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Older Americans touched by inauguration
(original article published at chicagobreakingnews.com)
January 20, 2009 1:14 PM

 For those at the Selfhelp Home in Chicago's Margate Park who had lived through some of history's darkest hours, the inauguration struck a powerful chord. Hella Gerson, 98, wore a broad smile after the ceremony was over.

"It was the most impressive thing I have seen as an American," Gerson said, a native of Germany who became a U.S. citizen in 1940.

Klaus Hellmann, 97, came to the United States in 1934 after he said he was ejected from Germany's Aachen University for "being non-Aryan." He lived in New York for two years before his job transferred him to Chicago.

"I'm not only surprised, I'm pleased and happy," said Hellmann, who even in America recalled separate water fountains and "back of the bus" treatment for blacks during his honeymoon in South Florida in 1949. "I didn't expect I would see this day."

But it was an emotionally powerful moment of hope for 87-year-old Edith Stern who survived the Holocaust, but lost most of her family in Nazi work camps.

"I hoped that as bad as the Holocaust was, it would teach us something," Stern said.

"Whether we are white, green, yellow, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu. When I saw Obama...," Stern began, then fell into sobs.

"I was thinking finally, finally, we have shown the world we are good people," Stern said.

--Sara Olkon




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