Martin Shlanger - March 4, 1983
Immigration to America
At what point did you decide to uh, to leave Czechoslovakia? Were you under a physician's care in Czechoslovakia for your kidney condition?
Yes. Yes, I was under a physician's care as soon as I arrived back home in Czechoslovakia.
And it just kept getting worse until...
It was getting worse until November 1945. I had to be hospitalized with a condition which is called stricture. Narrowing of the passage.
At what point did you decide to leave?
Well, at first um, I had no interest in materialism at all. All I wanted was just a place to sleep and um, have enough to eat. I didn't need anything, yes. But later on, I became materialistic like everybody else. In uh, middle of uh, 1945, I established a uh, business, a hardware business. I didn't go back to school. I just didn't want to go back to school again. And um, in... I was running a hardware business until 1949 when it was nationalized. Then I decided to leave the country. I wrote to my uncle. He sent me the necessary papers and I came to this country.
Where did your uncle live?
In Kansas. Small town in Kansas.
Did you go to Kansas?
No, I did not.
Came here to Detroit?
Came here to Detroit. I had a cousin over here and my cousin didn't want I should go to a small town in Kansas.
So, you became an American citizen?
In nineteen... November 1954.
Five years after you... ?
Five years after, yes. Exactly five years after I arrived, I became a US citizen.
Have you ever gone back to Europe?
Yes, I did.
When did this happen?
Um, first time in '65. Second time in '71, '70 or '71.
In '65 did you go to Czechoslovakia?
Yes, I did. I still have my brother living in Czechoslovakia.
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