28 Colleen Hall

Narrative Summary

Camilla Welke was born in Pernau, Hungary in 1940.  However, Camilla says that she is German because she speaks German, and the countries were “all messed up” at the time.  During this time, Hungary and Germany were allies in the battles of World War II, and German troops were often moving through Hungary to invade and fight other countries.  Camilla explained that the people in her town thought of themselves as German.  During World War II, Camilla’s father was fighting in the war on Hungary’s side, which she wanted to make very clear.  She wanted it to be clear that her “father was not a Nazi.”  While her father was away at war, she and her mother lived alone on their farm in Pernau.  Camilla and her mother survived well on their own by raising livestock and growing grapes and selling wine, milk and other dairy products in town.  They were not wealthy by any means, but they were able to eat and stay safe.

In 1946, a piece of paper was posted in town where everyone would see stating that all Germans must leave town immediately because Germany had lost the war.  So, at six years old, Camilla was forced to leave her family’s farm with only her mother because her father was still at war.  Russians began invading homes and stealing livestock until families would leave.  Camilla witnessed her deaf, elderly neighbor get shot by a Russian because she could not hear his orders.  Luckily, the Welke women were able to leave without any physical harm done.  They were not able to bring much, although she says, “we didn’t have much to bring. We were poor.”  Her mother was able to carry a “trunk with some clothing, some photos, and a bottle of wine from the vineyard.”  There were two trains that were leaving, and the whole town was piling onto both of them without knowing where they were going.  Camilla later found out that one train would go to Germany, and the other would go to Russia. Camilla and her mother luckily got onto the train that went to Germany where they would find her father.  She thinks that “if we had gotten on the other train, we would have never made it to America.”  Nevertheless, Camilla got on the right train, and she lived in Germany with her mother, father, two grandparents, and soon her sister from 1946 until 1951.  Camilla’s sister was born in 1948 and was only a toddler at the time of their immigration. Her mother worked at a mill, and her father worked in a factory to support the family.  The Welke family heard about the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, so Camilla’s father applied for permanent residence under the act and was granted it for the family.  In 1951, the family left for America in a big boat, which Camilla describes as “military-style, not a fancy cruise ship or a yacht.”  The family was assigned a “sponsor,” who would meet them as they got off of the boat to assist them in the resettlement process in America. They arrived on New Year’s Day in New York, which was crowded with people for the holiday.  Due to the mass amounts of people, they had to remain on the boat another day.  Unfortunately, their sponsor did not wait another day for them, so they had to find a new sponsor in order to be resettled somewhere.  Camilla reiterated that this whole process was very difficult for her parents because they did not speak English at all.  They soon found a new sponsor, who could set them up in a hotel until they were permanently resettled.  Luckily, they were contacted by friends who had already resettled in Chicago.  They asked their sponsor to find them somewhere in Illinois, and they eventually moved to Alma, Illinois.

Camilla remembers a funny, yet frustrating story from soon after moving to the United States.  Her mother had always made noodles from scratch in Germany, but when they moved to America, she sent Camilla and her father to the supermarket to buy noodles.  Feeling skeptical about their assigned task, they went to the supermarket only to run into a couple of problems.  First of all, they had never been to a supermarket before.  Second, they did not know what noodles looked like.  Finally, they did not know how to ask anyone in English where the noodles were.  Camilla and her father wandered around the supermarket for a while until they ended up in the cereal aisle.  They ended up finding shredded wheat cereal, which they agreed looked the most like noodles.  Camilla’s mother was not pleased, but it was a learning moment for everyone.

I asked Camilla what the hardest part of moving to America was for her, and she said it was initially the language barrier.  However, she quickly became upset about the immigration system in America.  She was obviously young at the time of her arrival, but she perceived America to be open to all, and she has not seen that in her almost 70 years living here.  She is empathetic towards those that face immigration struggles today.  She said she really “feels for” and “understands” those that have to leave their country, both legally and illegally.  While she was able to leave her country legally, she understands that some situations are so serious and the opportunities to leave are not always available.  She said if it weren’t for the Displaced Persons Act, she probably wouldn’t have been able to leave legally.

Camilla is a funny, empathetic, independent, and head-strong 80-year old woman who saw brutality, poverty, and injustice during a young age.  Despite the hardships she and her family have faced in their lifetimes, Camilla continues to see the best in everyone she meets and treats everyone with respect every day.

Personal Reflection

I interviewed Camilla Welke, my stepfather’s cousin, who is 80 years old from Hungary.  She currently lives alone in Illinois since her husband died a couple years ago.  We are not technically related, but she still acts like my grandmother.  So, calling her for an interview naturally consisted of many conversations about school, family, love prospects, and the future.  However, when I finally got her to talk about her childhood and her migration story, she seemed to be nervous and excited to reminisce.  I could tell that she has not talked about that part of her life in detail in a while.  The only other person alive that has experienced that journey with her is her sister, and she was a baby when they moved to America.  When I asked her if she had anything that she brought with her from Germany, she initially said that they were unable to bring anything besides some clothes and one bottle of wine from their vineyard.  However, when she remembered that they had brought some photos, she got excited to look through them.  She found her First Communion picture along with some other photos of her from a young age and her family that made her laugh and cry.  This was one of the most significant facts from the interview because I realized the impact that a photo can have on a person. I was able to understand how the photos from Camilla’s childhood brought back feelings of grief, nostalgia, joy, and pain. It made me wonder how I would feel if I looked at my childhood photos at this point in my life.

Camilla’s stories were slightly hard to follow at times because there were details that she assumed that I would know.  She warned me that it may be confusing because the status of Hungary was changing during her childhood years, and she said it was hard to explain.  For example, she claimed, and still does claim, that she is German because her “mother tongue” is German, but she did not necessarily want to be considered German in relation to World War II and “Nazi Germany,” which is understandable. I did not think it was necessarily sensitive to press her on this subject, and to ask her whether she was German or Hungarian.  That was a significant life lesson that I learned while interviewing Camilla.  It is not up to me to decide whether she is right or wrong, what nationality she is, or anything about her life because it was her life and nobody else’s.  No one can tell her that she is wrong in the facts from her childhood or her migration story.  She is one of the few people who lived it and experienced it.  I will definitely keep that in mind when interacting with others because it is important to allow others to have control over their own lives.

There were many times that I had to ask clarifying questions after one of Camilla’s long stories because she would leave out details that I would not necessarily know.  However, she was always ready to fill me in with whatever details that I missed. It always seemed like there was more information or more stories to be told.  For example, when I would ask a clarifying question, Camilla would add significantly more detail to the story, which made me feel like I was missing a lot of details from all of her other stories.  That was another significant fact that I learned from interviewing Camilla: if you don’t ask, she won’t necessarily tell.  I could have missed out on a lot of important information because I didn’t think to ask a certain question.  It made me realize that it is important to ask for and go after what you want, or else you won’t get it.  Similarly, if Camilla’s family did not ask for citizenship in the United States, they never would have gotten it.

Camilla has always been kind and warmhearted, yet stubborn and strong-willed as long as I have known her.  I knew that Camilla and her family was from Germany, and I knew they were forced to leave.  However, I did not know the extent of the danger, fear, and confusion that came with their forced migration and resettlement.  Talking to Camilla made me gain a lot of respect for her because she is able to be a kind and compassionate person despite every horrible thing that she has been through.