In 1928, my great grandpa made his journey from Russia to America. He turned 13 on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. His family didn’t leave Russia because they wanted to, they left because they had to. They were jewish, and the Soviet government didn’t like that. My great grandpa's family owned a bike shop, and the government would come and take their money and supplies just because they were jewish. So they left for America. When they got here, they struggled because they didn’t know how to speak much english. After all of that, world war 2 comes around, and my great grandpa finds himself as a mechanic. This hat was the one he wore during the war. After the war, he kept this hat with him. Fast forward to 2019, his daughter, my grandma, was going through old things and found this hat. The next time I visited my grandparents, my grandma gave me this hat to pass it down to the next generations. Obviously I still have this hat with me, and everytime I see the hat it reminds me of the struggles my great grandpa went through that ended up in my extended family living a happy life in America.

– J.S.

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