The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1920-08-12
POLISH REFUGEES
REACH HOME HERE
Members of the Kalb Family Arrive
in Kenosha After Escaping
Bolsheviki in Lemberg.

After escaping from Lemberg early
in July just as the Bolshevik vanguard
had broken through the Polish de-
lenses and were pouring into the city,
Mrs. Nellie Millerant, and Sarah, Cert
rude and Samuel Kalb, all the children
of Mr.. and Mrs. David Kalb of 704
Pearl street, returned to their home
in Kenosha Tuesday evening. Seven
years ago-August 1913-they went to
Europe to make an eight months visit
with their relatives in Lemberg. They
were caught in the terrors of war
and the eight month visit was trans
formed into a seven year terror in a
devastated country.
On Tuesday when they reached Ke-
nosha they reunited the Kalb family
which has been separated by reason
of the war for more than seven years.
There were eight members of the
party that went to visit in Europe for
in addition to the four mentioned
above, their mother, Mrs. David Kalb,
their grandmother, Mrs. Benjamin
Kalb and their brother, George Kalb,
also went to visit over the seas.
George Kalb was the first to reach
America, coming here nearly two years
ago. Last January, the elder women
returned and Tuesday evening the
family circle was reunited. Max Mil
lerant, to whom Miss Nellie Kalb
was married while in Lemberg, is now
in New York and will reach Kenosha
late this week.
Saw Reds in Lemberg.
The Kenoshans were able to tell
first hand of the present peril which
Poland is facing. eve were in Lem
berg when the Bolshevik raiders broke
through the defenses of the city," ex-
planned Mrs. Millerant this morning.
Everyone was frantic. We with
thousands of other refugees fed to
Warsaw and fortunately finally secured
our passports for America I saw the
first red troops that entered Lemberg.
Later | learned that they entered the
shops and took everything that they
could find. The Polish people, live in
constant fear of Bolshevik invasion and
all of the terror which follows it."
81 was in Lemberg during the dread
full days of the Great War;" she con
tinued. 'The years 1916 and 1917 were
ones of horror as we daily waited for
the invading armies to devastate the
city, They were nothing, however, to
the peril which Lemberg is now facing
from the invasion of the Bolsheviki.
Bread is so dear in Poland that thous-
ands are dying. The necessities of
life can scarcely be secured at any
cost, even in those places where the
soviet troops have not reached. The
vasion and l am told that wherever
the Bolsheviki have come even greater
suffering is caused"
One Coat Costs $500.
Mrs. Millerant gave some idea of the
present situation in Poland when she
explained the prices which were pre-
valent in Lemberg just before she fed
in terror from that city. A small loaf
of bread, she declared, cost so marks
and could not be secured at that price.
A plain coat which she purchased had
cost her 5000 marks, a sum which
would have been equal to $500 in
American money in the pre-war days.
Shoes cost in the same proportion and
it was only because she had been am
ply provided with money that she was
able to come out of the ordeal alive.
The four who returned to Kenosha
on Tuesday evening declared that often
in the terrible days that they have
been gone they had given up all hope
of ever reaching America again. They
said that they lived from day to day
cherishing faint hope that some way
would be found for them to return.
Only the fact that they were Ameri-
can citizens finally gained their exit
from the war-ridden country.
Visit Grows Into Years.
Three of those who returned to Ke-
nosha on Tuesday left here as children
and have grown up in foreign land.
Samuel Kalb was thirteen years old
when he sailed from New York. Dur
ing the years oversee he was drafted
to serve in the Austrian armies but
was later released because of his
American parentage. The three young
er children in the years overseas for
got many of the American customs
they had learned in the land of their
birth and will be forced to learn
to speak the English tongue anew
All of them were educated in the
schools Of Kenosha.
In January 1920 all of the party
reached Warsaw and were just ready
to sail for America when the four who
reached Kenosha on Tuesday were
halted at the American embassy and
refused passports. All efforts to Sc
cure these passports proved Intellectual
and they returned to Lemberg to await
better opportunity. When driven
from that city by the Red perils, they
again sought escape from the country
and thanks to the work done by their
relatives here gained their passports.
No More Visits to Europe.
The Kalbs were rejoicing this morn
ing because they are once more united.
"We were all certainly glad to once
more get back to the good old U. s..
A." declared Mrs. Millerant, who as
the oldest of the refugees, acted as