Gertrude

=Gertrude Hess=

Podcast
media type="custom" key="12457518"

BIOGRAPHICAL/GEOGRAPHICAL NOTE
I think my immigrants’ background information was mainly focusing about school and family matters. She said that the teachers at her tine were very strict. They could whip, and one teacher could hit the girls on the fingertips with a bamboo stick. She also said that you and your family lived in one big family house. In time, the house would be passed down to the oldest brother of the family.

When I interviewed my immigrant, I asked her about the scenery in Germany and how was the weather different. She said that it rained a little more in Germany than here (U.S.A). she also mentioned the temperature difference between Germany and here. She said that Germany was a smidge colder at later hours. You would also have to wear a light sweater as well. Another ting she mentioned was the store hours and price differences between clothes and groceries. The stores were open from eight in the morning and closed at six in the evening on weekdays, and on weekends it was open from eight to two. Then she stated that the groceries are cheaper in Germany and the clothes are cheaper here.

**Creative Writing**

By: Haley Nartker
When you live in Germany. You live in a Mighty house.

Anywhere from One to three Stories High.

Your family Is with You, helping You.

And you Help Them

You walk Through the Town, Looking around.

You walk By strangers, And they tip Their hats,

But don’t Misjudge Them.

It is likely To be a Fake Of friendliness.

Living in Germany Is harder than You may think.

If you don’t Have family There.

You may Have Nothing.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Your Name: Haley

Your Interviewee's Name: Gertrude Hess

Interview Transcription (Revised)

Haley: Can you state your name please?

Gertrud: My name Gertrud and in German we say Geh-tude, but actually in German I don’t have an “e” at the end. And it all started up here up in signen my name with the “e” at the end; birth certificate does not have an “e”. And everybody that rights me in German does not put the “e” at the end.

Gertrud: Now the first thing I did… I ordered my passport (deep breath). We had to hurry ours because Jerry got early discharge. I mean we thought we had like six month time, but then they all of the sudden said he’s got to go home in 90 days (deep breath). We had to hurry it up so we went, and got my passport into the time instead of orderin it. (Deep breath) So then I got my passport right there. Then I had to go to Frankfort to the immigration office and I had to stay there all-day. We were not allowed to leave the building what-so- ever (pause). Now what all they did I don’t remember for sure, I think I had to swear that I was never in any trouble (deep breath), and (pause) of course Jerry was already my sponsor so that was a little easier. I was already married to an American. I think that made a difference than if you come over not being married [to an american], having a warped Visa or somthin’ like that (deep breath) and, I had my finger prints and (pause)… had to get different shots (pause), and then when I came to the state; the first week, I had to go get my green card (pause). Now that was pretty much it, what I had to do.

Me: Do you know how old you were when you came?

Gertrud: I was twwunt, yeah I was twenty-one (pause).

Me: What personal items did you bring with you?

Gertrud: What personal items did I bring? (Deep breath) Really not a whole lot, my clothes (others: laughs) my little teddy bear Jerry got me that he didn’t want me to bring (everyone laughs). I didn’t (exhale…pause) I didn’t bring anything (pause) ‘cause I didn’t have anything[a whole lot]. We didn’t have much whole baggage so Jerry only would’ve been allowed to bring 200 pounds. So that didn’t leave much, but in the last minute he was allowed 2000 pounds. Well, we didn’t have time to get anything then (deep breath) soo (short pause) I, I can’t say personally, some of my dishes [and] my wedding presents, [and] that’s about it.

Me: Did any other family come with you?

Gertrud: No, they came to visit since then but none of ‘em came with me.

Me: Was there anything you left behind that you didn’t want to leave behind?

Gertrud: My family (others laugh)

Me: What was it like in Germany?

Gertrud: (deep breath) (Pauses) different- (everyone laughs) what I felt better [with the] difference in Germany when I came over; the dryers [were] just startin to come out. So, we hung all of our clothes out on the line and pretty much you have to watch your clothes or they would be stolen.

Dad: By others in Germany?

Gertrud: Yeah but is mostly from other foreign people. Immigrants that came in, that’s hard to stop. You know, [I] probably shouldn’t say that on ‘ere (others laughs) and, and the stores stayed open longer in Germany. They were open from 8 to 6 and that was it, and Saturdays they closed at 2 and you didn’t get nothing again until Monday. So if you forgot something you were outta luck. (Deep breath) That’s the biggest part I liked, you know the stores. The stores were, and things were cheaper. Groceries were cheaper in Germany, but the clothes here is [are] cheaper.

Me: Is there a weather difference between here and Germany?

Gertrud: In my part it is the same as here (pause).

Dad: Where are you from in Germany?

Gertrud: Saarland, which is close to France.

Me: Was there a lot of poor-like people in Germany?

Gertrud: Poor? well yeah I was one of’em. We came from a poor family. We had an odd house [and] no hot running water we had to boil our water. We had to take a bath in one of those long tubs (others laugh) (deep breath). [ad], my brother was the first, then I had to take a bath after him, ‘cause she(mom) saved water. (others laugh) Since he was the oldest and I was the second oldest, of course if there was any more kids commin along that they came after me (Other: oh wow) that (thing) was usually three kids, mom gave a bath [in] the water. (Deep breath) Also when they done laundry too, mom would always do the white laundry first which got boiled, and then when that’s cool down, she would use the water on the rest of the laundry. She went from white to light to dark, and all the same water.

Me: How did you transport to the U.S.A.?

Gertrud: Plane.

(Pause)

Me: Is there anything about Germany that you like better than here?

Gertrud: Just the scenery, and the food, I miss my German food.

