Your American Story

[Strangler Lewis]

My father's family had the foresight--if foresight it can be called after having your assets confiscated--to leave Germany in the mid 1930s. The four children each left the country separately by ship in various kindertransports--three came to America and one went to Palestine. My father lived in various midwestern homes until his mother was able to reach Harlem by way of Cuba. My grandfather and many other relatives did not get out.

My mother's parents were both born here. Her father came from German and Austrian stock. Her mother's side was Sicilian. One of her sisters married a black man she met in a cult. They eventually left the cult. I have an aunt I've never met who is still a member.

I also have Parkinson' s Disease on both sides of my family. Not strictly on point, but it does concern me.