Lucy Glaser Merritt - July 8, 1991
Decision to Leave
Ah, so it was already on, you were on your way.
Yes, it was already late. And he had, we were trying to get out, we just couldn't. The affidavit took a long time, the uh, cousins here. There were seven in New York and one in Detroit and the ones in New York uh, didn't want the responsibility, which I can understand. And the one in Detroit finally did come up and supply the affidavit. But you had to wait your turn, the quota. They had a quota system then. And my father was on the Czech quota, because he was born in Prague. And so we came, he came here as Czechs.
It was probably easier to get in as a Czech at that point.
It was easier, yeah. It was easier. But they still had to wait a few months. And so they had the affidavit but their quota hadn't come up yet.
When Kristallnacht was, was raging um, your house was. You lived in a house or apartment?
No, an apartment.
Your apartment was left untouched.
Yeah, no, they didn't. Uh, well, they never come, came to our door at all. So it was untouched.
Were other apartments?
Well, they would come through when they pick up the uh, uh, men and kick things over. But they didn't take anything. And some of, some of my friends' homes they did take who lived in some of the fancier districts and had uh, you know, arts object displays, displayed. They would just kick 'em over you know, stomp their foot through.
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