New York! Come see me live and in person at the Center for Jewish History on 17 March 2024 at 2pm.

In Stuck: Immigration, Naturalization and Repatriation in the WWI Era, I’ll tell harrowing tales of families separated by WWI, and the incredible lengths people went to in order to leave war-torn Europe and reunite with relatives in America.

In the years before WWI, husbands immigrated to the USA, intending to send for their family after getting settled, but the outbreak of war turned temporary situations into lengthy separations. Other cases illustrate a short visit to see family in the Old Country morphing into a years-long ordeal.

Both during and particularly after the war, the emergence of new European countries meant new rules and regulations controlling movement and emigration. Simultaneously, panic over an assumed mass influx of war refugees spurred the US Congress to pass restrictive laws that imposed quotas on would-be immigrants. 

Ripped from the headstone stories include stolen passports, pleading letters and fake visas – all documented in the US State Department’s Records of Foreign Service Posts.

For in-person registration: https://programs.cjh.org/tickets/stuck-2024-03-17
For Zoom registration: https://programs.cjh.org/stream-tickets/stuck-2024-03-17 (note: session will not be recorded)

This event is co-sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc., the Center for Jewish History, and Friends of Linda Cantor Z”L