“We shouldn t pigeonhole immigrants; we should see them as people rather than a category. Everybody has a different reason for coming here.”
Frank Bergmann remembers being shuffled down into the basement of the apartment building where he lived as a child. When air raid sirens would shrill during World War II, his small hometown of Markneukirchen – known worldwide for making violins - knew what to do. He remembers, at the tender age of 4, seeing a procession of American soldiers, tanks and jeeps for a half mile along downtown’s main street.
Bergmann, Walter D. Edmonds distinguished professor emeritus of English and German at Utica College, has chronicled his journey from his childhood to America, at the request of many of his former Utica College students, who reveled in his stories.