'now little girl, you’re in Hitler's world.'

My parents and I left Germany for USA in April 1938.  We came with my maternal grandmother, Leina Katz.
My father's mother went to England with her father’s sister

It was obvious what was happening in Germany, my parents felt it was time to get out.  My mother’s brother lived in Detroit, he was a single man who worked for Louis Gunsberg.  He approached Mr. Gunsberg, about being sponsoring our family to come to Detroit, he said to him, you don’t have to tell me their history, just bring me the papers.

They came to America with no money, some furniture, and their clothes, that’s it.  Relatives would bring me clothes not toys, I needed clothes, we were poor at the time.  My dad went and worked at the Standard Beef Meat packing company  My mother also worked there.  My parents were very young, energetic, and worked very hard.

My father met a non-Jewish man, Joseph Palmer, and they eventually became business partners.  They got along wonderfully.  They formed their own meat packing company.  My father would buy cattle from the stock yards in Detroit and Mr. Palmer was in charge of the butchering.

My parents loved America, they thought everything was wonderful here.  My mother was always astonished they could leave merchandise outside overnight and people would not steal.  When friends came over for coffee, they would sing 'God Bless America'.  My parents always believed America saved their Lives. 

During the war there was rationing, it was hard to buy beef and a black market for cattle arose.  My father however, told his partner that this country saved his life and he didn't want to do anything illegal.  He told his partner, Mr. Palmer, they could go their separate ways if this was what he wanted to do but Mr. Palmer said no, and they stuck together

While they worked at the meat packing plant my grandmother watched me, I was 2 ½ years old.  We lived on the east side of Detroit where no Jews lived.  When I was 16, I became interested in boys.  My parents moved to the west side to live in a Jewish neighbour so that I could meet Jewish boys.  We were observant Jews, we Shomer Shabbos (Sabbath observant).

I transferred from Denby High School on the east side to Mumford High School on the west side.  I experienced culture shock!  My parents were German Jews who spoke German, on the west side, there were mainly Polish Jews who spoke Yiddish. The German and Polish Jews didn’t always get along.

Never forget that you're Jewish; be kind and help others.  There was no one more kind than my mother, my mother was unbelievably kind.