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Lisette LeMerise
HON 1000 Sec. 504

December 11th, 1922

Im not the type of person to journal, but I think after all this time, I have to write this down.

After all that Ive been through, part of me that wants to tell the world about it, for better or for

worse. After all, thats what my cousin Arnold did, which ultimately inspired me to come to

America in 1921 in the first place. That, on top of the fact that Germany was falling to pieces,

and I had to get out while I still had the chance. I dont regret leaving Germany, nor do I regret

the new life Ive built. However, America, and especially the city, is not entirely all I expected it

to be.

You see, my name is Marcus Huth, and I came to Ellis Island in 1921 with 61,000 other

German immigrants just like me (Detroit Free Press 11). Well, they may not be exactly like me.

I got the impression that most Germans came to America to escape the crippling mess of poverty

that is post-Great War Germany and its super inflation (Rippley 208). However, I wouldnt

know for sure, since the entire boat ride I was engrossed in an article I found in an old

newspaper. It was a portion of a book by Kurt Aram describing his experience as a German

immigrant to America, and how hed nearly gotten killed because, as the article claimed, he was

too green in this country (Detroit Free Press 1). I was terrified. If Aram, a famous German

writer, couldnt survive with the money he made, or even get a job as a typewriter because he

didnt know English well enough (Detroit Free Press 1), how was I going to survive?

I found that I had to remind myself about why I was coming to America. In part, I was

hitching along with the bandwagon that was chain migration (Rippley 210), in which

immigrants like ourselves joined already established immigrants in the United States. A few
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years back, my cousin Arnold wrote to me from New York City about his successes, and that he

wanted me to work in his delicatessen. At the time, I was young and naive, declining his offer in

hopes of working on my education. However, unbeknownst to me, there was to be a war in

Germany that I was forced to be a part of (Rippley 208), and that ended that correspondence.

That was, until I received another letter from him in 1920 claiming he had effectively

transformed his delicatessen into a complete restaurant, otherwise known as Reubens Restaurant

and Delicatessen (Manoff 1). I knew that, if I truly wanted to escape the poverty the Great War

inflicted on Germany, I would have to take up his offer. Therefore, I would not be like Aram, or

what I presumed to be many other German immigrants around me. I had a job already secured,

and a life waiting for me.

However, in New York my situation changed drastically. I found myself in a paradoxical

state of wonder and disgust, and I was flooded with the overstimulation of one too many people

jostling within the confined area of Ellis Island. Ironically, I found the general American to be

quite rude, even to one with such light, Aryan skin as myself (Detroit Free Press 11). Its the

Negros that most Americans have a problem with. Why were they so rude to us Germans too? I

wasnt precisely sure, until I discovered a poster just outside of the luggage checking location.

Instantly, I was furious. How could this state, as a representation of all the supposed acceptance

in this country, allow for the promotion of banning the German language from American schools

(Rippley 211)? I remember thinking too, that if this was the current mentality, they must be

persecuting us in other ways of life, even within employment and real-estate. They must not

want the German language. The trouble was, as educated as I was, I did not know much English.

Before the war, our Emperor tried to instill English into our school curriculum (The Times 8).
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However, the idea was limited at best, and most Germans remained illiterate anyway. I

remember feeling appalled, but also a sense of dread toward New York and America. I the

Germans must remind them of the war I said, more shaken than ever. Then, I decided,

I wont stay here. Maybe, just maybe, if I head out westward, where there arent daily waves of

foreigners, the people will be more welcoming.

Sure, I was fairly wrong, but I will never fault myself for trying. You see, I meant to move to

Germantown. I mean, the place they call Harmonie Park in Detroit, Michigan, where the

population of Germans was greatest. Maybe then I could have at least lived with people having

similar interests as myself. However, like New York, the people of Detroit were dealing with

post-Great War sentiments, and thus anti-German sentiments (Detroit News Staff). This time

though, as much as I was bothered by these sentiments and hesitant to speak my native language,

I refrained from allowing it to frighten me into poverty. The trip to America alone was its own

small fortune, but traveling to Detroit really weighed on my current funds. I knew I would have

to find a job soon, and without Reuben or any other family to guide me. Detroit, however,

seemed to be the place to do just that. The place was bustling, both with a constant supply of

people donning their suitcoats and an array of different automobiles. Everything, from streetcars

to Model Ts, was on the move (Martelle 99), and it seemed everyone had a purpose.

