SIGRIST:

Good afternoon. This is Paul Sigrist for the National Park Service. Today is Saturday, May 9, 1992. I'm here at the Ellis Island Recording Studio with Rose Rice, who came from Germany in 1925 when she was three years old. And Mrs. Rice is going to relay to us a lot of information told to her by her parents about their immigration experience. Mrs. Rice, can you please give me your full name, include your maiden name.

RICE:

Rose Elizabeth Michel Rice.

SIGRIST:

Could you spell Michel, please?

RICE:

M-I-C-H-E-L.

SIGRIST:

And what is your date of birth?

RICE:

June 6, 1922.

SIGRIST:

And what town were you born in?

RICE:

I was born in Leiboltz, Germany.

SIGRIST:

Can you spell Leiboltz, please?

RICE:

L-E-I-B-O-L-T-Z. [sic: Leibolz, Eiterfeld, near Essen]

SIGRIST:

I see. Why don't we start off by letting me ask you what you remember about your parents telling you why they wanted to leave Germany? What was unpleasant for them in Germany that they wanted to come to America?

RICE:

Well, they had, my father had two sisters that were here in America, and they really liked it here. And the, my father is a German, and sometimes Germans are very stubborn and they lived in the same house with my mother's folks, and the mother's, my mother's folks wanted him to let them live downstairs because they were old, and he says no, it's his house, and he wanted his children to live downstairs. And so they had a few arguments, and I think that might have been the main reason, and because we had a cousin in America and he said that America is the land of opportunity, why don't you come. So that would be three, the third person out of this family that would come to America then.

SIGRIST:

Did your father's sisters come a long time before? Had they been in America for a while?

RICE:

Not too many years before we came. Maybe five years before we came they came.

SIGRIST:

What did they do when they got here? Do you know?

RICE:

Well, they went right to, it was kind of hard because they couldn't speak to anyone with English because they were German. So they thought the best thing to do would be to go to a Catholic school and learn there, and so then they went to be nuns because they...

SIGRIST:

So were they nuns by the time you came over in '25?

RICE:

Yes, they were both nuns. One was a teacher, and the other one was in the hospital in the obstetrics.

SIGRIST:

So were they corresponding with your father?

RICE:

Oh, yes. They wanted someone more, someone to come, and they thought that it would just be happier for everyone if they came, and they thought that his trade would help him in America.

SIGRIST:

What was your father's trade?

RICE:

His trade was, he was a tailor, a tailormeister, they called it.

SIGRIST:

And what was his name?

RICE:

His name was Herman Vincent Michel.

SIGRIST:

How did your father feel about leaving Germany?

RICE:

Well, I think he was kind of happy to get his family. Sometimes you're happy to get your little brood all together, and not be where there's hard feelings. But he did have a nice house, and it was right by the Black Forest and all the nice furniture, and left it all.

SIGRIST:

How about your mother? What was her name?

RICE:

Her name was Bertha Keidel.

SIGRIST:

Can you spell Keidel, please?

RICE:

K-E-I-D-E-L.

SIGRIST:

And how did she feel about leaving Germany?

RICE:

I think that she was kind of sad about it. I think my father was happier about it than my mother because she was, knew that it would cost a lot of money to come back and visit, and it probably would never, never be a chance to see anyone again except her own little brood. So she was kind of sad about it, but she was a happy person.

SIGRIST:

Did she ever tell you stories about what you were like as a baby?

RICE:

Oh, she always said that I was the happiest when I always tried to speak to everyone. I was very outgoing, and people tell me that now, too, that I'm not, my sister was kind of quiet, and I was the one that would always make friends. And my mother would say, "You have to take your sister along." And my friends would say, "But we want you." And I'd say, "Well, we have to bring her along."

SIGRIST:

Tell me the names of your other siblings.

RICE:

My sister's name is Anna Bertha Michel, and she was eleven months younger than me, and then there was my brother Herman Richard Michael, and he was five months old when we came.

SIGRIST:

So your mother had her hands full, actually, with three little kids coming over.

RICE:

She did.

SIGRIST:

Did your mother ever talk about, or your father, about the process of getting their papers, their passports, visas, whatever they needed? Did she ever talk about that?

RICE:

Well, my dad said it took a lot of preparation, especially when they wanted to come a year before, and then to change that, because she became pregnant. That's why we couldn't come the year before. And then the money, he had to save quite a bit of money for a family to come.

