My Journal
HIS/ 120
09/28/2015

My Journal
HIS/ 120
09/28/2015

Dear Diary,
Today is November 4, 1920. My mother and father, my brother, Jonathan, my sister, Rosy and I are forced to leave our country in Eastern Europe; migrating to the United States of America. My mother told us about her close friends that she had known since she was a child, moved there. Her best friend Charlotte wrote letters to her every week. Explaining that America has a lot of job opportunities, education, and that there’s freedom there to live. Verses staying in our home country where anti-Semites would start riots. 1. So we packed all our belongings and took whatever we could carry. After purchasing our tickets to sail away, we entered the biggest ship I’ve ever seen. I had many emotions and thoughts rushing through my mind. Feeling nervous about moving to a place I’ve never been… Sad that there’s a war coming to erupt… Worried for the people that we’re leaving behind… Exhausted from stress and not getting enough sleep... What’s really going to happen when we get to America? I hate the feeling of not knowing what’s going to come because I feel then I have to prepare myself for the worse.
On the ship there were more than 2,000 Jews. Everybody was very close together and compacted inside. We had to make our own beds and we had to keep each other warm. It took us days, weeks for our arrival. I couldn’t keep track. Some people eventually gotten seasick because of the rocking back and forth. On the deck of the ship was an amazing view of the ocean and the waves. Every night I would make my way to see the stars. It became my little get away to dream and think without all the ruckus during the day. There were very little food but us Jews worked together. At the arrival of the United States of America, we stopped at an island called Ellis Island. We had to speak to officers and showed them our