Eastern Europe
Riots in the streets of Germany
Germany Needed to Change
Germany in WW1 had lost a ton of lives and resources in the war all to lose in the end. The Treaty of Versailles required them to give up territory, downsize their military, and pay war reparations to the Allied Forces. When Hitler made his political campaign, he used the countries anger to gain full control of the country. He claimed that by creating a "fuhrer state" where all authority stemmed from one leader, he could bring the power back to Germany. He claimed that for it to work, the citizens must be "racially pure", as only they could be loyal to the country.
Wrong Direction For Europe
Hitler's Germany was going to be only "pure Germans". Even before the Holocaust, this manifested in violence, attacks, and segregation towards any minority group. This discrimination spread to countries like Poland and Austria, which were similarly in political turmoil. Jewish communities were raided and looted, and lives were taken with no remorse. It was a death sentence to be Jewish, Gypsy, disabled, Black, or anything else that Hitler deemed "impure" in 1920's Eastern Europe.
Pink countries shared Hitlers ideologies
Ostrołęka, Poland
A New World
David Zeligman was facing this discrimination in an economically-poor Poland, and knew he had to get out. Unable to get visas for the USA due to immigration quotas, he settled for Cuba, and months later travelled by boat with money he had saved to Havana. While in Cuba, David reached out to a woman who he had known in Ostrołęka, Tauba Flamenbaum. He told her to come to Cuba with him and requested her hand in marriage. Similarly fearing for her life in Poland, she quickly accepted and they married in Cuba.
"My parents were extremely strong, to come to a new country and make a living. They didn't know the language or understand the currency, but they were able to create a good life for me and my sisters"
- Hilda Peljovich