SIGRIST:

So he paid for your passage.

RICE:

Yes, uh-huh.

SIGRIST:

None of the American relatives helped out, that you know of?

RICE:

No. He said he used his savings to pay for it. But then when we were, we were told that we had to have a sponsor in America in case we didn't make a living, and bring all these people into the United States, so he had a brother that lived in Freeport, Illinois.

SIGRIST:

And he became your sponsor.

RICE:

And he became our sponsor.

SIGRIST:

Did your father make a comfortable living as a tailormeister?

RICE:

No, he didn't. He couldn't make a living for five people with doing that. So he went to the Howard Aircraft and did construction work. And a tailormeister sits on a chair, on a table and sews, and a construction worker has to get out in the cold, cold weather in boots, and that's where he worked, at the Douglas Aircraft, during the war.

SIGRIST:

In Germany?

RICE:

No, in America.

SIGRIST:

Oh, this is in America. What about in Germany?

RICE:

In Germany, yes, he made a good living there. He went to school and learned how to be a tailor.

SIGRIST:

Did your mother ever have to work that you know of?

RICE:

My mother never worked.

SIGRIST:

I see. So your father said it took a long time to get your papers and to save up the money to come. Do you know at all what they took with them when they left?

RICE:

When they left all they did was bring his sewing machine. It was a Foff Sewing Machine, and I think people even nowadays know the name Foff. It's a very strong, good tailor machine. And he brought that and his bicycle, his German bicycle, and a trunk of clothes, and that's all we had.

SIGRIST:

Why did he bring his bicycle?

RICE:

He brought his bicycle because he didn't think they had bicycles here, and he thought that that would help him get to work if he had a job, and he could ride to work on his bicycle.

SIGRIST:

I see. Why don't you put the piece of paper up here on the desk. It's making noises. And what port did they leave from?

RICE:

They left from Bremer.

SIGRIST:

And how did you get from the town to Bremen, do you know?

RICE:

(she sighs) I don't know. I don't really know how we got there because there wasn't too many cars there. There was mostly, people would ride bicycles there. So we must have went on a train.

SIGRIST:

It's interesting, you know. Your father must have thought so much of his bicycle, you know, to lug it all the way to America. What was the name of the boat that you came on?

RICE:

The S. S. Republic.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember your mother or your father talking about how they felt on this boat? What was the experience like for them?

RICE:

Well, I think that my mother was sick on the boat, so she didn't think too much, except that she was hoping that her husband was taking care of her children because he really was kind of nervous about it, whether to bring his family there, whether it was the right thing to do. If you weren't married it would be a little bit just thinking about yourself, but this way you have to think about making a living for everyone.

SIGRIST:

Was your mother as anxious to come as your father was?

RICE:

I don't think that she was. I think that she had kind of mixed emotions about leaving her family, her sister and her, especially her sister. She was very close to her sister.

SIGRIST:

Tell me a little bit about what they've told you about the boat trip. What happened while you were on the boat?

RICE:

Well, it was a twelve day, with twelve days on the boat. And, uh...

SIGRIST:

What was the boat's name again? I didn't...

RICE:

S. S. Republic. And it had mostly German people on it, and the, oh, I don't know. It was, the children had a lot of fun because they were just, you know, you could talk, we could talk to each other and everything. But my father, he was busy doing diapers and feeding the babies and watching over us, and it was just fun. It was fun for us, but my mother being so sick, and we couldn't understand why she was just in bed all the time. She was healthy when she got on the boat.

SIGRIST:

But you kids didn't get sick.

RICE:

No, none of us got sick.

SIGRIST:

So what did you do all day? What kind of fun did you have?

RICE:

Oh, we had one little toy. That's, and now these people have to put the whole car full of toys when they go on a trip, but we could take only one little thing. So I had a little doll, and that's what I played with. And I guess I got naughty sometimes. And one time I found a knife and I was scraping on the cabin door and my father, oh, he became so angry. And I ran out of the room and he chased me and I ran to the captain, and the captain saved me, so I didn't get a lickin'.

SIGRIST:

Do you have any first-hand recollections of the boat yourself?

RICE:

Oh, not too much.

SIGRIST:

Mostly what you've been told.

RICE:

Mostly when I, most, the most I remember is when we got off the boat and tried to talk to people in America, and they couldn't understand us, and it was real frustrating. But children can play with children and make motions and they'll know what you mean, but that's the most I remember.

