By the age of 18, N, overcame obstacles most people in this country will never endure. N grew up in Eastern Europe and survived being Jewish during World War II and then suffered living under a brutal communist regime after his country was liberated by the Russians. When he was 18, he risked his life by escaping his home country, crossing the border by foot into neighboring country , and then going to America.
In communist era of his country there were many restrictions that deteriorated its citizens’ quality of life. His American Dream was to escape the hardship and cruelty of the communist government and attend college. “I felt that the American political system is far superior to the communists so that was also one driving force to leave the country because it was terrible to live under the communists.”
After successfully crossing the border into neighboring country, N met a student from an American university who persuaded him to go to America. The student gushed about how great American life and universities were. Thereafter, N applied for a visa at the American Embassy to enter the United States.
“I felt that the American political system is far superior to the communists so that was also one driving force to leave the country because it was terrible to live under the communists.”
He explains, “I came to this country, penniless, without my parents, and spoke broken English.” After arriving in the U.S., he temporarily spent time at a holding place for students at a northeast university, and took an intensive English course. He then applied and interviewed at an Ivy league university and received a small scholarship. He spent six years working tirelessly to excel in school and keep a part time job in order to support himself, eventually earning his Ph.D.
After a tremendous amount of hard work, N got a job in oil industry and worked there for 30 years until retirement. When reflecting back on the past, he recalls that, “It wasn’t a straight line. I come back to my early college days here, and I was so poor that I couldn’t afford a second sandwich and I was hungry. It gave me an appreciation of the value of having the capability to afford things.”
N feels his American Dream has been fulfilled. He met his spouse in New York state, who also escaped their home country during a revolution; they have been married for 60 years. “I have now two wonderful daughters and four wonderful grandchildren and I hope their life will be as happy as what we’ve ultimately achieved,” he says.
“It was a difficult period to grow up. First the fascists, and then the communists… going through both types of government there toughened me up and made me mature very early and that in a sense helped me in my future years.”
N came to this country with an outside perspective of the American Dream. He came to this country penniless, without his family, with an accent, and with a dream to go to college and have basic freedoms and rights that his country did not offer at the time. His life is truly an immigrant’s American Dream success story.
N is..
- 82 Years-Old
- Male
- Jewish
- Upper Middle Class
