Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

• Contents
• Map

Sally Tuchklaper - March 2, 1983

What made you decide to leave that area?

I knew I had two uncles in the United States. My mother's two brothers. And my husband started to work for the Americans in Landsberg. He worked, before I met him, in the kitchen. In truth, he got to know the soldier that got acquainted very much. He found this address for us for my uncle in New York and we start to write each other. So, [pause] he said that he's gonna try to do his best to take us out of there. Then it came a company from Montreal. It was called the, the Workman's uh, what was it called? They needed tailors. Montreal needed tailors. So they came to Germany to our camp--to Munich. They came to Munich and they was transported to our camp. They want tailors. So my husband volunteered because he was a tailor. And we--they took him right away. And we were volunteers left with the first boat went out Bremerhaven to Montreal. We were on it.

How long did you stay in Montreal?

Five years.

Did you remain in contact with your sisters at this point?

Yes. My sister married in Mon...in Landsberg, too, but I left first, then she left for Israel. She left for Israel and I went for, for Canada. And at the time that I left my sister arrived from Sweden--came in. She was already in Landsberg, too, in Germany.

Then you missed seeing her.

I missed seeing her 'til I met her in America. In--I mean, Montreal when she arrived. She mar...she married in Landsberg, too. She married in Landsberg, too. And then she came in [pause] maybe three years later, she came to United States in a transport, too. So, I met her for the first time when she was here in the United States she came to see me to Montreal.

Can you describe that reunion?

Too emotional. That I saw my sister for the first...

After all those years, I'm sure it was very emotional. Did she have any word about any other members of the family...

No.

...for you? And of all the relatives in Radom...

We had one cousin we found. And she lives in Israel now ???.

Can you estimate approximately how many members of your family...

Hundreds.

Hundreds?

Maybe more.

Did not survive?

No.

What made you and your husband decide to come to the United States?

My husband found uh, an aunt here in Detroit. She was the only one left. His father's sister. And we applied for a visa in Montreal to go to the United States. So we had to wait the Polish court for five years. And when we received it, we took the chance and we came.