Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Anna Greenberger - August 24, 1982

Planning to Move to the United States

In meantime, through somebody we got another house. A German Jew lived there and he died, so the house was empty. It was four rooms. And I was working, cooking for that family--two bachelors, and I sewed for money in the house for two wealthy families. They got us that house. But we couldn't pay for the whole house, so we took--the head house took that Barry, who helped us.

Mm-hm.

He paid and we paid. So he had a room and a kitchen and I had a room--we had. So I don't want to make it very long, but in the meantime we asked for the papers from NATO to American Embassy. And they looked through the papers and they said, "Your number--quota is due to the United States a long time ago. If you have tickets, you can go right away." So we didn't have money to pay tickets. I don't want to bring you up another terrible thing and then I don't, because what we went through. Finally we couldn't get to a paper to go out from the country. You have to live there two years to get a visa to go out...

Exit papers?

...and we were there twenty months. And I went--we had attorney, a Paraguayan who I baked and uh, I give him salamis and stuff--he arranged from the police chief. And one man who we got the address. See this was first in Argentina--he was a Jewish man--a Russian Jew. He was the only man who helped the Jews. He was an excellent person. He was--man, I tell you, he was very wealthy. He had an import car dealership. He was very wealthy. He lived in a villa. Once we--so I bring from--so we were ready to go to United States. I was for two months going to the uh, ex...the exit to the visa, they should sign for me date. And I was going and going and going and they promised always, "Mañana." They didn't. And I went to the pres...

[interruption in interview]


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