Selma Rich - July 17, 1984
Immigration
And from it, in the kibbutz came American, Dave Levin. When asked if my husband, Henry Reich, could work for them in the uh, in the, the ??? magazine means, for the, in the clothing what they used to give out. So we had, we asked the kibbutz and they say yes, they are happy. And they asked me if I could teach people which would like to go to Israel, Hebrew. They will pick me up and they will bring me back, because it was quite far from the camp and I was pregnant there, then. So I couldn't walk that far. So both of us were working. And everything what we used to receive we used to give away in the kibbutz. In kibbutz was a beautiful life for us, was a cultural life. There was all kind of things to do. We had photography. They had a, made furniture. And they supported themselves. It was about two hundred and fifty young people. And we had a school, a high school there. And we had a higher school, which I learned there too, to, to learn more than I knew. And it was a beautiful cultural life. But they didn't let me go to Israel because of my condition, because we had to go illegal. It was very hard circumstances to, to go. So I was crying that I don't want to be on the German soil, because when I hear the German language I felt that every stone is killed my blood. So Dave Levin, who is a cousin from, from uh, the Senator Levin, came over to us, it was Passover time and asked if we would like to go to the United States. And I was thinking he's joking. I say, you cannot make a better joke? He say, I mean it, I am serious because people like you United States need. Because you're honest, decent and I care for you. I say, even I will have to go to Israel through the United States, I would love to go away from here. And do you believe that the last day from Pesach they called us to the, to the American Consul to interview us and a week later we were in ???. You know there you have to stay for two weeks to see if we are...
[interruption in interview]
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