SIGRIST:

And your sister, your younger sister, did anything happen to her on the boat?

RICE:

Oh, she was, she was always following me around. And she'd, she had a pacifier. I didn't have one, but she had a pacifier, and she, my dad told her to throw it in the ocean, and so she did. So we had quite a few days of sadness when that pacifier went into the ocean. I guess it was a good way to get rid of it.

SIGRIST:

Did your mother or father ever talk about how they felt when they saw the Statue of Liberty or saw New York for the first time?

RICE:

Oh, they were so happy. Oh, my mother especially. My father was happy, but my mother, she was just elated. And then when she could get off, the boat stopped moving, and she could get off the boat, she kissed the ground. She was just so happy to be in America. Even though she left her family she was glad that we all got there okay.

SIGRIST:

To be anywhere but on the boat.

RICE:

Anywhere but seasick. (they laugh)

SIGRIST:

Now, did they ever talk about Ellis Island at all? Do you know that?

RICE:

Well, they just said that it was a long, long process to go through Ellis Island, and they were happy that we were all healthy, because some of the people, they thought they were healthy, but when they were examined they weren't as healthy as they had thought, and then some would have to go back, and she said it was real heartbreaking to see that.

SIGRIST:

When you were done being processed, where did you go?

RICE:

We went to Elgin, Illinois, where my aunt was a nun.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember yourself, or do you remember them talking about what that trip was like out to Elgin?

RICE:

Well, it was different than traveling in Germany, because to try to talk to the, to know where you were going, it was real frustrating for them. They said they were afraid they were going to go to the wrong place to make connections. But then we, we made it. We were strong, I guess.

SIGRIST:

How long did you stay in Elgin?

RICE:

I stayed in Elgin until I was married.

SIGRIST:

Oh, so a long time. Well, good. We've got you in Elgin. Tell me about where you grew up in Elgin.

RICE:

My aunt was a nun there at the hospital, and they helped us as much as they could. They had a nurse's home and it was a big two-story home, and they fixed a place for us to stay. And so that's where we stayed, was in that home.

SIGRIST:

For how long?

RICE:

And we moved that home then two blocks away to a place where there was just trees and no houses. We moved that on rollers, like you move a house. So we kept on living at that house, that same house. Because they sold it to us, they wanted to make a park and parking spaces there. The nuns wanted a little grotto, like, they could walk into, and a parking spot there, so that's why our house was moved two blocks down.

SIGRIST:

How old were you when that happened?

RICE:

I was maybe, oh, just starting school.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember them moving the house?

RICE:

Yes, I do.

SIGRIST:

Can you describe that to me? I think it's very interesting.

RICE:

Well, that's, we lived about two miles from this place. We had to rent another house while this house was getting moved, and we rented this house, and my mother got a wagon from someone and she, every morning she'd take this wagon and pull us up to the place where we were going to build a house, because we had to cut down brush and things. And she would pull us there every morning when my dad went to work, and then every night pull us back home and make supper. And so it was kind of a lot of work for us, but that's what I remember the most. Then we were so happy to get that house moved so we'd have some place instead of being pulled in a wagon. (she laughs)

SIGRIST:

You say it was rolled on rollers. What were these rollers, what?

RICE:

Well, it was like, I don't know, ten by tens, and then they put like, I don't know, big round things in the front. And then they'd roll them, and then in the back they'd take those, after you rolled off of them, and then put them in the front, and they'd keep doing that. The ones in the front would be the first ones, and then the ones in the back you'd be off of, they'd take them and they'd pull them around to the front. And then we had put the foundation of the house down, and then it got jacked up some way and put right on that foundation, so we had a basement in the house.

SIGRIST:

How long did it take them to move this from point A to point B?

RICE:

Oh, I can't remember, but it seemed like it was, I think they must have been doing that for almost a week, and it was only two blocks, so that meant that no one else could be using those streets either. And the telephone wires had to come down in order to do that.

SIGRIST:

Oh. Well, that's very interesting. That really is interesting. Tell me a little more about growing up in Elgin. Was there a large immigrant population there?

RICE:

No, there wasn't too many German people. There was a friend that was on the boat with us that lived about four miles into another city. I lived in Elgin and they lived in Dundee, Illinois. So we'd visit with them. But that's the only ones that really we could speak to, and my aunts that were nuns. And they'd keep telling my father that he has to speak English to us because we are going to school here and we're going to have to learn and we cannot keep talking German.

