Mitka Becomes an American Citizen - Featured in Newspaper

TRANSCRIPT
[Title] Dimitri "Mitka" Kalinski, 53, emigrated from Germany in 1951
[Body] Dimitri Kalinski doesn't know his birth date, his nationality or where he was born.
He doesn't even know his real name. But he does know what freedom means.
"I can tell you by the seconds how the freedom began," says Kalinski, nervously folding and unfolding his hands on the kitchen table in his Sparks home.
Liberation began when he was handed tennis shoes, socks, underwear, toothpaste and a toothbrush in a United Nation refugee camp in Germany in 1949.
Freedom began an inalienable right in October 1984 when the Russian child-slave became a naturalized American citizen. " I wanted to be an Ame3rican citizen so bad," Kalinski says, leaning forward. "I can tell the world what freedom really is. The bottom line there is nothing better than right here."
When 17-year-old Kalinski arrived at the refugee camp, it had been seven years since he owned a pair of shoes. He couldn't remember ever wearing underwear. And he promptly ate the toothpaste, not knowing what else he was supposed to do with it.
As an 8-year-old boy living in the Ukraine near Kiev, Kalinski became separated from his parents during a Nazi air attack. Grabbed by SS officers, he was shoved in a railroad cattle wagon crammed with other prisoners. As people tried to escape, they were machine-gunned down.
"I still see this with my eyes, open or closed. I can still see them lying by the railroad tracks," Kalinski says.
Taken to a concentration camp in Germany, called Pfaffenwald, Kalinski was shoved in to line with women, stripped and sprayed with disinfectant. "To this day I'm still in the room with the women all naked, " he says, looking down at his hands.
A husky, balding man who looks comfortable in a T-shirt and work pants, Kalinski becomes embarrassed [End of body]
[Image caption] Taste of Freedom: Dimitri Kalinski of Sparks, a child slave of a German Nazi officer for seven years, holds his U.S. citizenship certificate. Pictured with Kalinski are his grandsons Steven, 8, left, and Michael, 11. [Subheading] Jean Dixon Alkin/Gazette-Journal

Seventy years ago, on January 5, 1951, Mitka Kalinski boarded a plane, heading to his new home in America. Only two years before, he had been freed by American GIs from seven years of slavery. He arrived in New York City, speaking no English. He could not read or write. Somehow he made his way in his new home.

More than thirty-three years later, on October 19, 1984, Mitka became a US citizen. "I wanted to be an American citizen so bad. I can tell the world what freedom really is. The bottom line is there is nothing better than right here."

We are honored to be telling Mitka’s story. Mitka’s Secret: A True Story of Child Slavery and Surviving the Holocaust (Eerdmans Publishing Company) is scheduled for release later this year. As the book’s production schedule unfolds, we will keep you in the loop, sharing our progress and offering brief glimpses into Mitka Kalinski’s remarkable life story.

Share this story with your friends and family with the links below