On Inauguration Day it seems appropriate to post a copy of my grandmother’s January 21, 1952 naturalization certificate. She was now a U.S. citizen with all the rights and responsibilities that go with it. Imagine what that must have felt like for her, even if she never felt quite “at home” here. From this date on, Helene had an absolute right to live somewhere. She could vote in elections and I imagine she took that responsibility very seriously. My mother certainly did and passed on that sense of duty to me.
Helene was born in Bohemia, where laws and attitudes towards Jews were tepid at best, dangerous at worst. In her stories, she writes about several antisemitic incidents and memories. There was no escaping being the ugly “other.” After her 1920 marriage to Vitali in Vienna, she was considered a Turkish citizen by the Austrian government, even though she had never set foot in Turkey and did not speak the language. In 1945 when she was sent from Ravensbrück to Istanbul, the government would not recognize her Turkish citizenship. She was alone, stateless, homeless, penniless. She was not welcome anywhere.
I was interested to see that the certificate tells us that in 1952 it was the 176th year since American independence – I wonder if the current certificates include that.
Note Helene’s marital status – she lists herself as “Married”. At this point Helene still hoped that Vitali would arrive on her doorstep one day. Eva (and I think Harry) believed it too. It wasn’t until 1988 that my mother told me that she had finally given up hope of seeing her father again, since at that point Vitali would have been 100 years old and if he hadn’t shown up yet, he never would.