We stayed in Vienna for four in a half years. Zeida made good business there. And I’ll tell you how. Austria was torn up between the Russian and American armies that occupied at that time Austria. Anyways, so he got acquainted in Vienna, the city was divided between those armies. He somehow got acquainted with a big shot in the Russian army. He gave him a paper permitting him to go to the Russian zone and buy some lumber, which he transferred to Italy and made nice profits.
But how… you know, they were enemies at that time. The Americans with the Russians. There was a lot of spying going on. You know those days, after the war. Somehow he made nice money there.
So we came to America on the Queen Elizabeth.
Not like the other refugees came, in cattle boats and stuff. We came luxury. Bought a nice new car, and a house. And he started building.
He got sick somehow, Zeida, and he tried very hard to learn English. He asked around, how he should tell the doctor what hurts him. Speaking to the Yiddish speaking refugees who came many years back.
To make it short, he came to the office, to the doctor, and he said like this.
Mister doctor, I have a stomach headache.
It’s one of the sweet stories of us being newcomers.