Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Lanka Ilkow - October 12, 1991

Relatives in America

Did you ha...did you also go to Scranton?

No, no, I come to Detroit because I had an aunt here. My father's sister. This was my mother's sister in Scranton. So we come here. I wish he wouldn't bring us here. From New York she paid the highest--would send us anyplace we wanted. But she sent uh, for the fare with the train to come to Detroit. So we come here.

And you had a child already? A girl?

Yeah, yeah, my daughter was uh, two-year old. Yeah, she was two in August and then we come in December. So uh, she was just a cute little girl--I'll show you a picture. She was so cute and she had a knitted uh, dress you know, and she was dark haired like the father. My husband is dark. So uh, he has no hair now, [laughs] but he was dark. And uh, so everybody was grabbing her in Sweden you know, buying her stuff. I come with the streetcar through the city and go off, I want to go uh, big department store, Gilbert's. And a woman came and she says, "Oh can I buy her something?" You know. And she took her, it was a whole section with dolls. She said, "Whatever you want select." But she selected a tiny doll. She didn't want to--the woman was upset, she said, "No I want to buy you a big doll." No she wanted a little doll. And uh, everybody was grabbing her, buying her chocolate, buying her things. And uh, when we come here to America nobody was grabbing my Beverly and uh, you know.


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