tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7017925699690446520.post1873418112307146826..comments2024-03-16T20:11:53.366-07:00Comments on Hepzibah: Henry the People MoverAlan McCornickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15532896902247434009noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7017925699690446520.post-64908779661947061562018-12-16T17:50:35.513-08:002018-12-16T17:50:35.513-08:00For many years now I have held that it is tragical...For many years now I have held that it is tragically ironic that a nation comprised almost entirely of immigrants and the immediate descendants of immigrants could become so indifferent to the desires of families that want to make a better life for themselves. I especially like your used of the term “economic immigrants” as a way of beginning to clarify the stilll murky distinctions we draw between “refugee” and “immigrant.” Thanks also for sharing your fascinating family history as it relates to this issue.Bill Sweigarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16077204793788908247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7017925699690446520.post-17005078656484447652018-12-15T13:50:52.737-08:002018-12-15T13:50:52.737-08:00Appreciate your joining in, Emil. You bring home ...Appreciate your joining in, Emil. You bring home the realization that if you view a refugee/immigrant family (still want to do much more to explore where the line is between those two descriptors) over time, you see an evolution, usually from "have nots" to "haves." And the "haves" often forget their "have not" roots and take on attitudes and opinions they would not have held had they been in their grandparents'/ancestors' shoes. Marx was right about a lot of things.<br />Alan McCornickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05211376863316639727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7017925699690446520.post-55215396721213009092018-12-14T10:38:49.702-08:002018-12-14T10:38:49.702-08:00Dear Alan,
Nice to read about your background fro...Dear Alan,<br /><br />Nice to read about your background from an immigrant family. I am a first generation immigrant myself, but from a time when my host country was screaming after labour. But in my family too, there are some immigrants to the States. After I was a Fulbright student in Berkeley, back in 1976, we visited my grand uncle Ludwig Fassl and his wife in Chicago. He came over in the 1930s, started out as janitor, was promoted to engineer and wound up owning the fine apartment building where he worked. His son was a bomber commander in the war and died over Hamburg. Ludwig tried ever after to get the town to name the square in front of his house after his son, the war hero. To no avail. So he took the matter in his own hands and put up a street sign "Richard Fassl Square". Nobody dared to take it down, not until his dead. When I went back to revisit the house, in 2010, the sign was gone. But a smaller memorial sign had been put up instead. When I told this story in a blog post (see emilems.blogspot.com on 4 July 2010), I got three comments from relatives that I did not even know of. In addition, a soldier from the US Airforce informed me that he put flowers on Richard's memorial sign every year on his death day and saluted him. I even got a picture from him saluting the sign. Imagine!<br /><br />Yours sincerely, EmilEmil Emshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07815643585218883358noreply@blogger.com