The following story was taped by Laura Siegel, Cohen’s daughter. Grandma and Grandpa are Siegel’s grandparents.
In 1925 when I was 7, we escaped the pogroms in Russia. A man came at 1 a.m. with a wagon and families piled inside. The snow was very deep and we had to go 50 miles to the border of Poland. We huddled close together to keep warm. Children were crying. Horses tripped. Children fell in the snow and couldn’t be found in the pitch black.
I was wearing three dresses, three slips, three sweaters, three pairs of stocking. Grandpa sewed rings, bracelets, necklaces and a little cash in the lining of his coat.
At the border, we crawled under a train and were safe in Poland. We stayed in a house with a big large black stove in the kitchen. Above the stove hung four chains holding a mattress where Mitzi and I slept. Grandma and Grandpa got straw from the barn and made a bed. We stayed three months until the boat came in to take us to America. We had to give them something every day: jewelry, two silver Kiddush cups, silver spoons, silver knives.
Grandma was pregnant in her fifth month with Uncle Harry and didn’t want to eat anything.
On the boat we never saw so much food. The room was filled with children and we were always hungry. Grandma begged us not to mention hunger or food. At Ellis Island the ships bell rang and we all jumped. We were so happy.