The Story of an Immigrant

Hinde Matuziska was born January 15, 1946 in Foerenvald, a displaced persons camp. She was the first person born in that displaced persons camp after the holocaust. The camp was near Munich, Germany. In 1948 her family had tried to emigrate into Israel but her mother got extremely ill and the travel plans were stopped. This made them have to stay in the displaced persons camp for three more years until they could find a sponsor to help them get into the United States. Her family wanted to leave Europe to escape from the aftermath of the holocaust, in which Hinde had lost a sister, all of her grandparents, aunts, and uncles except for two surviving uncles on her mother’s side. They also wanted to come to start a new life in the United States and her parents wanted her to have a life where she didn’t have to deal with prejudice, was able to have religious freedom and have no constant fear of “having everything taken away”.

The family left Germany in May 1951 and took a train to France. They left from Le Havre, a port city in France and the boat they took was an old battleship called the General Blashford. She slept in the hold with her mother, Gertrude (Gittel), and all of the other women and children while her father Aaron slept on the deck above like the rest of the men. Her mother and many of the other passengers got seasick frequently and Hinde got seasick too, but she ate salty herring [her mother had cleverly brought with them] which made her feel better. The hold smelled like vomit but because her father had fresh air on the deck he was never sick. On the ship was the first time Hinde had ever seen white bread, hotdogs, and grapefruit. The boat was very crowded and was always being tossed around by large waves. On May 29, Memorial Day, 1951 her parents pointed it out and Hinde first saw the Statue of Liberty as they passed into New York harbor.

After going through customs, they immediately took the train to Buffalo, New York where they were met by Aaron’s cousin, Will Eisen. Will Eisen was their sponsor (a sponsor was a person who would vouch for the immigrant that they would be a good, self sufficient citizen). She remembered her fathers surprise and said, “When we arrived on Memorial Day my father was so happy there were so many people, everybody was enjoying themselves. Nobody was at work and my father said it’s true, “In America the streets are paved with gold and nobody has to work.” But the next day all the people did go to work and we soon discovered that although America was a great place to live we had to work very hard.”

They temporarily went to live with Will Eisen and his family for several weeks before they found an apartment at 372 Broadway. Her name was changed to Hilda by the school secretary because he couldn’t understand what her mother was saying. Although she couldn’t go to first grade because she didn’t speak English, she went to kindergarten in September and by December was speaking English as fluently as any other child. In 1956, her parents became U.S. citizens and Hilda’s name was again changed, to Helen, when Hilda nagged her parents so much they had to change her name again.

Eventually, the family was like most other families, and much better off then when they first came to America. Helen’s mother and father had started a kosher restaurant and it was very popular in the Buffalo area. Helen was always in the restaurant and learning how to cook, here is one recipe that she learned.

Recipe For Latkes (Potato Pancakes)

Ingredients:

• A pan

• 4 potatoes

• 1 onion

• 1 egg
• salt
• pepper
• oil
• Matzo meal

Method:

1. Beat the eggs in a large bowl
2. Mash the potatoes and get matzo meal and put them in the bowl
3. Add salt and pepper
4. Heat oil in the pan until it bubbles
5. Put the potato mixture on the pan with a large spoon
6. Cook until both sides are golden brown

Eat with apple sauce and sour cream and enjoy!