This picture is of my great-grandmother when she was a young girl in Czechoslovakia.  In the picture, she is celebrating a holiday with her village, which was located close to the border of Austria.  She is the dark-haired brunette in the front row the second in from the left.  Her name was Anna Galba and in 1937 when she was 12 years old, she left Czechoslovakia to come to the United States.  Her father took her by train to France, where she boarded a large ship to America. She came alone to the United States.  When she arrived she was processed at Ellis Island and stayed there for 2-3 days alone until her Aunt, who lived in NY came to find her.  
Anna left Czechoslovakia because of the war and communists were coming.  Poland had already been invaded by Russia and they thought that Russians would be coming to Czechoslovakia next.  Anna's family was not Jewish, but they were afraid because they heard that the Russians were invading the villages, looting them, and raping the women.  Her family wanted her to be safe and decided to send her to American where she had an Aunt and Uncle.  Anna only went back to her home one time.  In 1970,  she took my grandfather back to visit her village.  He was 21 and had just graduated from College at Georgis Tech.  They flew from NY to Vienna and then drove by car into Czechoslovakia.  At the time it was still occupied by the communist.  My grandfather remembers how scary it was to enter and leave thru the border.  My great-grandmother died outside of Philadelphia in 2009 at the age of 87. I never meet her, but my sister did when she was very young. 

– SS

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