Gertrud: When we grew up we were never allowed to where slacks. Pants were made for boys. I remember my first pair of slacks Jerry bought me. White pair of jeans (others laugh) and, you just didn’t go to school with slacks on. Now, there were some different religions… they did wear slacks just because it was cold. We just had warmer socks I guess. I don’t know. Or maybe, they were colder than we were, but they wore pants then a dress over it. They had to wear it for family reasons.

Dad: Are you guys’ Catholic, or grew up Catholic?

Gertrud: No, I’m Protestant. It’s mostly in the Barbara area where there’s more Catholics. I mean, we have a lot of Catholics too, but I think just about all Barbarian people are Catholics. In fact, I’ve never met a person from Barbara that is Protestant.

Me: Did you go to church in Germany?

Gertrud: Yes, we just had prod stent and catholic churches, there was one other and the best way I can translate it in English is new-upas-stalic. Cause it was called newa-stollish I mean that’s the best way I thinking what it means in English. And they have a complete different religion and I remember we had religion in school and there was one girl in the whole school that uh, religion and she had to get out a class to uh we had religions cause they weren’t allowed to listen to others then they kept the catholic and prod stents separate too. In classes now out in the playground we were all together. The boys and girls were separate; the boys were downstairs and the girls upstairs. Not a playground just a courtyard, there were no swings or anything like that. But it’s not like that anymore; they have classes all together now.

Me: When you went to school were the teachers strict?

Gertrud: Oh yeah, they were allowed to whip. We had one teacher that literally held one of the boys out the window on his suspenders because he didn’t do his; and jerry didn’t believe me [about] that and we bowed with [him], the last time we went home, and there’s the guy that you don’t believe me [on] what the teacher done(did) to him. It happened because he didn’t do his homework; because he hasn’t been doin his homework for months. And he got tired of it. But, yeah the teachers very strict and, you would get whipped if [you] didn’t do somthin. We had a religious teacher, [and] she would get you(r) fingers on the tips and had a bamboo stick and she hit [you] on the tips, ‘cause we didn’t have nails to protect [our] fingers at that time.

Me: What courses did you take in Germany?

Gertrud: Just the normal courses…

Me: What kind of jobs did they offer in Germany?

Gertrud: Pretty much everything they have here. But when we were in school, we were able to work from age fourteen and on. And, you got paid even when you go to school; you still got paid. Now, I worked in a bakery. And I was like a house keeper and, workin in the store. Then after that I went into a sewing factory. Were we sewed men’s slacks. And, all of my sisters worked in that factory too. Not in the bakery but in the factory…

Me: Did you have to go through Ellis Island?

Gertrud: What’s that? (others laugh)

Me: It’s a place where immigrants had to go through for medical and other procedures [when they came to america].

Gertrude: I came through the military with Jerry on the airplane and I stayed actually in; see I done(did) all the medical checks at the cons let in Germany. I didn’t say the word cons let did I? I had to go to Frankfort to; well yeah.

Me: In Germany were the houses small?

Gertrud: No, they mostly have family houses, they, for instances I can give you an azam of my uncles which is uh(a) friend of your dads. His grandson is a friend of your dads, la, Larz. He builds his house [and] he lived in the basement. He even made his own cement blocks they, all made cement blocks. He made his own cement blocks and, he built the basement and the basement has tile floor and was a first place to live. And then when they start haven children, they build a second floor [and] on. And then when, khalhiance, larz’ dad. Then they did da(the) third floor. And usually the oldest son inherits the house.

Me: When you went to school did you have to wear uniforms?

Gertrud: No, but we were; like I said, we were not allowed to wear pants.

Me: What kind of automobiles did you have in Germany?

Gertrude: Mostly, Volkswagens(wolksvagons- German) over there, you see BMW’s you see, what’s the others..., Mercedes, but there(they) mostly small, you can’t even see there parking lots. [They] are small. If I were to go over there, with my van I couldn’t park it. There too small, there not made for those because; they do drive ‘em(them) over dere(there) but not much. They [are] usually little cars you see there.

Me: How do people interact with each other in Germany?

Gertrud: No there not, and I feel bad sayin that because, it’s my own culture that I’m talkin about, but my sisters and I talk about it. It’s like when we had the tornado; I [will] give you [an] example, when we had the tornado (Xenia), we took pictures of it; how many people here were helping and they could not believe that these are neighbors and friends that are out to help and they wouldn’t help one another. They’ll only there for themselves. People in Germany are very polite but to me that’s a fake of friendliness, because if you [are] really in trouble, they wouldn’t help you, they wouldn’t be there for you. That’s why you have families [that] stick together and if you don’t have your family, you have nothing.

Me: Did it rain a lot in Germany?

Gertrud: Rain? I think their rain lingers a little more than what it does here. And there evenings are a lot colder than it is here. Even in the summer you still need a lite sweater to wear in the evenings; that I always forget.

Me: Thank you for sharing your time to do this interview with me.

Gertrud: Yep, your welcome.

ANALYSIS
If I were to compare my immigrants’ immigration process to the immigration that happened a long time ago like, Ellis Island. I think the immigration process that she went through were not as complicated or harsh like the ones that happened at Ellis Island. Gertrud was already married to a citizen of the united states. The man she married was in the army and was her sponsor to come over to America. Before she came over, Gertrud went through medical checks and other checks at an immigration office in Frankfort, Germany. When she was at the immigration office, her and Jerry had to stay there all day long. Gertrud mentioned in the interview that She had to swear that she was never in any trouble. After the day at the immigration office, Jerry and Gertrud came to america on an army plane. The first week Gertrud was in america, she said she got her green card.