Aunt Sophie wasn’t deported, she remained in Cernauti during World War II, and after the war she refuged here, to her sister Regina Weber, who had a house.
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Displaying 47071 - 47100 of 50826 results
Marcel Simon
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My maternal grandfather had three sisters. One of them was called Sophie Gingold, and was born in 1888. She was a teacher of German and Yiddish at the Pedagogical School in Cernauti.
My grandfather also died in Transnistria [1], in 1942.
My maternal grandparents lived in a village called Bosanci, 8 kilometers from here, from Suceava. My grandfather was called Leib Gingold, and he was a merchant and also had lands, just like my other grandfather.
My father was born in 1904. His name was Herscu Simon, his Jewish name was Zvi – Hers means Zvi.He did his army service in 1926-1928.
My father was born in 1904. His name was Herscu Simon, his Jewish name was Zvi – Hers means Zvi. Father had only completed elementary school.
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Before WW2
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My father had two other sisters, Estera si Ruhla Simon, who lived in Suceava, they were single, the Jewish community from Suceava took care of them, and they both died in the same year, in 1975.
There were two other boys: Buma and Mendel, who emigrated to Israel. Buma left before Mendel, but he also died at a young age. He was an air-officer, and died in the first Arab-Israeli War in 1948.
Father had another brother, Leib Simon, who had seven children. Five of them were buried in Falticeni. Three girls: Adela, Miriam and Rasela; and two boys: Lica and Licusor. They died at a young age, they were between 18 and 28 years old, – because one of them was a pressman and they contacted pulmonary tuberculosis from each other, they contacted the germ from each other. They died after World War II within 8-10 years.
My father had a brother in Cernauti. He was also Simon, but I don’t remember his first name anymore.He was an accountant.
They were merchants, they had lands, they traded and were quite well off.
Hanna We
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My grandparents were traditional. My mother said that even though her parents were traditional, her father ate ham, but never at home. At home I don’t think they kept kosher, but nevertheless it wouldn’t have been acceptable to eat ham. On the photograph you can see that my grandparents aren’t wearing traditional costume, but entirely secular clothes. My grandfather didn’t belong to any organization. I don’t think he had any political sympathies. In any case nothing has stuck in my mind, or survived in the family history.
I think my grandparents spoke Yiddish between themselves; they didn’t speak it with the children. I remember my grandmother; she spoke Polish with mistakes, not pure Polish. My mother spoke fluent Polish. Even if somebody thought she was Jewish, and then she said something, they thought they were mistaken. All my grandparents’ children spoke Polish fluently. In our home we spoke nothing else besides Polish. I don’t even think my mother could speak Yiddish, but she understood it, and my father didn’t speak or understand Yiddish.
I think my grandparents spoke Yiddish between themselves; they didn’t speak it with the children. I remember my grandmother; she spoke Polish with mistakes, not pure Polish. My mother spoke fluent Polish. Even if somebody thought she was Jewish, and then she said something, they thought they were mistaken. All my grandparents’ children spoke Polish fluently. In our home we spoke nothing else besides Polish. I don’t even think my mother could speak Yiddish, but she understood it, and my father didn’t speak or understand Yiddish.
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Before WW2
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My mother’s younger sister was called Elzbieta. She died in Canada after the Holocaust. She was born in 1900 or 1901. She got married before the war; her [married] name was Ramet. I don’t know whether it was a secular or a religious wedding. Her husband, whose name was Henryk, had Zionist [2] leanings at one time. He was in some organization. They sent their daughter to a Hebrew school, for instance. My parents had no such intentions at all. And I even think they looked critically at Elzbieta’s husband for being silly.
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Before WW2
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I don’t think my grandfather had an education. Neither did my grandmother. I think my grandfather was the first of his brothers and sisters to come to Warsaw, and he and his wife opened a Laundromat. Initially they ran the Laundromat themselves. Because my grandfather did well – he was evidently a confident and capable man – he had his brothers come to Warsaw from Lithuania.
My maternal grandmother’s name was Sara. At first I think she worked in the Laundromat. Later, she just kept the house. Their children were born in Warsaw. I know that my mother certainly was. The eldest was Eliasz, followed by my mother – Balbina – and then finally her younger sister Elzbieta. My grandparents had lots of children, but many of them died because of misfortunes, or something bad. My grandmother had miscarriages; she had problems.
My maternal grandmother’s name was Sara. At first I think she worked in the Laundromat. Later, she just kept the house. Their children were born in Warsaw. I know that my mother certainly was. The eldest was Eliasz, followed by my mother – Balbina – and then finally her younger sister Elzbieta. My grandparents had lots of children, but many of them died because of misfortunes, or something bad. My grandmother had miscarriages; she had problems.
