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Photocopy of 95 page typescript, in binder, with illustrations, including photo of Silge. The binder has a sticker on the front reading: Mein Tagebuch / by Arno Silge. The story of a German immigrant who makes an ‘illegal’ & difficult trek into the U. S. A. via Mexico in 1922. Written in German. There is also a title page, reading: Mein Tagebuch, St. Louis, Mo., September 1922. The beginning of the diary is dated 17 July 1921; and there is a postscript dated 6 June 1984 (p. 69). In 1921, Silge traveled to Mexico, via Amsterdam and Spain, in the hope of gaining entrance to the United States to see his brother: “Mein Plan war, nach Amerika zum Bruder zu gehen. Da es nicht möglich war, eine Einreiseerlaubnis vom Amerikanischen Konsul zu erhalten, so wollte ich über Mexico mich einschmuggeln oder versuchen, dort die Erlaubnis zu erhalten” (p. 4). The narrative begins in Saale. Except for the photo of Silge, the illustrations pertain to Mexico. The diary apparently ends when he was jailed in El Paso. The postscript says that he spent three weeks in prison in El Paso; wrote to his brother Walter, in Chicago, and his father, in Jacksonville, who in turn wrote to their senators, and to President Harding; and then he was released when a report arrived saying that he was an American citizen and should be released.
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