England in Error

The year was 1906, and the cosacks in Russian over-run Poland needed young Jewish men to send to the front.

They stormed through my grandparents' humble shtetl (Yiddish for village), Pultusk, just as my grandmother was lighting the Sabbath candles. My grandparents were newly-wed with one young son and another (my father) on the way. Grandpa's younger brother lived with them. The cossacks were rounding up as many young men as they could that night. They knew the Jews stayed home to observe the Sabbath. Hearing the hoofbeats, my grandmother pushed her young brother-in-law out into the yard, where he was shot by a cossack lying in wait. My grandfather knew it wouldn't be long before they came back for him, and that night, while he sat vigil over his brother's body, he planned his escape.

... but we proudly consider ourselfs bi-nationals...England was good to our family and we'll always refer to it as "home" ...

My grandmother's brother was already living in Chicago, but grandpa only had enough fare money for himself, and only as far as England. He would find a job, save, and eventually the family would join him and they'd move on to the USA.

Two years after fleeing Poland, his wife and two young sons joined him in London's East End. Although they still lived in poverty, they did not feel the constant threat of of religious persecution, and decided to remain in England.

Two more sons were born in the following 5 years, and the grandparents felt secure in the knowledge that two of their sons were true English citizens. Some sixty years later several of the grandchildren (myself included) did move to the United States, but we proudly consider ourselfs bi-nationals...England was good to our family and we'll always refer to it as "home".