A Trip Back to Ellis Island

As someone who lives in New York City, I have visited Ellis Island many times. Two of those visits stand out in my mind – one a decade ago and one just a few weeks ago. ?

For immigrants such as me, whose parents were refugees, Ellis Island represents nothing less than the triumph of hope over despair. In February 1936, my parents fled Nazi Germany for South Africa. While building their new life and raising a family in South Africa, they once again witnessed the emergence of evil in the form of the Apartheid regime. Knowing that we did not want to raise our family in such an environment, my wife, Marion, and I immigrated to the United States in May 1976. We became U.S. citizens in 1986, and it is here that our sons were born, married, and where our grandchildren were born and are being raised. This country also became home to Marion’s and my beloved parents, who often would tell us how blessed they felt to spend their golden years in this land of freedom and opportunity. And within our lifetimes, both Germany and South Africa have become vibrant democracies.?

Of course, the vast majority of people around the world spend their lives as citizens of the country in which they were born, whether by choice or by circumstance. And the United States certainly is not the only country in the world to which immigrants flock in search of a better life. But as an American citizen, today I write about America. The details of my family’s story are unique, but the motivation for our journey here has been shared by countless immigrants to this country over the centuries – the promise of opportunity for a better life. That is the American dream.

The strength of America is our diversity. If one traces their family tree back far enough, nearly every American’s ancestors came from somewhere else. We are a nation of immigrants. What has changed in recent decades is that advances in travel and technology have encouraged more people from more countries than ever before to see if they too can be a part of the American dream. And nowhere in this country is the brilliant mosaic of this diversity more vividly displayed than at Ellis Island.???

I visited the island nearly 12 years ago, when our younger son, Eddie, was honored to be a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom. That day in 2009, he joined a remarkable class of medal recipients, all of whom have distinguished themselves in their respective fields, and all of whom trace their ancestry to other countries. On Ellis Island that day, among the red, white, and blue, I saw people from many different ethnicities, religions, and countries of origin. And what we all shared that day – a love and appreciation for this great country – was greater than anything else that might have divided us.

I remembered that powerful experience a few weeks ago when my wife and I once again traveled to Ellis Island, this time in the company of Eddie, his wife Sharon (both of whose parents were immigrants to the United States), and their three children (our grandchildren). As we walked through the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, we looked at photos of the more than 12 million immigrants who passed through the island as a first step into their new country. I began to tell my grandchildren stories of their own family’s journey to America – stories that I hope they will, in turn, tell their own children and grandchildren. And as I looked into the past and the future that day, I gained a new ?appreciation that my life is just one leg of an exciting multi-generational journey that is far from being over. ?

New York Harbor was beautiful as we sailed past the Statue of Liberty on our way back to Manhattan. And on the boat ride back, we once again saw people from all around the world, all appreciative of the promise of America, which allows people to dream big and to turn those dreams into reality. I was reminded that no dream is too big for Americans and that this country’s culture enables our dreams to become reality.

While Ellis Island no longer serves as the main reception hub for immigrants arriving in New York, it will forever serve as a reminder that we are a better nation by embracing the dreamers and strivers who chose America as the place to seek a better life.

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