Herb

Country of Origin: Germany
Ship Name: Arosa Kulm
Port of Entry: Halifax
Date of Arrival: March 23, 1954
Age on Arrival: 32, 29, 5

My parents, Karl Friederich Herb, Anna Katharina (Annekathe) Theresia Sterzenbach Herb, and my brother, William (Willi) Albert Herb, emigrated to Canada from St. Ilgen, a small town just outside of Heidelberg, Germany, for a better life for themselves and their young son.

After selling most of their possessions, except for a small trunk of necessities, they had enough money to pay for passage on the Arosa Kulm, which sailed from Bremerhaven, Germany, and arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on March 20, 1954. They left Germany with only $50.00 in their wallet.

The trip across the Atlantic was rough, and my mother told us stories of how she would end up on the floor from her top bunk on the ship. Her biggest memory crossing the Atlantic was, as they got closer to land, watching the dolphins swimming alongside their ship.

Once they arrived in Halifax, they boarded a train to Montreal. Some friends from their hometown in Germany had emigrated and settled in Montreal a couple of years earlier.

Once in Montreal, they found a small apartment in Cote-des-Neiges, a neighbourhood of Montreal.

My mother found work cleaning houses, and my father found factory work in the east end of Montreal. In October of 1957, I (Susan) was born.

In 1959 they moved to a larger apartment on Des Oblats Street in LaSalle, a borough of Montreal. There they met other German families. It was important to them, that my brother and I remain connected to our German heritage, and spoke to us in the dialect of their hometown.

While living in LaSalle, they arranged for my brother, who was 11 years old, to return to Germany to reunite with his German family. They couldn't afford for the whole family to visit, so my brother went by himself, placed in the care of a flight attendant, and having his uncle pick him up at Frankfurt airport in Germany.

My parents worked very hard. My mother continued cleaning houses, and my father took on work as a welder. To save up enough money to buy a house and a car, my father walked to and from work each day, a walk that took him a couple of hours each way, in the cold of winter, and the scorching heat of summer.

In 1961 they purchased a car and their first home in a community on the south shore of Montreal. After moving into their new home, they decided it was time to introduce me to my many German relatives. Again, because of money restraints, my mother took me, and my father remained in Canada with my brother. It was my mother's first time returning to Germany. She introduced me to my father's parents who were both still living, as well as many aunts and uncles, cousins and friends. Unfortunately, my mother's parents had passed away, and she never saw them again.

In 1968 my parents and my brother became Canadian citizens. It was a proud moment in their lives.

In 1970, my father, my mother and I travelled to Germany. My brother, then 22 remained in Canada. It was my father's first time returning, 16 years after arriving in Canada. He never got to see his parents again, but was reunited with his siblings, family members, and many friends he left behind.

While living in Chateauguay, family and friends frequently came over from Germany to spend summers with us.

I have maintained ties with them, and have gone back over the years for visits.

My parents remained in Chateauguay until 1980, when they move to Rawdon, a multicultural community north of Montreal. My father retired in 1983.

In February, 1991 my mother passed away. In September, 1995 my father passed away. They are buried in Rawdon.

They left us with a rich heritage which I hope will continue for many generations to come.