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A family's flight to freedom
By TERRY JONES ST. PETERSBURG -- From his earliest childhood memories in Romania, freedom was a driving force in the life of Alexandru Nenu. The work he did as a farmer alongside his parents and four brothers, from sunrise to sunset, never bothered him. These are good memories for Nenu. What are not good memories are the communist oppression and the Nazi invasion of his homeland. His refusal to become a member of the Communist Party cost Nenu a college education. Nenu was training to become a mechanical engineer, but he was expelled at age 17 for refusing to join the party. Nenu also experienced hits and misses with jobs. In December 1973, while working as a truck driver for a meat company, he made a delivery in Austria. He left the truck there and took a train to West Germany, where he was given asylum. In a few months, he had enough money for a plane ticket to New York City, where he "waited and prayed for God to help me get my wife and two sons to America." On June 14, 1974 (Flag Day), Nenu, then 47, finally made it to the land of his dreams. Freedom for his wife and two sons would come later, with the help of the United States Congress. "I was always looking for an occasion to leave Romania to be in U.S.A.," Nenu said. "My dream was achieved only on Flag Day, when I put my first foot on the U.S.A. land, the land of freedom." Even though Nenu was free, he still faced the matter of getting his family out of Romania. "While praying about getting my family out in the Romanian Christian Church in New York, I believe I heard God tell me to do what Gandhi did," Nenu said. "I started passing out pamphlets telling people what I was going to do, and 21 people joined me in a fast of water only from May 17 to June 4. "We went to Washington to plead to the U.S. Congress to help free the people enslaved in Romania." Before going to Washington, Nenu and his friends went on the hunger strike. They also distributed pamphlets in the United Nations and around New York describing the plight of people in Romania. Nenu said their petition reached Congress on the same day the Romanian ambassador was petitioning Congress for a loan. "That was God answering our prayer," he said. "We wrote Congress about thousands of Romanians and Jews oppressed and not allowed to leave. Congress told the ambassador to release them or no talk of a loan. He called the Romanian president, who told the KGB to get my family to America." Nenu said the KGB went to his home at midnight and took his family to its headquarters; by 7 a.m they had passports. "The jail gates of Romania were opened, and my family landed in New York a few days later," he said. The Nenus lived in New York for a year, then moved to Los Angeles for a year. "We did not like California, so we moved to St. Petersburg around 1977 and here we stayed," he said. Nenu, now 76, owned and operated Alex's Auto Shop until he retired in 1987. "I read about an older man from South America who came to this country and is still working and happy," he said. "That encouraged me to tell my story. Maybe I too can help encourage someone. Freedom is so important to people who do not have it. I still pray, and I am happy God gave me freedom in this great U.S.A." - If you know of someone in your community or neighbor who would make a good profile candidate for our Faces column, please send information to Terry Jones, c/o Seniority, the Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731.
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From the Times Seniority pages |
