To America, 1947–1952

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Leoke familyPilvi and her parents, 1947–1948

Pilvi traveled alone to the United States, ahead of her parents. Aged 26, she left Frankfurt on Pan American Airways flight 115/29 on 30 November 1947 and arrived in New York on 2 December. The manifest gives her address in the United States as 487 South …ackley Drive, Wichita, Kansas; the first letter of the street name is obscured. Whether she lived there, and for how long, is not known. A later annotation on the manifest records that she was granted permanent residence under Section 4 of the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, the provision for displaced persons who had already entered the United States temporarily.¹

Arolsen records give 24 July 1948 for Elmar Oswald and Hilda’s move to the Warner-Kaserne DP camp in Munich; an undated exile-register card also associates Elmar Oswald with the camp in April 1948.² Their emigration was sponsored by Elmar Oswald’s brother Peter Leoke, of 138 Witmer Street, Los Angeles 26, through the National Catholic Welfare Conference. On 21 October 1948 they sailed from Bremerhaven on the US Army transport General W. M. Black, the first ship to bring displaced persons to the United States under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. When it docked in New York on 30 October, US Attorney General Tom Clark welcomed the passengers at the pier and a fireboat sprayed a salute. From New York they went on to Peter in Los Angeles.

Koik familyElmar Koik, 1949

Elmar applied to emigrate to the United States on 21 April 1949. His visa was issued at Frankfurt on 14 July, with sponsorship through the National Lutheran Council to work for Imperial County Farmers in El Centro, California. He sailed from Bremerhaven on the Army transport General R. L. Howze and landed at New Orleans on 5 September 1949.³

Together in Los Angeles

Elmar Koik’s destination was El Centro in Southern California. Peter Leoke and Pilvi’s parents were living in Los Angeles. In April 1950 the census taker found Peter, Elmar Oswald, Hilda and Pilvi together at 138 Witmer Street. Peter, 57, was neither working nor looking for work that week. Elmar Oswald, formerly an official of the Bank of Estonia, was working as a janitor at a savings bank; Hilda kept house; and Pilvi, 28, was working 40 hours a week for a porcelain manufacturer, her occupation entered as “factory group insurance & typist”.⁴

Pilvi Leoke and Elmar Koik married in Las Vegas on 22 December 1951.⁵ Their declarations of intention to become American citizens, filed in February and March 1952, give the same address: 138 Witmer Street. Pilvi was working as a clerk and Elmar as a template-maker.

Notes

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1. Family confirmation that Pilvi traveled alone; US National Archives, Pan American Airways passenger manifest, Frankfurt–New York, 30 November–2 December 1947, line 17. The street name in the Wichita address is partly obscured; the number and “Drive” are clear. A later handwritten annotation reads “Lawful entry for perm. res. created in C.O. pursuant Sec. 4 D.P. Act”. Section 4 of the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 (Public Law 80-774, 62 Stat. 1009) allowed displaced persons who had entered the United States before 1 April 1948 to apply for permanent residence. The annotation does not show her original visa category or that she lived at the Wichita address. ↩

2. Estonian National Archives, exile register cards, ERA.4942.4.8, images 1873 (Elmar Oswald), 1874 (Hilda) and 1877 (Pilvi). The cards are not dated, and the street name is tentatively read. Elmar Oswald’s card also notes the Warner-Kaserne camp in Munich in April 1948, earlier than the move of 24 July 1948 recorded in the Arolsen papers; the discrepancy is unresolved. ↩

3. Arolsen Archives, Elmar Koik’s 1946–1947 questionnaires and screening papers, 1948 registration and IRO emigration records; US National Archives, New Orleans arrival card, 5 September 1949. Statements about mobilization, unit and wounding are attributed to his later accounts; the screening board’s account is distinguished in the text. ↩

4. 1950 US census, California, Los Angeles, enumeration district 66-1226, sheets 12–13, enumerated 10–11 April 1950 (National Archives 1950 census website, images 14–15). The household: Peter Leoke, head, 57, married, naturalized, activity in the census week entered as “OT” (other), with “No” for work, looking for work and having a job; his brother Elmar O., 53, working (“WK”), 40 hours, occupation “Janitor”, industry “Savings bank”; sister-in-law Hilda W., 53, keeping house (“H”); and niece Pilvi L., 28, single, working, 40 hours, occupation “Factory group insurance & typist”, industry “Porcelain manufacturing”, private employer. Peter’s wife, Elizabeth, is not listed in the household. ↩

5. Pilvi’s declaration of intention (no. 147597, US District Court, Los Angeles, 12 February 1952) gives the marriage as 22 December 1951 at Las Vegas. The Clark County, Nevada, certificate (no. 195112280220193) was recorded on 28 December 1951, as indexed at sortedbyname.com; that is the recording date, not the wedding date. ↩

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