Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Joseph Klaiman - May 4, 1982

Life in Detroit

Did you have family here? Were you just...

No, no family. I told them that I was working in, in the factories in Germany. I was working in a factory and they said I know a little bit mechanical work. And they sent me--Ford, Ford sent me affi...affidavits. And Ford sent me, I came here. And when I came here I didn't get some Ford job. Okay, the Jewish Hostel was very nice and very beautiful people. They helped me very much, they gave me a house, I mean a home. And they helped me; give me a check every, every week. After three months I found my own job and I told them that I got enough. I made a dollar an hour, it's enough for me to live and I didn't want it no more from them.

Where did you start to work?

I worked in ??? Salami, someplace. Somewhere, you know, a job over there. Then I start and I find a, a job, at Chevrolet here, an excellent man in ???. After this I went in and become a plumber, then I went in my own business in plumbing. Mm, you know I got--I had another child. Then after that I have another child. What can I say about my children to say? I'm a proud father. I got three children. And my one son got married and lives in Houston. The other one is--my daughter is here. And my little one is--very proud of him, he's going to become a doctor. He's three years already in medical school.


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