Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Samuel Biegun - February 15, 1983

How did you come to the United States?

First, my, my wife had relatives in Canada, you know. She wanted to go and see the family. So, the time was very bad, I couldn't get a job or anything. But she wanted to uh, she didn't see her sister or brother. She wanted to be with them. So we went to Canada and then we stayed in Canada about six years, then we came to Detroit.

How did you meet your wife?

Uh, we went on the same boat going to Israel. She was in Stuttgart, but I knew her cou...you know, family. So, and we stayed not too far ??? and uh, we were friends with the, you know, we knew the par...uncle and aunt when she stayed there. That's how I met her. She lived two, two streets away. Small world.

So when you left Israel, it was the idea that you were leaving permanently.

Yes.

Did you ever think about going back to live?

Maybe someday. But my parents--I lost my father in '72 and my mother in '80, 1980.

Your brother and sister still live in Israel?

Yes.

You came to Canada. Where did you live in Canada?

Winnipeg, Manitoba. That's where her sister was, you know, then her sister moved to Windsor, so we followed. Then...

Did you work as a....

As a carpenter.

As a carpenter in Winnipeg and in Windsor? Did you live in Windsor at all?

Yes, four years.

Well, how did you make it across the river?

Had to wait for a quota, like a Polish quota and we applied for a visa, you know.

You applied to come--you wanted to come to the United States.

Yes, well originally I wanted to come. And that's the longest my life I stayed in here, almost fourteen years. I never stayed as long in one place.

What are your feelings about the United States?

In what way?

You've live uh, you've lived in Europe, you've lived in Israel, you lived in Canada, you now live in the United States, do you have any specific feelings about living here?

It's, it's a very good country, it's a very good country. Well, the anti-Semitism, you know, which uh, you know, you can't get rid of it. They always don't let you forget that you're a Jew. Wherever you go.

Are you citizens?

No, not yet. Canadian citizens.

You're a citizen of Canada.

Canada.