SIGRIST:

Was he quite obstinate about continuing to speak German?

RICE:

No, he just said that, no, because he went to, they both went to the YWCA and took English lessons twice a week also, and they signed up to be an American citizen as soon as they could, which took five years. And so, and they got their naturalization papers. No, he was real happy. But once in a while they would speak German and they'd say, "Well, you have to, in order for those children to learn and be good students they have to, they can still talk some of the German but you have to learn English in order to write and speak."

SIGRIST:

What customs, what German customs did your parents maintain in America? What couldn't they let go of?

RICE:

Well, I think the one thing that sticks in my mind is that in our house we lived in part of the house, but in the living room we were never allowed to go into the living room because that was just for company, and that's the way it was in Germany, too. They had a guest room where people came, and that's where they visited. And otherwise it was "verboten." It wasn't able to be done. And so that's what I remember the most about the German. And the, some of the cooking things that my father really liked, and people would tell my mother she has to make some English dishes also, and my father would say, oh, he likes German potato pancakes and dumplings and Spätzle [spaetzle] and all those things.

SIGRIST:

What about, for instance, dress? How, did your mother sort of dress in an old-world way, or?

RICE:

Well, I think kind of. She was, she wasn't like up-to-date like that other children's mothers were when they went to school. I think that, but she tried to be. And she didn't, she had her hair just cut straight, you know, straight across, and we had our hair cut like if you put a pan on it and... (she laughs)

SIGRIST:

As was the style in the '20s. (they laugh) Tell me, when you were a young girl, tell me something, a really happy memory that you remember being a young girl.

RICE:

Oh, I think going to see my aunts. You know, I had so many aunts in Germany, and I just had those aunts that were nuns, and I think going to see them, and all the other sisters would make over us and give us special little deserts and put out food for us when we came and we felt really special. I think that, I don't know. I think that was my fondest memory, and the people at the YWCA, they had a Christmas. We didn't have money to have Christmas presents, and they came and brought us each a present for Christmas. I think that, I think that stays in my memory the most is those special people.

SIGRIST:

Tell me a little bit about your dad getting work in Elgin.

RICE:

Well, he was a tailor, and so he tried to work for a men's clothing store, and he didn't make enough money to have enough money for us all to eat. So he said, "I have to do something else." So he got a job working for Douglas Aircraft and building the building that they made the aircraft for the war. And, uh, so he...

SIGRIST:

Was this quite a bit after you were in Elgin? This is a long time after?

RICE:

Not too long. Maybe about when we moved into our house, about four years. He just knew that he had to make house payments and all that. So he got this job, and it is so funny because he went, when he was a tailor he dressed up and went in a shirt and nice slacks and went to work, and then when he went to work at Douglas Aircraft he had to wear real heavy clothes, and he was short and fat anyway, so he looked like a real teddy bear with about four layers of clothes on and a cover, bib overalls and everything and heavy boots and things.

SIGRIST:

How do you think he felt about having to take that, the job at the aircraft place?

RICE:

Well, I don't, I think that in order to feed his family I don't think that he minded it too much because he never did too much sewing after that. Most of the time that the sewing machine was used was sometimes by him, but most of the time by my mother.

SIGRIST:

So he didn't, he didn't have any kind of resentment, or...

RICE:

I don't think so.

SIGRIST:

Let's talk about going to school for you. What was that like, being a little kid in the middle of Illinois and speaking German when you got here anyway?

RICE:

Well, I walked down the street to see some of these people that were going to the same school. It was only about three blocks that we had to walk. And I'd be always smiling at them and trying to make friends. So we'd be talking together, and we had lots of fun, and most of my friends then lived further away so then they'd stop at my house on the way home, to their home. And I know one time we were playing peek-a-boo in the door but the door was open and I remember they got scared and would slam the door and I had my finger in the door, and my finger was just hanging there. But we had a lot of fun playing with, even though we couldn't understand each other, and eventually we understood each other. It seems like your children can just make motions and be happy, and then the other one's happy. If you smile they'll smile also.

SIGRIST:

Tell me something that was really difficult for your mother to get adjusted to. What was hard for her in this country?

RICE:

I think that the language was really hard for her, and she really worked hard to try to get that house, you know, in order. But I think mostly the language was, but she only lived for, I don't know if I told you this or not, but she only lived till 1932 and we came in '25, so...

SIGRIST:

What did she die of?

