History  My submission to Dutch Goes the Photo, Tuesday Photo Challenge, “History”. My father was born and grew up in Wurzburg, in Northern Bavaria, Germany. In 1936 he was the first in his family to leave for America to escape Adolph Hitler and the Nazis. The rest of his family was able to follow soon after.

I had always wanted to see where my father was from, and in 2010 my husband and I traveled to Wurzburg. The picture below is the street sign at the corner of the block where my father’s family lived, as well aunts, uncles and cousins. The house is no longer there; it has been replaced by a commercial building, but the same address, #2 Sartoriusstrasse was on the fence post.

It was very emotional for me to visit this spot and imagine my father playing there as a little boy. My family was very fortunate, as everybody got out of Germany safely and settled in various countries, including The United States, England and South Africa.

The current leadership of our country wants to close the doors to immigrants escaping persecution in their homelands. On this day that we celebrate our independence, it is my hope that reason will prevail and all in need of a safe haven will be welcomed here with open arms.