We Don't Know You My Great grandfather's story

Author / Artist Charlotte Blythe

    I interviewed my grandfather Art D'llugoff; he has lived in New York for his whole life.  The first member of his direct family to come to New York was his father Raphael or Ralph D'llugoff. Ralph came from Russia, where he lived in a town called Slonim in the early 1900s. His father was a lumber merchant, but Ralph was pretty young and he was only a student at the time.
     When he left Russia he left for many reasons; the main reason was the Czar who would put Jews in the army for many years. Russia wasn't a great place to live because of all the persecution, also for Ralph there was a lot of poverty and not many job opportunities.
     Ralph first went to Hamburg, Germany, because it was easier to get to America from there.  When he came to America the year was 1915, he first went to live in the Bronx, because he had relatives already living there. In 1930, Ralph met his future wife, and moved to Brighton Beach and Coney Island where they had my grandfather Art. Than in 1933 they came to Flatbush.
     America wasn't all what Ralph expected. They did have more opportunities, and less persecution, but unfortunately Ralph came during the great depression in America, so jobs were scarce and it was hard to make money. Ralph tried all different kinds of jobs like pocket book maker, than he was a salesman, and after that he owned a store that sold vacuum cleaners and sewing machines; he was also an electrician and mechanic and he did all his own repairs, with the help of the whole family. They struggled but they survived.
 My grandpa says that he thinks NY is a wonderful place to live and though it has its problems, he's glad he was brought up here and he couldn't imagine living anywhere else.