A Suitcase of Ghosts and Dreams

featured:
PHA President, Sheryl Bronkesh
March 19,  2021

In June 1947, my parents arrived in New York from Bremerhaven, Germany with an 11-month-old baby and a metal suitcase. The case contained all their worldly possessions, mostly clothing and bedding donated by aid organizations or purchased on the black market in Munich near the displaced person’s camp that had been their refuge for the past year. Ghosts of their parents, grandparents, sisters, and other relatives hid among the worn dresses and knitted baby hat and booties. The valise also had space for their dreams for a better life in America.