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Ward Gannel Reportsffitivegreet the first ship of refugees* the General Black.'“I don't know how I sarviv-. ed work in tHoSe mines, Pave lka said. “But in 1353 I wa* released and began again to plot an escape.”.r'.!ten^5»ars ago,....when...ICEMtook'the ^l’ace of iKO, Mfs: Tr*‘‘pin was at work' in New York greeting and processing' refugees. On moderately busy days, she had five plane arrivals in New York, another five in New Jersey and very likely a'-shipload as well, ’ „ •.“Nothing seemed to- work,” Pvelka ‘‘aid. “It looked as though I could never get ont. Then suddenly, two years ago -I hit on a plan, I sent my 'brother-in-law, who was 13, tp hang around the airfield in our section pf Bohemia to pose as being tremendously interested in flying.”If ftJrsY. Tropin has missed meeting a few- of the refugees, it has been for good reason.'On the day that she gave birth to her first child, she was scheduled to -fneet two planes; On theride to the hospital, she briefed her husband on what had to be done at the airfield. While she . was taken ' to the maternity Ward, he went to greet the refugee ' planes.“Actually,” Paveika said, “the boy was getting to know the airfield guards and icarn~-Jng about what their routines were. Then, last autumn, ^we got our break. There was io be a big fair and all the guards w®re going, leaving only the local police to watch over the field ana the planes-”Actually, Mrs. Tropin’s work only begins at the airfield.Newspaper Enterprise Assn‘1 NEW YORK — (NEA) — According to the dosieiv the srtiaU, red-cheeked man blinking in theearly moraing ..sun. was Janus ; Paveika (Czech, ‘truck driver*j age 39, ‘married, two children).'' Tctitiiii des.oe.Rd;- -the steps from .the giant ttarisr port plane toward the snowy U. S. soil of Idlewild Airport and the outstretched hand of Ruth Tropin. ;• For almost all of the 800,000. refugees from European tyranny brought intp this country under official U. S, auspices since the end of World Wd* IE Mrs. Tropin has been the lady with the lamp. It. is a by-product of her job'as New.,York officer in charge of the Intergovernmental, Committee for European. Migration that she can extend a welcome in almost, every language spoken jn this country today.'.“Good day,” Paveika said. “I speak a little English. I was iiit the RAF for part of the-. war-” 'N^ _While the great crush of European migration is over, and most of those leaving nowadays go either to ‘Australia- or Latin America, Mrs. Tropin still' meets about 400 refugees here each. month, people who still manage to escape the grinding cruelty of their homelands.“I tried to get but of Czechoslovakia In 1948,” Paveika said. “Eleven of us were go-jpg to commandeer a plane. ^But somebody told. I was. sentenced to work in the uranium mines for five years*”Until the war broke out In 1941 Mrs, Tropin was working with the Emergency Rescue Com-RUTH TROPIN meets some of the 800,000land, injuring the baby’s leg in doing so. But it did not mat ter. Wei were in Austria andsafe.'”'1’' Why has Mrs.. Tropin stayed so long with a job forgotten by the rest of the world,? In part* obviously, because of the thrill in greeting people with, aneagerness • and enthusiasm for the U. S, in.part, too, because of the renewing wonder of helping people discover they are free. But also in large part be-cause'rMrs: Tropin'was- -herself orphaned at the age of four.“It is a wonderful, thing to be here,” Paveika said, “afterm. by .the police who have found an/ ICEM refugee lost and unable to'remember the name , of his hotel or sponsoring agency.“As soon as the guards were /gone,” Paveika said, “I took j my wife* two children and brother-in-law to .the airfield and, put-then* in a single-engine, two-seat plane, started the engine and taxied down the runway, waving, happily to the police who had no Idea of what was going on/’In the course of the years, Mrs; Tropin says, a few refugees have turned out to be trouble-makers. But she canmittee. When it could no longer Milch of-her time is taken with operate, shA went to. work in liaison work among church andthe War Shipping. Administra- civic refugee organizations,tion. And as. soon as peace was . -.checking on sponsors for mi-proclaimed, she signed on. with grants, conferring with U. N.the U. N. Re’ief and Rehabili- refugee officials, and makingtation Agency, and on its dissol- sure that the refugees themsel-. ution with the International ves move easily to their newRefugee Organization, In 1948 homes. It is not unusual for Mrs.she was sent to .New York to Tropin to be awakened at 3 a.• count, she says,. disillusion- having tried to come1 for so long,ments like them on the fingers ' “No*. I do not have anyof one hand. The hundreds with friends or relatives here^ ex-whom she’corresponds are with ' cept for Mrs. Tropin, f onceopt exception wonderful peo- knew an American sergeantpie. from Chicago during the war.“I had not counted on cloudy ' But I don’t think he would reweather,” Paveika said. “But member .me. That was 20 yearsit was not mine to choose the ago-and he has- probably beenthe day. I was forced to craah through a lot since then.”
Newspaper Details
Radford News Journal
Radford, Virginia, US
Tue, Feb 12, 1963
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Yannah P.
USA 19 Nov 2022
Other Publications Near Radford, Virginia
Radford Times Journal
Radford Journal Weekly
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