The Immigration Experience
Jerry Klaristenfeld
HIS165
March 7, 2016
Professor: Priscilla MacDonald

The Immigration Experience March 7, 1894 It has been almost three years since Papa Tevye left our hometown of Plotzk in Russian Poland for America. We used to be a wealthy and respected family in our Jewish community, but after Papa fell ill with pneumonia, business stopped and we lost almost everything. When he finally recovered, Papa decided that there was no future for the family in this restrictive city, and spent what we had left on a boat ticket to the golden-paved land of America. We have been awaiting a letter as excitedly as we await the coming of Messiah, and hope that the message will come with money so we can join him in paradise! April 7, 1894 The letter has finally come! Papa has urged us to join us in New York City where he says that there will be considerably more opportunity and a brighter future for all of us. Unfortunately, we do not have any suitcases, so our family needs to decide which items to carry and which to leave behind. Mama is incredibly sad because she has to leave the kosher silver dining set which she inherited from her grandmother, and has finally understood that she can only carry her beloved Shabbat candlesticks. I will bring the prayer book which I received from my rebbe back when I attended Yeshiva. April 24, 1894 On April 10th, we travelled by wagon to the local train station in Plotzk, and, then, took the train to the port city of Hamburg, Germany. We have now been stuck in the outskirts of Hamburg for two weeks and there is no end in sight. We barely have any money and every day we get less and less food. Even worse, Mama is scared that we might become ill with cholera, which has run rampant through the city, and is the primary reason why we have been marooned in this dreadful place. My sister, Rivki, has begun to catch a fever and I have had to stay away from her for the last 3 days. Mama and I pray every night for her return to health. Furthermore, we are still awaiting the passports which we will need to be cleared before we are allowed on the ship. April 30, 1894 Finally, we have been informed that our passports are ready and that the ship will leave this evening! Rivki is starting to recover and Mama is in town buying bread and grain for the upcoming voyage to America. We have been studying our biographies diligently so that the officers of the ship will let us onboard. I have memorized Papa’s occupation (“tailor”) and American address (“120 Canal Street”), and have learned to answer in the negative to questions regarding past incarceration or affiliation with any groups like anarchists or polygamists (whatever, those mean). Because we have tickets for steerage, Mama told us to prepare ourselves for a difficult journey. May 4, 1894 The conditions on this boat are worse than I could have ever imagined. It feels like I am packed in a sardine can. The air is beyond foul and I almost never see any light. We are told to remain below deck with what feels like 100,000 other passengers. Rivki is scared, but Mama keeps telling us fairy tales about America, which helps distract us from the miserable present. Indeed, she told us, anyone can become rich in America and there would never be any more pogroms or government-induced racism.

References
St. John Crevecoeur, J. (1904). Letters from an American Farmer. New York: Fox, Duffield & company. (Type over this reference; it is just an example) http://strangeside.com/america-immigration-from-russia-personal-story-1894/ http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1979/2/79.02.02.x.html#d

http://www.ohranger.com/ellis-island/immigration-journey

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/relive-boys-journey-america