The Wilmington morning star., 1947-11-16
Thousands Of DPS Like Byrd Family
Celebrate Real Thanksgiving In US.
By NEA Service

Thanksgiving Day rolls around,
Willie Byrd, 81, will say a short,
fervent prayer, reach for the
carving knife. and begin slicing
his first Thanksgiving turkey.
Byrd and his family have rea-
son to be especially thankful.
They are among the thou
sands of DPs-they call them
selves delayed Pilgrims" now
who, since last Thanksgiving,
have fled the prosecutions of
Europe for the peace and Sc
curity of the United States.
They came here friendless,
moneyless and without re-
sources pit determination
and hope. The United Service
for New Americans guaranteed
they wouldn't become public
charges, and helped them get
relocated.
It was a good gamble. Byrd,
his wife,, Fanny, and their
daughter, Elizabeth, 26, landed
in the U. S. last February. In
nine months they have moved
to Dallas, found a home and
jobs, obtained first citizenship
papers; attended night school to
study English, American Histo-
nv and Government, and begun
saving money to pay for their
own home or perhaps a bust
ness.
A year ago they hardly dared
hope any of this would be true.
They still were living in the
shadow of the war. Among their
family of aunts, uncles and
cousins, they alone had sur
vived.
In peacetime Berlin, Byrd
owned several shoe stores. The
Nazis took those.
"In 1913 we had to separate
and go into hiding" Elizabeth
says. 1.-THE Gestapo was looking
for us. For two years we lived
underground, with friends or
wherever we could. Evey
fourth Thursday we managed to
meet, or to pass letters to one
another through friends. This
was our only contact.
"But we were lucky, because
when our Berlin home was hit
by a bomb, a friendly police
man told authorities we all
were inside and had been
buried. After that they didn't
hunt for us too much.
"The first Russians that
reached our suburb, the tank
men, were police and didn't
harm US. The second group con-
fiscated watches and things like
that. The third group took away
a 15-year-old girl, so my father
and another man hid me under
a blanket and sat on me all
night as though l were a couch,
so the Russians. wouldn't find
me.
.'Then 1 went into hiding
again and for six weeks | lived
in the closet of a bombed-out
home"
Elizabeth worked for the u.
S. military government as an
interpreter and stenographer.
She was one of the few who
could take shorthand in both
English and German. Later she
worked for the Joint Dlstrl-
button Committee, helping other
refugees. Her father tried to re-
build his lost shoe business in
a shoeless Germany. All the
time they worked and planned
to come to America.
Finally on Jan. 2, this year,
they left Berlin for Bremen
shaver. On the last day of their
visa they climbed aboard a boat
sailing for the U. S. One day
later they would have been
turned back, to wait many more
months for a new visa.
Now the memories of these
dark days are fading. The
Byrds are happy and healthy
again. Elizabeth has married an
American and started a home
of her own.
The Byrds are just one fami-
ly among more than 5000 DPS
the United Service for New
Americans is helping to resettle
each month.
The first 800 DPS who arrived
on May 20, 1916, now live in
As communities in % states.
Two-thirds are at least partly
self-supporting. The others are
mostly housewives, full : time
students. p%re-school children or
very old persons.