RICE:

She died of kidney failure in Chicago, St. Anthony's Hospital in Chicago.

SIGRIST:

You were still living in Elgin at this time?

RICE:

Yes, but my aunt was in, she was moved to St. Anthony's Hospital in Chicago, so we went there. And we were, she was sick for about two weeks, and we were there night and day.

SIGRIST:

How did your father deal with your mother's death?

RICE:

Oh, it was really sad. He didn't do much around the house, and we would cry when he'd, my aunts talked this lady into being our stepmother. Well, she wasn't our stepmother, she was a housekeeper. She talked her into being our housekeeper, and she worked for the Elgin Watch Factory. But she gave up that job to take care of, by that time there was another son, another boy, born. 1930 he was born, so they had two boys and two girls. His name was Charles. And, uh...

SIGRIST:

Just a couple of years before your mother died.

RICE:

Just, yes. So he was real little. And so that's why my aunts said that my father has to find somebody. He was going to put us in an orphanage because he didn't know how he was going to take care of us. And my aunt says, "Oh, I think we can try to do something." They even offered to take us at the hospital, I guess, but with children running around that would be just, but anyway, she was our housekeeper, and my father asked me how I would like to have another mother. Well, I was ten years old. Of course I'd want another mother. And my dad just couldn't do anything. Anyway, when she'd go away for the weekend we'd just sit there and cry and cry because he'd try to fix our meals and he'd put all the stuff in the kettle and we'd stand there and cry and say we weren't going to eat it. Our tears, our food would be floating in our tears, (she laughs) because he was just no cook. And nowadays a lot of the men help their wives cook, but he was from the old school. It was the wife's job.

SIGRIST:

Yeah. Those were different days. We're going to pause for a second and Kevin's going to flip the tape. END OF SIDE ONE BEGINNING OF SIDE TWO

SIGRIST:

Okay. Let's talk a little bit about, I wanted to ask you a question. We talked about your mother's death. I wanted to talk a little bit about when you were a kid growing up with your mother and, for instance, did your friends come over to visit you? Was she good with kids, this kind of thing.

RICE:

Yes, she was very good with children. She was so friendly and all the kids in the neighborhood really liked her and they'd come over and every night they'd come over after school and wait in line to play hide-and-go-seek and "tap tap the iceman" and jumprope. It just seemed like she was just really friends with everyone and the parents also, but the children she was just a special person. She could have been a teacher, I think, because she really enjoyed children and she was so patient with them.

SIGRIST:

Would she cook them German treats of some sort, cookies or something?

RICE:

Yes. Every time she'd cook breads and cookies and things they would all say that, they knew the day that she did that, because she always baked on Saturday. But sometimes we'd have German potato pancakes and we'd have them for supper, but the kids knew that we had them and they'd come running in the front door and she'd have a plateful there. They'd run out the back door and eat them, and then they'd stand in line to come in the front door, and there never was any pancakes left. And they all said that, "Oh, they sure liked her German potato pancakes." So it was, she just thought that that was really neat.

SIGRIST:

As a kid growing up with immigrant parents, were you ever embarrassed by the fact that they were not American? Was that ever a problem either for you or did anyone ever make fun of you because you were different somehow and they were different?

RICE:

No, never. Nobody ever. I never felt like I was any different except that I couldn't communicate with them. But I always felt like I was just as good as the rest of them.

SIGRIST:

Did your father, or your mother, for that matter, ever say that they experienced any kind of prejudice against them in this country because of their German background?

RICE:

Well, I don't know. I think the politics had something to do with it because my father was a Democrat, and then he worked for the state, then, after a while. And if the Democrats were in then he was sure of his job, and if the Republicans were going to be in then he wasn't so sure of his job. But there always was a friend that would, that was real close to my father, and he seemed like he helped us get through some of the hard times.

SIGRIST:

What about the family left in Germany? Let's see, we talked earlier about your grandfather, who had a rather large family. Can you tell me a little bit about that? And if your mother or father were still communicating with them.

RICE:

My father was one of fifteen children and they would write all the time. And my mother just had one brother that died and a sister, and she really missed them. But she wrote to her sister all the time. And it was sometimes really sad. And then Germany had a hard time with getting food and things. And I remember, even though we didn't have too much we would save and send coffee and things, and clothing, to them. And, because they thought that in America, you know, the streets were lined with gold, and you didn't want. But my father found out that he had to work in America. But they couldn't believe that, and they said that they were hard off. So I remember my mother sending packages and packages of clothing and food to them.

