My Life and Times · Chapter 10 of 10

The camp and the crossing

How exactly we got there, I don’t remember (maybe by hitchhiking?) because between us and the refugee camp was a large city (Munich). The refugee camp had a Latvian kindergarden, into which we placed Pēteris. There were English courses, that everyone except Māte attended. In the nearby town of Hochfeld, there was a hospital in which Rūta worked as a lab technician. Here Ilze was born in 1945 and one year later, the twins Līga and Kalvis. We lived in Haunstetten for four years (1945-1949). Life in the refugee camp was very agreeable to many people. The apartments were free, as well as the medical care. There were used clothes available as well as various courses. However, some people were more ambitious and wanted a more active life. In 1949 began the emigration and dispersal of the refugees all over the world. We applied to go to the US, which we entered in July, 1949. Our family was assigned to the farmer Mr. Hawk (in Ohio). First, we traveled by train to northern Germany to one of the seaports, where there was a temporary camp. News came that a ship had space for us but not for Māte. Apparently our sponsor Mr. Hawk had neglected to mention her name in the documents, so it was possible that she would have to remain behind until a request was issued for her to emigrate. Papa went to the emigration office to try to get permission for Māte. It was Saturday, and the workers worked only half of the day. They were all ready to go home and told Papa it was too late to do anything. Here Papa showed his character. He said that he would refuse to leave until he obtained the necessary papers. One of the workers there listened to him and stayed late to finish the paperwork. We received him as a hero.

We stood in a long line to board the ship. Pēteris was separated from me and went with Papa while I remained with the twins. We suffered from seasickness. I could not even look at the good American food. The only exception was Līga. I accompanied her to the cafeteria and she ate with a hearty appetite, smacking her lips. The ship landed in Boston, to my disappointment. I had hoped to arrive in New York so that I could see the Statue of Liberty. Upon arrival, we were all given twenty dollars. Pēteris exclaimed “Papa, look, look, there’s a dollar.” The official said “So young and already knows about money.” During the trip to our destination, we had to change trains in Pittsburgh, where we had to wait for several hours. Māte felt somewhat nauseated and started to crave marinated herring (a common food in Latvia). While walking around in Pittsburgh, we stopped at several restaurants but none of them had any herring. “What a shitty country - it’s supposed to be rich but there’s no herring anywhere” exclaimed Māte in frustration. Another surprise was the fireflies (“lightning bugs”) that we saw from the train windows. We tried to figure out what it was and finally decided it was some kind of gas that had escaped from the ground and became ignited. The Hawks family met us at the station and took us to a farm house, which we had entirely at our disposal. It had so many rooms, that I kept expecting the other people that were also supposed to live there to show up soon. Pēteris was very happy that he would have his own room. However, he was unable to sleep by himself, and soon went running to Māte’s bed (where he was used to sleeping). He took a bus to school every day but complained about motion sickness. I asked Pēteris how he got along at school without knowing a word of English. He was already proficient at reading Latvian and said “I just listen to how the teacher and other kids pronounce a word and say it the same way.” So he began to read English better than the American kids right away.