--- title: Immigrant Couple Leaves $847K Estate to U.S. Government description: American couple who fled Nazi occupation leave $847K estate to U.S. government canonical: https://time.com/3893603/us-couple-estate-nazi-europe/ author: David Stout article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-22T03:41:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:27.150Z og:title: Couple Leaves $847K Estate to U.S. Government og:description: “It's pretty obvious these folks felt pretty proud they were U.S. citizens." og:url: https://time.com/3893603/us-couple-estate-nazi-europe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Couple Leaves $847K Estate to U.S. Government twitter:description: “It's pretty obvious these folks felt pretty proud they were U.S. citizens." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Couple Who Immigrated to America Leaves $847K Estate to U.S. Government ## Video: The Iconic Photo of D-Day [Watch (HLS stream): The Iconic Photo of D-Day](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8CmPFMLD.m3u8) (4:56)  _Published 2011-02-10. Robert Capa's LIFE photos of the invasion of Normandy -- and a lone soldier near the beach -- are icons of WWII, and were almost destroyed_ by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout May 22, 2015 3:41 AM UTC by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout May 22, 2015 3:41 AM UTC A Seattle couple, who met after the husband fled Nazi-occupied Europe to American shores, have left their entire estate the “to the government of the United States of America” in their identical wills, [reports](http://abcnews.go.com/US/seattle-immigrant-couple-leaves-million-estate-america/story?id=31209415&cid=fb%5Fabcn) ABC. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Treasury received a cashier’s check for $847,215.57 on behalf of the estate of Peter and Joan Petrasek. Although the couple never explicitly stated their reason for the donation, officials have pointed to the couple’s immigrant roots and the husband’s escape from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia as a possible reason behind the generosity. Joan was also an immigrant originally from Ireland. “This case is interesting because it seems to be that these were two immigrants who felt grateful to have this adoptive country open its arms to them after having a hard time in Eastern Europe during World War II,” said Peter Winn, the U.S. assistant attorney who helped handle the case, told the broadcaster. “It’s pretty obvious these folks felt pretty proud they were U.S. citizens.” \[[_ABC_](http://abcnews.go.com/US/seattle-immigrant-couple-leaves-million-estate-america/story?id=31209415&cid=fb%5Fabcn)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3893603/us-couple-estate-nazi-europe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3893603/us-couple-estate-nazi-europe/"},"headline":"Couple Who Immigrated to America Leaves $847K Estate to U.S. Government","datePublished":"2015-05-22T03:41:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:27.150Z","description":"Mystery continues to surround their generous donation","url":"https://time.com/3893603/us-couple-estate-nazi-europe/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society","U.S.","Charity","Seattle","Nazis"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3893603/us-couple-estate-nazi-europe/","name":"Couple Who Immigrated to America Leaves $847K Estate to U.S. Government"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Iconic Photo of D-Day","description":"Robert Capa's LIFE photos of the invasion of Normandy -- and a lone soldier near the beach -- are icons of WWII, and were almost destroyed","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/8CmPFMLD/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2011-02-10T18:16:21.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8CmPFMLD.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3893603/us-couple-estate-nazi-europe/","duration":"PT4M56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3893603/us-couple-estate-nazi-europe/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```