Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Ben Moche - April 24, 2009

Civilian life, yeah. So uh, what did you do after you lived, how, when did you um, become, what made you come to America?

Well I had some personal problems.

Problems, okay.

Right.

Okay. And um, you got married, have children?

Right.

Yeah. What, how many uh, is your wife an Israeli?

No.

She's, she's American?

My wife was born here in on Dexter.

Duh, okay. And how many children do you have?

I have two.

2 children, okay. And what are their names?

Uh, Joel.

Joel.

J-O-E-L.

Uh-huh. And what does he do for a living?

Uh, right now he's kind of unemployed...

Yeah.

Because we closing the business.

I'm sorry, yeah. And your other child?

My other one is, is Amy.

Amy, uh-huh. And uh, what does she do for...

She, she has a profession but she is not working. She's a home wife, she doesn't have to work.

And how many uh, grandchildren do you have?

Four.

Four.

Two and two.

Two and two, okay. And what, what did you do for a living yourself?

I, I owned, and I still do, I, I'm about to liquidate a tool and die shop.

Oh.

I have an engineering, mechanical engineering background.

Ah. How did you learn this uh, field uh, mechanical engineering?

Well, when I was 14...

Mm-hm.

You know, at that time in Israel, high school was optional.

Uh-huh.

You had to pay for high school.

I see.

So, since my parents couldn't afford to pay for high school and we weren't poor enough to get, you know, support from the government. We, we weren't rich enough to, to have enough money, I went to work when I was 14.

Wow.

And I got all my education in the evening.

Oh wow. So that's where you learned mechanical engineering?

Yeah, well yeah, I, I started hands on.

Hands on.

Yeah, I uh, I worked in a shop and I ran a lathe and all kinds of equipment.

Mm-hm.

And then I went over. And then when I came to this country...

Mm-hm.

You know, I knew somebody in Detroit that owned uh, stamping plant, and I got in to the die business.

Got it. And when, when did you come to America?

In August of '67.