<Begin Segment 14>

TI: So, let's go back. So you had, your mom had all the bags ready --

TA: Oh, I had 'em all ready.

TI: -- you're all packed. So how, how'd you get to the, was it the bus depot? Or how did you...

TA: Well, you know, they had the bus pick up and whatnot, but a friend of ours, the Kinoshitas, he was a, he was a Jewish man, and he volunteered to pick us up on his flatbed truck, and to take our baggage and haul us over to, to Hayward.

TI: So this Jewish man, who was a friend of the Kinoshitas', you said?

TA: That worked for the Kinoshitas.

TI: Oh, worked for the Kinoshitas.

TA: And my father knew him. The reason for it is that one of my brothers was adopted by the Kinoshitas, and they were friends from, from way back. And so they, they knew this Jewish man, and the Jewish man volunteered to help, to take our family. So we, we were like gypsies, we were like the old, the Oklahoma farmers, and stacked our baggage into the... and gave us lunch, I had a bag of lunch, sandwiches and things like that, gave it to us.

TI: The Jewish man gave you the lunch?

TA: Yeah, gave us the, gave us a bag, for all of us, and then we bid farewell.

TI: Why do you think he was so kind to do this? This is unusual.

TA: Why was he so kind? Maybe because the Jewish people were so persecuted in, in Germany. And maybe he had compassion or sensed what we were going through. But for some reason he did.

CO: Well, you know, there were, there were lots of people who were helped by various neighbors or teachers or, you know? I mean, it, it really didn't feel like, like the whole communities were turning against people. I mean, I, I remember that there were people who helped us, and lots of stories that I've heard where some people came by to say, "This is wrong," and things like that.

TA: Yeah, that's true.

CO: So, it really wasn't as though suddenly the whole white community was totally hostile. That's just not true.

TA: Well, yeah, not everybody was, but then again, here's the German, was a German community, and they were in the same shoe as we were. But yet, there was no indication to try to help us. It was just this -- in my memory -- it was just this one Jewish man that helped us, and I've always remembered that. And I says, "Man, if I get a chance, I'm gonna thank him." And I looked for him, but we don't know where he is.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.