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Single Men and Women December 9, 1955 – Ryndam Born Melchior Franciscus van der Laan, the youngest of five children. The oldest being my brother Han, 17 years my senior, three sisters, Adre, Mien and Gre, then yours truly, fondly known as Mels. Although very young at the time, I still can see the …
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Time 0:03:44 Transcript Last summer, I visited the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. I saw many immigrants’ suitcases and settlement stories - both positive and negative. I told my husband that it would be nice to donate my suitcase and my story. I left everything at home, like the …
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Single Men and Women June 6, 1952 – Waterman I well remember the day that I disembarked from the MS Waterman in Halifax NS on June 6, 1952 and passed through the now famous Pier 21 shed. The Customs and Immigration officials processed the 900 Dutch arrivals smoothly, after which we proceeded to the …
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Single Men and Women April 21, 1957 – Ryndam Arrived in Halifax on April 21, 1957, with the SS Ryndam, HAL. During the trip we had one day, rough stormy weather in the North Atlantic and the dining room did not get the patrons it deserved. The services, entertainment, and personnel were sublime. We …
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Single Men and Women Veendam On May 23rd 1930, I was born in a small village in the northern part of The Netherlands. At the time of my birth I had 3 siblings. A brother and 2 sisters. At later dates 2 more brothers were born. When 6 years old, I went to elementary school and in 1942 went to high …
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General My Hungarian father and German mother and I arrived on what we later referred to as "that floating walnut shell," after a miserable crossing from Naples, Italy. The ship had more than 300 people crammed into every nook and cranny; men and women were separated and although we were …
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General Saxonia.When we came out of Hungary we had to leave everything behind and the money we had was worthless outside the country. The clothing we wore was ill fitting (we got those used shoes and clothing in Austria, since ours were ruined during our escape). Our only wealth was the $15.00 …
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Families Before 1956 We left Hungary in 1945 and wound up in Germany via Austria. My grandfather and father were both medical doctors, My father was a surgeon with the Hungarian Red Cross. In Germany, at the end of the war, he became officially a prisoner of war, though the Americans found his …
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"I was just a toddler of about 2 years of age when we landed in Halifax. My parents long ago told me the story that when the ship landed in Halifax, I was fast asleep in my room (deck). Well, this ship sounded a foghorn and all went out on deck to see Canada. Everyone was so excited, they forgot I …
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All Aboard - On The Train “In this special train for immigrants, the passengers sat, ate, and often slept on wooden benches. At regular intervals along the way the train would stop, allowing the crew to take on coal and water for the steam engine, as well as huge blocks of ice which, when they …