My name is Maria Lukasz. I’m a 7 years old girl from Poland. This is my story of how I got to America.

It was my mother who decided to go to America. She wanted to get me away from the Communist rule.

My uncle, Jeremi, told my father that there were jobs for immigrants in Linden, New Jersey. My mother told my father that she wanted me to grow up in a free country of opportunity. So we wrote to my uncle, who sent over three tickets.

The tickets he sent were for steerage class. So the conditions on board weren’t too nice. We had to sleep right next to each other, in what clothes we had. The weather was bitter and there wasn't enough food. My mother came down with a cold because of it.

When we finally got to America we had to be checked in through Ellis Island. We had to be separated from my mother there until she got better. Besides that I didn’t mind going through the immigration post all that much. I made friends with some of the other immigrant children.