Sonia Pressman Fuentes

Remarks of Sonia Pressman Fuentes
At the International Press Conference
In Connection with the Opening of the Red Star Line Museum
Sept. 24, 2013, 10:30 a.m.
Red Star Line Museum
Antwerp, Belgium
 
 
     GOOD MORNING.
   
    ALMOST EIGHTY YEARS AGO, AFTER FLEEING FROM NAZI GERMANY WITH MY PARENTS AND BROTHER, I, THEN A CHILD OF FIVE, STOOD AT THE WATER’S EDGE NEAR WHERE WE ARE MEETING THIS AFTERNOON WITH MY PARENTS AND BROTHER. THEN, WE DEPARTED ON THE RED STAR LINE’S S.S. WESTERNLAND II BOUND FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
 
    AND NOW I AM BACK--DUE TO THE INVITATION AND GENEROSITY OF THE RED STAR LINE MUSEUM STAFF AND THE CITY OF ANTWERP--TO COMMEMORATE THAT DEPARTURE AND THAT OF TWO MILLION OTHER IMMIGRANTS ON RED STAR LINE SHIPS. 
 
    PERHAPS I CAN EXPLAIN MY FEELINGS BEST BY QUOTING A YIDDISH SAYING: “AS MEN LEBT, DERLEBT MEN ALLES.” [“IF YOU LIVE LONG ENOUGH, YOU GET TO EXPERIENCE EVERYTHING.”]
 
    I WAS BORN IN BERLIN, GERMANY, OF POLISH JEWISH PARENTS IN 1928.  WITH MY PARENTS AND OLDER BROTHER, HERMANN, I FLED THE NAZI REGIME TO ANTWERP IN MID-JULY  OF 1933. NINE MONTHS LATER, WE BOARDED THE RED STAR LINE’S S.S.WESTERNLAND, ARRIVING IN THE U.S. ON MAY 1, 1934.
 
    IN THE U.S., I BECAME A  LAWYER, A PUBLIC SPEAKER, AN AUTHOR, AND ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE SECOND WAVE OF THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT. 
 
    MY BIRTH IN GERMANY AND OUR ESCAPE FROM THE HOLOCAUST WERE ALWAYS  IMPORTANT PARTS OF MY LIFE, BUT I HAD VIEWED ANTWERP AS A WAY STATION BETWEEN GERMANY AND THE U.S.--UNTIL 2009.
 
    IN OCTOBER 2009, I WAS READING A COLUMN IN THE ENGLISH EDITION OF THE FORWARD, A WEEKLY AMERICAN NEWSPAPER TARGETED TO JEWS, WHEN I NOTICED A PARAGRAPH STATING THAT A NEW MUSEUM WAS SLATED TO OPEN IN ANTWERP DEDICATED TO IMMIGRATION AND THE RED STAR LINE. I WONDERED IF I SHOULD WRITE TO THE STAFF OF THIS NEW MUSEUM TELLING THEM THAT I HAD COME TO THE US ON ONE OF THEIR SHIPS. THAT’S RIDICULOUS, I THOUGHT. MILLIONS OF PEOPLE TRAVELED ON THE RED STAR LINE. WHY WOULD THEY CARE THAT I WAS ONE OF THEM?  BUT THEN I THOUGHT: WHAT HAVE I GOT TO LOSE?
 
    SO I SENT AN EMAIL TO THE MUSEUM AND RECEIVED A RESPONSE FROM LUC VERHEYEN, PROJECT COORDINATOR OF THE MUSEUM, ASKING ME TO PROVIDE SOME DETAILS ON MY FAMILY’S AND MY CONNECTION TO THE RED STAR LINE. A CORRESPONDENCE ENSUED RESULTING IN A VISIT TO MY CONDO IN SARASOTA, FLORIDA, IN DECEMBER 2010 BY MANDY NAUWELAERTS, THEN A CONSULTANT TO THE MUSEUM, AND MARIO DE MUNCK, A FILMMAKER RETAINED BY THE MUSEUM, TO CONDUCT A FILMED INTERVIEW OF ME. MANDY BROUGHT WITH HER PICTURES SHE HAD TAKEN OF THE ORTHODOX JEWISH NEIGHBORHOOD IN ANTWERP WHERE MY FAMILY HAD LIVED AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF DOCUMENTS INVOLVING MY FAMILY THAT SHE HAD FOUND DURING HER EXTENSIVE RESEARCH IN THE ANTWERP AND BRUSSELS ARCHIVES.
   
    THE MUSEUM STAFF INVITED ME TO BE THEIR GUEST NOT ONLY AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING THIS MONTH BUT ALSO IN SEPTEMBER 2011 TO SEE HOW THINGS WERE PROGRESSING.
   