SIGRIST:

Did your parents ever have any desire to go back to Germany?

RICE:

Well, my father went back when his brother had his jubilee, the one that was a priest, and the one that was in Dachau, in the concentration camp.

SIGRIST:

Is this, what is his brother's name?

RICE:

Father Justice.

SIGRIST:

And is he older or younger than your dad?

RICE:

He was younger than my father. And he went there to be with him and they didn't have a car then, they had just motorcycles to get by. And my father said that he was going to get a car and tour Germany with this brother of his, and so. Then when he left he left them the car so that they would have transportation. It was the first car that they owned in the family. So that was kind of nice.

SIGRIST:

Yeah, exciting for them.

RICE:

Yeah, it was, very.

SIGRIST:

Tell me a little bit about your father's brother and what happened to him during World War II.

RICE:

He was head of a monastery and there was, they came in and, I don't know if it was the Gestapo, but the German army, they came in and everybody was only supposed to, you were only supposed to have so much butter, so much things. Well, they had too much of it, and for some reason he was put in the concentration camp. And then he injured his leg there and he had a wooden leg in the concentration camp.

SIGRIST:

Did you ever meet him?

RICE:

Yes, I did. I, when my son was married to a Finnish girl and we toured Europe, my four children and my husband and I, and so the main place that we went to first was in Frauenberg, Germany, to go up that hill, that mountain, and they were all waiting for us at the monastery. It was very interesting because my uncle said, the year before he had met my son, my older son. He was graduated from college and he was backpacking and touring Europe before he took a job. And he said that he just knew, he knew, he just knew, was expecting to see him and they were all watching him walk up with his backpack on his back coming up the hill to see him, and that was the first time that they had seen anyone from America.

SIGRIST:

Interesting. I want to ask you a couple of final questions, actually. One is how do you think your German heritage affects your life now? What about you is still German?

RICE:

I think it's my determination to go on. I am going to be seventy years old and so many people my age just don't have that. That's the same thing that this friend, I told you, came from Germany, is in Colorado. I saw her in Arizona, in Prescott, Arizona. That's what she said, too. She said, "I think that that German heritage is just giving you so much strength to fight your obstacles and stuff." Because I lost my husband and I'm still going and doing things and square dancing four times a week, and at seventy years old, that's pretty old.

SIGRIST:

That's good exercise.

RICE:

So I think that, I don't know. I just think that it makes you strong.

SIGRIST:

Were your parents glad, happy that they made the decision to come to America?

RICE:

Oh, yes. They said so many times that they were happy. I just can picture my mother kissing the ground when she got off that boat here at Ellis Island, and they said so many times that they were just so happy to be in America.

SIGRIST:

Are you happy?

RICE:

I'm happy, too. It was nice to go over a couple of years ago and see my cousins and things, and all the relatives and where I grew up and played, but I'm very happy.

SIGRIST:

When you went over to Germany, did you feel some kind of emotional connection with what you saw, or did you feel sort of removed from it all?

RICE:

No. I just felt like, oh, these are my roots. I've got to find everything and do everything that I want to see while I'm here. And they tell me all the time they want me to come back again, so maybe before I'm too old I can walk again, keep on walking. As long as I'm not in a wheelchair, I'll go.

SIGRIST:

Did you ever lose your German language, or can you still speak a little German?

RICE:

Yes, I can. When I went over there and they said that, "Boy, it just took one evening for you to come back to your German." And we spoke till wee hours in the morning, and this one cousin's husband says, "My goodness, I can't understand this. You just won't quit talking." It was, it seemed like it comes back to you when you hear it for a few hours.

SIGRIST:

How do you think your life would have been different if you'd stayed in Germany? If your parents had never come, how do you think your life would have been different?

RICE:

I don't know. My dad would always say, "If I wouldn't have gotten my girls out of there they probably would have been one of Hitler's women." They said that so many of the younger girls. So I (she laughs) that's what I always think about.

SIGRIST:

So it's a good thing you came here.

RICE:

So it's a good thing.

SIGRIST:

Oh, good. Well, Rose, I want to thank you for coming out to Ellis Island and for taking some time and letting us record your immigration experience for the Oral History Project.

RICE:

It's my pleasure.

SIGRIST:

Thank you. This is Paul Sigrist signing off for the National Park Service with Rose Rice. END OF THE INTERVIEW