Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

• Contents
• Map

Miriam Troostwyk - May 28, 1998 and June 3, 1999

In Switzerland, that's right. You told me that. Well, that's, that's another story I should get from him, probably.

And uh, well then uh, we were uh, engaged in ...52. And then my family uh, half a year later, said, "We want to immigrate to the USA." So I said, "Why are you going to the USA? Well, with Korea, all the trouble and..."

Uh-huh.

"we don't want uh, a second--uh, a third world war and we are scared. And uh, our little girl is now six or seven years and there are only Jewish boys here in the village and I want that she has a more Jewish people to, uh..."

This is your sisters?

Yes.

Okay, uh-huh.

"And that she has a Jewish environment." Uh, and so they said, "Are you coming with me?" I said, "Yeah, I go too. But I like it very much, I love it in Holland and I love my job and I have a nice boyfriend and--but where you go..."

Yeah.

where my mother goes, I go.

Yeah.

But I didn't want to go, inside, so very much. So uh, before we got engaged, I said to my husband uh, well, I didn't know it was my husband yet--that, "I'm going to immigrate to the USA." And I told him the story and he said uh, "Well maybe I immigrate too."

[laughs]

I said, "Well, I'm not so into it." "Well," he said, "you know, um, you can stay here too."

Or you can ???.

I said, "No, I'm not staying without being married." I said, "I don't do that, because my family never wanted me to stay in another apartment than at home."

Uh-huh.

"I'm not the type to live alone in an apartment. I feel unhappy. And I have no family here. I have no uncle, no aunt--aunts, no family. I will be very lonely. And I don't know, maybe uh, we can't get along about something and then I will stay here." I said, "That's not a good idea." I said, "I'm going to the States, whether I like it or not, I want to be with my family. And if we are meant for each other, you come and you--come to the States and you--or I come to Holland or you stay with me, whatever you want. But I'm going away. Okay?" So then we were engaged and uh, then my husband said, you know what we do? We are going to marry right before they leave, in 1953. So we were engaged for one and a half year.

Hm.

And he said, "I go in the business for my father and you want to stay here, I want to stay here too." And we stay here. So--and that is what happened.

That's how it happened. Um, I, I 'm--we're going to have to stop for to...for today.

Yeah.

I, I would like to conclude this in um, in September, maybe, um.

Yeah.

in December, it's...

Yeah.

Um...