Chapter 2 - Waiting in New York City

Summary

It was a very cold, damp day in New York when we landed. We were met by our cousins Herbert and Thea Lehman and our Uncle and Aunt Leo and Bertha, who had been our benefactors by sending us an affidavit. Uncle Leo loaded all of us, including our luggage, into his huge Cadillac with the children on the laps of the grownups. Aunt Bertha owned a few large apartment houses in the Bronx and was kind enough to furnish the Lehmans, and now us, with a rather large apartment at 180th Street and Third Avenue. I said it was a large apart¬ment and it was for one family, but for six of us it presented problems. Still, we solved them, since we all were overjoyed to have reached our destination. Her¬bert and Thea were already settled in the bedroom; our mother was to sleep on a couch in the dining room; father settled in the living room where there was an¬other couch and a little love seat that was to be my bed. Marianne was assigned the crack in the bed between the two Lehmans. My sleeping quarters were so tiny that I had to learn to sleep in a fetal position during the entire month we spent in New York. The Third Avenue elevated railway was a very close neighbor as well, because it ran exactly one foot away from the window where my love-seat was located. Still, these conditions were luxurious compared to what other refugees from Germany experienced, and we were all grateful to our American relatives for their generosity and the chance to have a free apartment.

After we arrived at our abode, Cousin Thea made tea for everyone and, almost immediately, Aunt Bertha began a serious talk directed toward my fa¬ther. “You know, Hugo,” she said, “You must find a position immediately, for we cannot afford to have the family here for more than a few months. I have made an appointment for you on Monday morning at the Council of Jewish Women, where all professionals must register and where jobs for cantors and rabbis from overseas are procured.” My father was most grateful for this sug¬gestion and promised to be at the Council at the appointed time on Monday.