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Germany Invades Poland
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Great Uncle Paul Gets a Job Working Across the Lake
Paul was looking for a job for a long time. He was a very skilled engineer, but it was hard to find opportunities in Poland during that time for Jews. Eventually, he found an engineering position across the lake by his house. -
Great Uncle Paul decides to Evacuate Poland
Due to the Nazi regime invading the lives of Jewish citizens in Poland and the environment becoming more and more hostile towards Jews, Great Uncle Paul made the decision to evacuate Poland. Unfortunately, during this time, there were not many options for Jews to escape. Wanting to get to America to jumpstart a new life, he had to figure out how to leave Poland. -
Great Uncle Paul Starts His Escape (1)
It was a normal day for Paul as commuted to his job via ferry. Soon after getting on the boat, there were rumors that Gestapo members were positioned at the dock, waiting for the boat to arrive in order to round up all the Jews. Great Uncle Paul would not let himself be captured, so he jumped overboard. -
Great Uncle Paul has to hide (2)
Paul swam to the outer bank of the river successfully. While he was crawling out of the murky water, he noticed a group of Gestapo marching on the road toward the port where the ferry would land. The ferry was very slow, so it's likely that the Gestapo would have arrived well before the ferry docked. Paul quickly decided to duck behind a bush on the perimeter of the river. -
Great Uncle Paul is Almost Discovered (3)
One Gestapo member noticed Paul ducking behind the bush and started walking towards him. The Gestapo member was bearing his gun, on guard for any sudden attack. He was only 5 meters away from Paul when the leader of the Gestapo unit yelled at him to get back in line. The Gestapo member obliged and followed his orders. -
Great Uncle Paul Looks for Refuge (4)
After the Gestapo Unit was out of sight, Paul started to make his way towards town, looking for anyone who could take him into hiding. He knew he couldn't go home, because Gestapo would be waiting for him. As he was walking into town, he was stopped by a nice Polish couple named Jakub and Amelia. They asked him why he was so wet. After he told his story, they agreed to have him sleep in their attic until he could find a way out of Poland. -
Great Uncle Paul Gets Lucky (5)
Jakub, the man that took Paul in happened to work with the importation of goods from Poland to Sweden. Every few months, a ship from his port at the harbor would travel to Sweden in order to pick up iron and steel machinery. Coincidentally, one of these ships would depart for Sweden on May 15th. Jakub agreed to smuggle Paul onto the ship for a small price. -
Great Uncle Paul Boards the Ship (1)
Like they had agreed, on the morning of the 15th, Jakub smuggled Paul onto the ship. The ship was pretty big, so they didn't have much trouble finding a place for Paul to hide. In the end, Paul hid in a small, empty storage closet that Jakub said nobody ever used. -
The Ship Sets Sail (2)
Everything went according to plan as the ship set sail at its scheduled time. Paul was not able to bring much on the ship, because he was afraid to go home, but he did sent Amelia to his house to pick up a few valuable items for him. -
Great Uncle Paul Arrives in Sweden (3)
The ship boarded at a Swedish harbor later that day. Paul was able to sneak off the ship after the crew had left for the hotel they were staying in. The crew's plan for that day was to sleep over in Sweden that night, and load and transport the iron and steel the next day. -
Great Uncle Paul is Taken in by a Friend
Paul was lucky to have a friend that lived in Sweden named Julian. They were close friends growing up. They were even in close contact before Paul had to flee. After Paul and Jakub made the plan to smuggle him to Sweden, Paul wrote Julian a letter telling him he was coming to seek refuge at his house. Hoping that Julian saw his letter, Paul traveled 20 miles on foot to Julians house. To his delight, Julian saw the letter and immediately took Paul in. -
Great Uncle Paul Finds Labor Jobs
Although Paul was now in Sweden, he had dreams of going to the United States. He found that he did not fit in with Swedish culture and wanted to start a new life, far away from the Nazi party. In order to save up for a boat ride to the United States, Paul was able to find a few manual labor jobs. You did not need to be able to speak Swedish or interact with Swedish customers. -
Great Uncle Paul Buys His Own House
Julian was very kind for taking Paul in, but he knew that he couldn't live with Paul forever. Eventually, Julian decided he was going to move north in order to start a family. Because Paul wasn't able to go with him, he had to buy his own house to live in. Unfortunately, the money that Paul had been saving to go to the United States was all used in order to by his new home. -
Great Uncle Paul Saves Enough Money
After working 3 jobs for over a year, Paul had saved enough money to go to the United States. He was able to find a way to immigrate to the United States without being rejected for being Jewish. At the time, the United States rejected many jewish immigrants at the border. -
Great Uncle Paul Goes to America
After months of waiting, Paul boarded his ship to the United States, excited to find a community in New York. -
Great Uncle Paul Finds Labor Jobs
After settling in New York, Paul found a variety of low-skill labor jobs in order to maintain a comfortable living for himself -
Great Uncle Paul Meets Estelle
Almost a year after settling in New York, Paul met my Great Aunt Estelle at a restaurant in New York City. -
Estelle and Paul Get Married and Have Two Kids
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Great Uncle Paul Dies
Due to a heart condition, Paul suffered a life ending heart episode. He was 80 years old.