I wanted to be a part of that purpose, and the new skyscrapers of the Penobscot, Ford, and

Book Buildings inspired me (Martelle 95-98). At first, I was entirely reliant on my instincts,

sleeping on curbs and doorsteps to save money until I found a steady job. Sometimes, I would

talk with the German musicians earning a little extra cash by playing for businessmen passing

down the street (Detroit News Staff) and think of how I wished to have learned an instrument
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instead of how to write German. However, the rest of my waking moments were filled with job

searching, and nothing struck me until the day I found myself in Highland Park.

I had been wandering the city, aching with the cold and hunger, when I found myself

staring at a building smoking and encompassing five large smokestacks (Detroit News (Firm)).

Next to them was a tower with the word Ford written on it, and all around I became aware of

workers in overalls and newsboy caps (Detroit News (Firm)). Out of curiosity, I followed one

man into the factory, and I witnessed what seemed to be the worst job in humanity. Each

worker, dressed the same as the others, performed a different, small task, but the same task,

repeated for hours upon hours (Taylor). I was confused. Why would these workers submit

themselves to such redundancy and conformity? Yet at that moment, I saw the incentive on a

poster advertising employment: Five whole dollars, every day (Meyer). Even my stomach found

it impossible to resist, and I could see the possibilities: good payment and quick assimilation. At

that moment, partly out of desperation, and partly out of wonder to change my life, I decided I

would work at Ford Motor Company, no matter what it took.

Word Count: 1,199

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Works Cited

Detroit Free Press. Kurt Arams Experiences as a Steerage Passenger: He Tells the Story

Himself and Its Quite Worth ReadingThe Trials and Tribulations of An Immigrant.

Detroit Free Press, 18 Aug. 1912. Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and

Urban Affairs, Wayne State University,

https://search.proquest.com/hnpdetroitfreepress/docview/565157882/8220309524224AB

1PQ/7?accountid=14925.

Detroit Free Press. 61,000 Germans Seek U.S. Entry: Immigrants Await Establishment of

Consulates. Detroit Free Press, 11 Nov. 1921, p. 11. Walter P. Reuther Library,

Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University,

https://search.proquest.com/hnpdetroitfreepress/docview/566781607/8220309524224AB

1PQ/6?accountid=14925.

Detroit News (Firm). Ford Motor Co. ; Plants; Highland Park. 4 Negs. Ford Motor Co. ;

Plants; Highland Park. 4 Negs., Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives and Labor of Urban

Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit, Jan. 1925,

digital.library.wayne.edu/digitalcollections/item?id=wayne:vmc21710.

Detroit News (Firm). Ford Motor Co. ; Plants; Highland Park 5. Negs. Ford Motor Co. ;

Plants; Highland Park 5. Negs., Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban

Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit,

digital.library.wayne.edu/digitalcollections/item?id=wayne:vmc21709.
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Detroit News Staff. (28920) Ethnic Communities, German, Music, Detroit, 1910.

(28920) Ethnic Communities, German, Music, Detroit, 1910, Eclemens, Detroit, 2012,

reuther.wayne.edu/node/8887.

Detroit News Staff. (32184) First World War, Trophies, German Helmets, 1918.

(32184) First World War, Trophies, German Helmets, 1918, Eclemens, Detroit,

Mar. 2014, reuther.wayne.edu/node/12160.

Manoff, Arnold, and Arnold Reuben. [Reuben and his Restaurant]. New York City,

New York, 1938. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001447/.

Martelle, Scott. Detroit: A Biography. 1st ed., Chicago Review Press, 2012.

Meyer, Stephen. The Five Dollar Day: Labor Management and Social Control in the Ford

Motor Company, 1908-1921. State University of New York Press, 1981.

Rippley, LaVern J, and Thomas Riggs. German Americans. Gale Encyclopedia of

Multicultural America, 3rd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2014, pp. 207-223. Gale,

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&se

archResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=3&docId

=GALE%7CCX3273300078&docType=Topic+overview&sort=RELEVANCE&content

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Taylor, Frederick Winslow. The Principles of Scientific Management. Harper & Brothers, 1917,

www.questiaschool.com/.
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The Times. News of People and Things Away Across the Atlantic. The Times, 13 Jan. 1901,

p. 8. Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State

University, chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85034438/1901-01-13/ed-1/seq-8/.