In 1951, my great grandparents immigrated to the United States from Switzerland. Before they lived in Switzerland, they both lived separately in Poland. When World War II started, they both decided to go to Switzerland to escape it. There, they met, got married, and had my grandpa. After a few years in Switzerland, they took a ship to Ellis Island to start a life in America.
One of the few things my great grandparents were able to bring on the trip was my great grandmother’s engagement ring, something very valuable to her. It has a gold band with a row of small diamonds in the middle.
After my grandpa grew up and got married to my grandma, they had my mother, the oldest child in her family, and her four siblings. My mom and her siblings were the first generation of our family in America. As she grew up, my mom became very close to her grandma, my great-grandma, who she called Baba. When Baba was very old, she passed down her ring to my mom, who now keeps it safe.
This ring is very valuable to our family because of what it meant to my great grandmother. It reminds us of how difficult life was during WWII and what people had to go through to get away from the war and to immigrate to America. Additionally, the ring is very important to my grandpa, because it was his mother’s, and to my mom because of the very strong relationship she had with her grandmother before she passed.
 

– MEB

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more