Good-bye Poland

My name is Seymour Rechtzeit and I was born in Lódz, Poland, in 1912. My family is Jewish, and I first began singing in our temple. By the time I was four, I was called wunderkind, or wonder child in English. Soon I was singing in concerts all over Poland.

My family decided that I should come to America, where there would be more opportunities for me. World War I had just ended, and it was a bad time in Europe. I had an uncle in America, and he sent two tickets for my father and me. The rest of my family stayed in Poland. The plan was that my father and I would make enough money to bring them to America, too.

In Danzig, now known as "Gdansk," we boarded a ship called The Lapland. It was 1920, and I was on my way to America.