Letter From Munich, 1953

Dear Jay,

It’s over a half a year now, since we stood on that ship to say goodby. You asked me to write and I promised to do so. To tell you the truth I hesitated because I did not want to be carried away with my feelings. I was a very disappointed man, not because of the court proceedings, the prison, ect. but because of my so called friends, the last days in the Union, the way Georgette was treated and Sindeys promises were certainly an agony to go through with. If you took away the carfare from the collection money for Georgette, she could not have existed on the support. She took the bus only to save money and she could have visited me more often but $30 was too much. Many a guest of Local 6 was more expensive that all the Local spend. You certainly cannot count the court and lawyers expenses of which nothing came to me. I am sure I saved many others a lot of troubles and I could have had an easy way out. All those that knew my dilemma from the beginning and insisted on holding the fort have certainly some obligations. All ratting came from within the International as you know. O yes I was in Dachau the other day and some fellows seem to know a certain Dutchman’s past his name was Hausend and later Hownsend. Very interesting how he became anti Nazi all of a sudden.

Since I am here I was mostly busy with my affairs. The only political demonstration I witnessed was May 1st. Somehow I was drenched by the police after the big meeting. It was very interesting and reminded me on the early days on Union Square. The water was easyer than theirs and the police men were rather hesitating but efficient. There was less of the bunch of foreigner attitude. I had lots of problems with my papers, also to find a place to stay for me and Georgette. The temporary room with my mother and sister could not be counted on. My mother is 86 and a sick person. Her mind is in her childhood as she has a hardening of the arteries. She does not recognize me any more only from the past she remembers. Rooms are scarce and expensive. They wanted from 200 to 400 marks a month for a furnished place. I finally arranged with my brother to let me built a big room in his house. What a job to get permission but all was ready when Georgette came although most of it was built illegal. So we have a room with all the comfort. We raise chickens, have our eggs, our vegetables, our fruits. I get the food wholesale. We are managing. The building and all the expenses since we left amount to $7000, so we are now depending on the income from the Flushing mortgage of 82.50 a month which is fine if nothing happens. It seems that the old age pension I counted on is very questionable. I can always take care of myself as you said but it is an irony that I fought far far back for pension and security, I had it on the old Hotelworker program in 1917 and now I have such a tight squeeze. Hugo Ernst did not object to 50 a week that time. And the testimonial. He wanted me to get a body guard so everything could be safely transferred. Lehman in Local 1 gets 25 a week. So some of our officers realize what price I am paying. I was not impressed by that editorial in Local 6 about me. It was carefully worded that I had something to do with the Hotel Workers but it did not need Local 89 to answer 15. Did I not serve time before in fighting injunctions. Those were 20 years before 6 and we always had a Union. Even my wife worked and my children saw me in jail when they were 6 years old. That a blackmailer like Ventura should get a job is not understandable to me in my old fashioned Union concept. That fruit basket presented by Herman was certainly a joke. Anybody traveling on a Swedish ship knows that you get all the fruit and canned fish you want and candy is poison for me as a diabetic person. The Swedish stewardesses send their thanks, as I did not want trouble with the rostrum duties. I would have liked the money much better and could use it. I had some troubles about my papers – first my registration, had to trace my ancestors 3 generations, then I needed my identification card. Had to see the Chief Justice of the Bavarian Court and the Police Commissioner, ect. Luckily my brother is well known. To get my passport I had to go to Bonn. American pressure was there all over and after 3 months I got it. By the way Kay’s brother is in a real top position. He is nat’l President of the Government employees and has access all over. Finally I became a divisininlandzerman. I can work, get a job, have a car. They had my money stopped in the bank until I passed all that. I need a briefcase just to carry my papers with me. I wanted to drive a car and had to go to auto drivers school and pass a police test with all sorts of theoretical questions. Everything the hard way. MY New York license was canceled, me being a felon. One thing the German union officials were very nice and were concerned if I needed assistance. They offered direct help which I would be ashamed to take. I must say that the generous help of Local 89 had helped to provide me with a few comforts.

So you have an idea how I feel and what I do. My best regards to all friends and I will get around to write a few soon. Hoping you are in good health.