My name is Tatiana Shapiro. I was born August 25th 1946 in a displaced persons camp in Neustadt Germany. My parents, Irving and Clara Shapiro were Holocaust Survivors. They met at the end of WW II in May 1945 when they were liberated by the British.
In my early childhood my parents concluded that Germany was not the place where they wanted to raise a family. After their experience, you can understand why. Their desire was to move to the United States. Immigration laws were strict and they had to wait their turn. We immigrated to Canada because that country was accepting immigrants of certain professions. One of which was tailors. My father went to a tailor and asked if he would teach him how to sew buttons and pockets onto jackets. My father learned and with this knowledge claimed tailoring as his profession and made his way to Canada with my Mother and me. He was in fact a machinist. Trained and sponsored by ORT. Upon our arrival in Montreal Canada, he acted surprised by the fact the officials thought he was a tailor. He was a machinist after all! Rather than going through the trouble and expense of sending us back to Germany he was given a job a factory where Formica kitchen sets were manufactured.
We lived there seven years until permission was granted to move to the US.
Life on earth is a constant struggle between good and evil. Each one of us has the power to choose our course. So it was when we moved to a small town, Gering Nebraska in 1955. Most people in town had never met a Jew. We didn't have horns after all! And so, we were greeted with friendliness, as most people were, on arrival to a small town. My parents appreciated diversity, tolerance and religious freedom offered by the US.
That being said, it does not mean we did not suffer some prejudices in Western Nebraska. I had an experience in Jr. High when a boy who moved to Gering from the South called me a "dirty Jew". I reported it to my school Principal and he was directed to apologize to me in the office of the principal and he did. My father also encountered prejudice by a businessman who did everything he could to degrade my father for being a Jewish businessman. What he didn't realize was that my parents were strong as iron having faced a much tougher life by the hands of Nazi Germany. They would never back down from their strong belief in God and our country. This terrible man ended up in jail for several illegal business practices.
Why did my father decide to settle in a small town in Western Nebraska? One, was because we had distant relatives who sponsored us and guaranteed our support and employment. In those days, these were two key ingredients needed to settle in the US. My parents also had the opportunity to settle in more populated areas of the country but hadn't the desire to live and raise a family in a ghetto atmosphere surrounded mainly by other Holocaust Survivors. And two, after my Father, before his death took us to the town where he grew up in Poland. I discovered it was also a small town. Therefore, he felt quite at home in the small town atmosphere of Western Nebraska.
My parents became very socially active in Gering and never hid their Jewish heritage. They had great faith and were proud of their heritage. When they were asked questions about concentration camps they told of their experiences. They were respected by the citizens. In turn, they loved and respected the town and always encouraged their children to be active and excel. They taught us that we should lead by example. They were socially and politically active.
My Mother Clara, was so loved by the Community of Scottsbluff and Gering that when she passed, there was standing room only at the Joliff Funeral Home. Clara never learned to drive. She walked daily and was often joined by friends. She was a mentor to many who sought her council regarding life's challenges. Clara was never judged and through her experience gained the knowledge of true value.
Western Nebraska had a strong Christian community and we were the only Jewish family in town. From time to time some people felt it was their obligation to save us. They would try their best to convince my parents that conversion to Christianity was the only way to salvation. It was at the dinner table in our home that the subject was brought up by a guest. My father responded with a question. "Do you ever travel to Denver?" The guest replied, "Yes of course. Quite often." My father asked, "When you go, what route do you take?" The guest said, "I take highway 71." My father said, "I go to Denver quite often too, but I usually take I-80. Isn't it amazing that we take different routes and we end up in the same place?" In his later years, my father spoke about his experiences to many school and civic groups and Scottsbluff county.
Scottsbluff County benefited from having Holocaust Survivors who communicated the importance of tolerance and diversity and emphasized the true value of life.
