Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Calling Columbus home: Immigrants reflect on the city

About 10% of the population of Columbus is foreign-born, that is more than most cities.  - - Donna Poisl

from The Columbus Dispatch
 
Guido Epelbaum’s father first tried to move his family to the United States in 1938. Fearing persecution, they had fled Poland but the U.S. denied them visas. They ended up in Italy.

Italy entered World War II in 1940, and eventually Epelbaum, just 3 years old, and his family were sent to a concentration camp, where they lived for more than three years. It wasn’t until much later in 1955 that the Epelbaums were sponsored and allowed to come to the United States, to a place they didn’t know: Columbus, Ohio.

Epelbaum was 17 when he moved to Ohio. He didn't speak English, but within three days the nervous teenager had a job. Now, 58 years later, Epelbaum still calls Columbus home. He is one of more than 80,000 in the city who were born in other countries.
Click on the HEADLINE above to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.


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