    MUCH OF THE INFORMATION MANDY GAVE ME I HAD NEVER KNOWN BEFORE. I DID NOT KNOW:
  • THAT IN 1933, NO ONE IN MY FAMILY HAD THE LEGAL RIGHT TO BE IN BELGIUM;
  • THAT MY BROTHER WAS FRANTICALLY FILLING OUT APPLICATIONS FOR US TO BE GIVEN VISAS PERMITTING US TO REMAIN IN BELGIUM; AND
  • THAT ROBERT DE FOY, HEAD OF THE SÛRETÉ PUBLIQUE, HAD DENIED THOSE APPLICATIONS AND ORDERED THE FEDERAL POLICE TO DEPORT US TO POLAND, WHERE BOTH MY PARENTS HAD BEEN BORN BUT HADN’T LIVED IN TWENTY YEARS. HAD WE BEEN DEPORTED, WE WOULD SURELY HAVE GONE TO OUR DEATHS. 
    LATER, I GOT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM FRANK CAESTECKER, A PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GHENT AND AN EXPERT ON REFUGEES FROM NAZI GERMANY IN BELGIUM DURING THE 1930S. THE MUSEUM STAFF HAD KINDLY ARRANGED FOR ME TO MEET WITH PROFESSOR CAESTECKER WHEN I VISITED THE BRUSSELS ARCHIVES IN SEPTEMBER 2011. HE AND I SPENT HOURS TOGETHER IN THE ARCHIVES DURING WHICH TIME HE WENT OVER EVERY PAGE IN MY FAMILY’S FILE WITH ME, TRANSLATED EACH DOCUMENT,  AND EXPLAINED WHAT IT MEANT.
 
       DURING MY SEPTEMBER 2011 VISIT TO ANTWERP, THE FIRST TIME I’D BEEN BACK SINCE 1934, THE MUSEUM ALSO ARRANGED FOR POLA ADLER, A VOLUNTEER AT THE MUSEUM AND A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, AS I AM, TO TAKE ME ON A TOUR OF THE ORTHODOX NEIGHBORHOOD IN ANTWERP WHERE MY FAMILY HAD LIVED IN 1933-4.   AMAZINGLY, WE LEARNED THAT POLA HAD LIVED IN THE SAME APARTMENT BUILDING IN THE EARLY 1950S!
       
    SINCE MY INITIAL CONTACT WITH THE MUSEUM, I HAVE BEEN IN COMMUNICATION WITH PHILIP HEYLEN, ANTWERP’S VICE MAYOR FOR CULTURE; WITH LUC VERHEYEN; WITH MANDY; WITH MARIO DE MUNCK, THE FILMMAKER WHO MADE A 3-MINUTE VIDEO ABOUT ME FOR SHOWING AT THE MUSEUM; WITH BRAM BEELEART, THE MUSEUM’S MAIN HISTORIAN; AND WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF THE MUSEUM STAFF. THESE CONTACTS SHED LIGHT ON A CHAPTER OF MY LIFE ABOUT WHICH I HAD PREVIOUSLY KNOWN LITTLE. 
   
    I ALSO LEARNED ABOUT THE RED STAR LINE.  I LEARNED THAT THE RED STAR LINE HAD BEEN IN OPERATION FROM 1873 UNTIL CHANGES IN ITS ORGANIZATION OCCURRED IN 1934. DURING THE SIXTY YEARS OF ITS TRANSATLANTIC OPERATIONS, THE LINE BROUGHT ABOUT 2.5 MILLION PEOPLE FROM ITS HOME PORT OF ANTWERP, AS WELL AS FROM OTHER PORTS IN EUROPE, TO THE US AND CANADA, OR FROM THE US AND CANADA TO EUROPE.
   
    ABOUT A QUARTER OF THE PASSENGERS WHO TRAVELED TO THE US AND CANADA FROM EUROPE OR FROM THE US AND CANADA TO EUROPE WERE JEWS.  AMONG THE PROMINENT JEWS WHO CAME TO THE US ON RED STAR LINE SHIPS WERE ALBERT EINSTEIN, IRVING BERLIN, GOLDA MEIR, AND THE BOY WHO LATER BECAME ADMIRAL HYMAN RICKOVER. ALL OF THEM EXCEPT EINSTEIN CAME AS CHILDREN. 
   
    I AM, OF COURSE,  GRATEFUL AND FORTUNATE BEYOND WORDS TO HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE MILLIONS OF PASSENGERS WHO TRAVELED TO THE US AND CANADA ON RED STAR LINE SHIPS. MY FAMILY’S VOYAGE SAVED OUR LIVES AND ENABLED  US TO EMBARK UPON NEW LIVES IN THE UNITED STATES.
   
     I AM ALSO GRATEFUL FOR THE OPPORTUNITY THE RED STAR LINE MUSEUM STAFF HAS GIVEN ME TO EXPRESS MY APPRECIATION THIS MORNING.
   
    THANK YOU.
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©2013 Sonia Pressman Fuentes