Historical Profiles of Fort Ontario Refugees by Tammy Vanburen

tvanburen3 — 2025-04-21 13:39:49 UTC

Creating Your Refugee Profile

Research a refugee who stayed at Fort Ontario Refugee Center
Create a post that includes:
- The refugee’s name as the post title
- Their story and background in the main text
- Either a historical photo OR an AI-generated image based on descriptions
- Complete all profile information in the custom fields
In your reflection field, consider:
- How did this person’s experience reflect the broader refugee crisis?
- What impact did they have on the Fort Ontario community?
- What lessons can we learn from their story?

Group 1: Walter Greenberg, Tape 270, Tape 2, Side A. 19:54-23:05.

tvanburen3 — 2025-04-21 13:48:37 UTC

“Well, I remember traveling on this train and stopping at Fort Ontario. Getting out, and um . . . having lots of people to meet us. I must say that I was very shocked and surprised that there was a fence around the camp. Uh, I argued about the fence with many people, for many, many years. And before our reunion in 1981 in Syracuse, we debated whether the fence was barbwire or whether it was a different kind of a wire. And most people said it was a chicken wire fence. And I said that it was a barbwire fence. The realty was that it was really a chicken wire fence with barbed wire on top of it. For my reality and for Walter Greenberg’s reality, for me it was a confinement and there was a fence and I was on the inside looking out and there were people on the outside looking in. Now, Fort Ontario for me was a bittersweet experience for me. Because I had left worn [sic]-torn Italy and I had everything that I needed and wanted. I had food, clothing, doctors if I was sick. School, I may add, for the first time in my life. Wonderful people. But I felt strange. I felt deceived. But I didn’t know why because I was too young to understand it. I think that it’s very difficult to sit here, forty years later and to really . . . to say what you’d like to hear . . . I mean, I’m a mature adult, forty years later trying to understand how I felt then. I felt wonderful and I felt terrible. Okay. That’s what the camp meant to me.”

Group 2: Maurice Kahmi, Tape 269, Side A. 6:13-7:20 and 9:38-11:33.

tvanburen3 — 2025-04-21 13:48:56 UTC

“Of Oswego. Well, of course, Oswego was a fairy tale for all of us, and though there was a barbed-wire fence. It didn’t mean anything because we knew everything was just fine, people were fine. The girls came to the fence every evening to flirt with us because they liked foreign boys, and we loved that, of course. The only problem as far as I was concerned was that I had been starving during the whole war, so when we got to Oswego there was so much food and my mother happens to be a very good cook, she worked in the kitchen so she would bring home loads of food every night and I just couldn’t stop eating. I got as fat as a butterball. Aside from that, everything was just wonderful. We went to school. Of course we had to fight the American boys because they were angry that the girls were flirting with us, so there was a fight every single day, but nothing was serious and we had a wonderful time in Oswego.”

Group 3: Adam Munz: Tape 271, Tape A, Side 1. 30:51-31:50. Change to Side 2. 0-0:42.

tvanburen3 — 2025-04-21 13:49:14 UTC

“Yes, we did not expect to be as curtailed in our movements as we were. The first period was the quarantine; the gate was around the camp; we needed special passes and so on. I understand it now much better than I did then. Then it was difficult to fathom why a land that prides itself on total freedom felt the need to restrict movements of a group of harmless people. Eventually we were allowed to leave the camp to go to school and so on. It wasn’t that bad. Some, however, likened the experience of being surrounded by a fence and living in Army barracks to concentration camps. The similarities stopped, however, there… by and large. The authorities in the school made every special effort to accommodate to us. “After all we didn’t speak the language very well; many of us didn’t speak it at all. They made special arrangements of all kinds, made it as easy as one could make entry into a foreign culture, into a school system that was alien to us. Some of the townspeople were very pleasant too; others looked on us as strange animals, looked at us as intruders. After all, 982 people invading a small town like Oswego must have been a cataclysmic event. I’m sure some regarded it as a mixed blessing.”

Group 4: Manya Hartmeyer Breuer, Tape 270, Tape 2, Side A. 12:25-14:53.

tvanburen3 — 2025-04-21 13:49:30 UTC

“All of a sudden, I was brought back to the sun, to sunshine and life. And I faced the beautiful country that took me in, which I was forever grateful. We were brought to Oswego, New York, by train and when we entered the camp I had Ernest and Lisa Breuer with me and the first day we were issued towels and soap, which we hadn’t seen in so long. I have to tell you; my first breakfast consisted by seven eggs. I ate all the bananas that I could find. [Crying again.] And food was so precious to me and the freedom too. Freedom to look up and not be scared or afraid that someone was going to pick you up and kill you. The first day in Fort Ontario the refugees lined up, I remember that very well. We were in a long line; and we were almost at the end of the line. And I see a man sitting on a chair with a camera in front of him. He didn’t take any pictures, but when I came into the camera and focused, he starts snapping my picture. I thought he was a tourist. It turned out later on that it was Alfred Eisenstaedt who took our pictures for Life Magazine, later on. Uh, how can I describe to you our feelings? We had come a long way and I was young enough and old enough to remember and to compare how lucky indeed I was to be in Fort Ontario, in this camp. Although it was not exactly as we thought it would be, it was another camp, but I didn’t mind that at all. I was just, as I said before, starting to live again.”

Maurice Kahmi

tvanburen3 — 2025-04-23 18:32:20 UTC

Came over from Italy on a fishing boat, he was very happy to be in Oswego. He said that everyone at Oswego was very nice and he really enjoyed his time being here. There was lots of good food which he had been missing and his mother was a good cook, and she would bring him home lots of food and he said he turned into a butter ball! He said being in Oswego felt like he was on another planet, because everything was so different.

Walter Greenberg

tvanburen3 — 2025-04-23 18:47:22 UTC

Walter had mixed feelings about being a refugee in Oswego. He felt like it was wonderful and terrible all at the same time. He said he was to young to really understand why he felt like this. The fence around the refugee camp seemed to be very bothersome to him, it made him feel trapped.

Walter Greenburg

2025-04-23 18:47:49 UTC

Walter Greenberg

2025-04-23 18:48:22 UTC

Walter had mixed feeling about being at a refuge camp in Oswego, he felt like it was nice and terrible at the same time. He felt like he was too young to be feeling all this and he felt like the fence all around them made them feel trapped

Adam Muntz

2025-04-23 18:48:47 UTC

Adam Munz

tvanburen3 — 2025-04-25 18:12:22 UTC

Adam talked about how others felt the fence made it feel like a concentration camp, but the didn't feel that way about it, he had mostly positive feelings about the camp.

Adam Munz

2025-04-25 18:16:19 UTC

Adam talked about how others thought the fence made it a concentration camp, But he had mostly positive feelings on the camp like how they tried their best to make them feel welcomed in school because they didn't speak the language.

Adam Munz

2025-04-25 18:18:01 UTC

Adam talked about how others felt the fence made it feel like a concentration camp, but the didn't feel that way about it, he had mostly positive feelings about the camp.

Adam munz

2025-04-25 18:25:36 UTC

adam talked about how the fence made it feel like a consontration camp he didnt feel that way he liked it.

Walter Greenburg

2025-04-29 17:57:44 UTC

well i remember tarveling on his train and stopping in fort ontari getting out and um having lots of people meet us

Adam Munz

2025-04-29 18:02:13 UTC

he talked about how most people thought the fence felt like a concentrsation camp but he liked it.

Maurice Kahmi

2025-04-29 18:05:14 UTC

Maurice came from Italy on boat. He loved how Oswego was he loved everyone"s kindness and this peaceful town. He says it is like a Fairy Tale. He loved the food their, they had a lot of it which was awesome and different from how they lived before. They felt good about their believes with no criticizing from other people, they felt true about themselves and other people understood too!

Walter Greenberg

2025-04-29 18:06:56 UTC

walter thought the fence made it feel like he was trapped but he thought the camp was wonderfu but also really bad and he had mixed feelings and he said he was too young to really understand.

marice Kahmi

2025-04-29 18:10:53 UTC

Oswego was like a fary tail for all of them even with a bared wire fence. it didnt mean any thing because they knew every thin was going to be alright

Walter Greenberg

2025-04-29 18:30:57 UTC

Walter was worried about the fence because he thought he was trapped again but he was wrong once he got to know the town he knew it wasn't a bad place. He was too young to understand most of what was happening but he understood what happened when he got older and was grateful for the town had done for them.

Walter Greenberg

2025-05-01 18:59:12 UTC

walterwalter had mixed feelings about being in Oswego . He felt it was good and terrible. he was to young he said. The fence around the refugee camp seemed very bothersome to him

walter greenberg

lgorman27 — 2025-05-06 18:09:13 UTC

walter hade mixed feeling about being in oswego. he felt it was good and terrible. he was to young he said. the fence around the refugee camp seemed very bothersome to him.

adam munz

lgorman27 — 2025-05-06 18:21:04 UTC

Adam talked about how other felt the fence made it feel like a concentration camp but the didn't feel that wat about it

Walter greenberg

2025-05-06 18:21:25 UTC

Walter came traveling on a train, ending up in Fort Ontario. he was shocked there was a fence around the camp. before the reunion in 1981 in Syracuse NY, Him an other people argued if the fence was barb wire or different wire, for him, being in that camp was confinement, they didn't have as much roam, but in the camp he had everything he ever needed! Food, Clothing, doctors if he ever was sick.

Maurice Kahmi

2025-05-06 18:25:23 UTC

Maurice came over on a boat from fishing in Italy, He was so happy to be is Oswego, he felt like he was on a whole different planet, everyone was nice, he had everything he needed. Although he loved Oswego he missed his mom, His mom was an awesome cook, He misses her food, Though he's not complaining about the camps food, it was great!

Walter Green

2025-05-06 18:46:47 UTC

Walter Greenburg

2025-05-06 18:47:14 UTC

Maurice Kahmi

2025-05-06 18:50:48 UTC

Maurice Kahmi

2025-05-06 18:51:41 UTC