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Before WW2
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My father’s family was more assimilated than my mother’s, and they had lived in Warsaw for several generations. My mother’s family were Litvaks [1].
The year 1968 [22] affected me badly. Psychologically above all. I saw [anti-Semitism] then; it all re-emerged. Professionally a little, too, perhaps, in a camouflaged way. I couldn’t have left then, even if I’d wanted to, because my mother was incapacitated very early on, and she needed looking after. To leave and start a new life with somebody frail, I would have found that a hard decision to make. If I’d gone, I don’t think it would have been to Israel, but maybe to the States. I went to the States during that period, because my husband had a grant. I went to visit him. But our child stayed here, so we didn’t think of not coming back.
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1968
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Children were brought up very much to be Poles there. I remember that when Pilsudski [4] died [in 1935], children cried. There was a mood that a misfortune had befallen Poland. I don’t think I cried, but I was probably on the verge of crying.
,
1935
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My father was a Polish patriot. He was an officer, a lieutenant, I think, and he was very proud of that. He served in the Polish army, although not in the Legions [7], I don’t think. He was drafted during the 1920 war [8], but fell ill straight away and in the end didn’t take part in it. So he must have gone to an officer training school. I remember that he had a uniform and a saber at home. He wasn’t a strapping man, more a sickly one. The army was very important to him. He often used to sing soldiers’ songs.
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Before WW2
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After the war I wouldn’t have married a Jew. I certainly wouldn’t have stayed in Poland, if I was to have a Jewish child. That was out of the question. Enough of that! I didn’t want it. Just like the hero of Grynberg’s book told his mother that he had decided not to be a Jew any more. I had decided the same. In any case I didn’t want to have a Jewish child. I said that my life had been through too much in that respect. I’ve had enough; I don’t want to give it to a child as well, so that she would have it, too.
After the war I didn’t return to my [maiden] name at all. Never. I’m still in hiding. That’s how you could say it in short. Then I got married [so I took my husband’s name]. It’s a very serious scar. On the whole I didn’t say I was Jewish; it depends who I’m talking to. I’m certainly not going to tell the neighbors; where would that get me?
Once I even read the words of an American Jew, who’d been in America for years, who said that in fact he was still in hiding. I could understand that, and I thought to myself, oh yes! That really is a good way of putting it, that you’re in hiding. But it depends on character. There are strong characters who [don’t think like that] – absolutely not! Perhaps it’s more cowardly people [who do] – I don’t know how to put it. I just didn’t want to, and I had no intention of going back to a tradition that I hadn’t been attached to before – well, what for? What would be the point?
After the war I didn’t return to my [maiden] name at all. Never. I’m still in hiding. That’s how you could say it in short. Then I got married [so I took my husband’s name]. It’s a very serious scar. On the whole I didn’t say I was Jewish; it depends who I’m talking to. I’m certainly not going to tell the neighbors; where would that get me?
Once I even read the words of an American Jew, who’d been in America for years, who said that in fact he was still in hiding. I could understand that, and I thought to myself, oh yes! That really is a good way of putting it, that you’re in hiding. But it depends on character. There are strong characters who [don’t think like that] – absolutely not! Perhaps it’s more cowardly people [who do] – I don’t know how to put it. I just didn’t want to, and I had no intention of going back to a tradition that I hadn’t been attached to before – well, what for? What would be the point?
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After WW2
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My parents got married in a synagogue. That was an exception, in a sense. They weren’t religious at all; they weren’t even believers. Perhaps someone wanted it, it was somebody’s wish – I can’t say why it happened. But that has stuck in my mind. I remember that it was something of a curiosity in my parents’ circles. Once, a friend of my father’s came to Warsaw, and I remember that when he met my mother, he said, ‘This is the beautiful Bela who got married in a synagogue!
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Before WW2
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On Krolewska we had Lucyna Milecka, a Pole, to help in the house. Auntie Lucyna was a great friend of my family. Our lives were intertwined. Even after the war she raised my son. We lived in great friendship. She went straight to heaven, as she was good, calm, and loving. I knew her whole family. During the war, before the ghetto, she stayed with us.
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Before WW2
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On Pawia we had a house-help, like my grandparents. Our house-help was Polish. In our house the housekeepers were always Poles. They were girls from the country who were looking for work. In Jewish houses, where a kosher kitchen was kept, I suppose it had to be a Jewish girl, because other girls wouldn’t have managed [with the requirements of kosher cuisine]. My mother never kept the house herself. She only did it when they lived somewhere outside Warsaw, just after she got married. But once I was around there was a servant. I didn’t have a nanny; she did everything.
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Before WW2
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They even had help in the house. The house-help was Polish. I remember her a little; my grandmother used to call her ‘Anielcia.’ They could afford help, because my grandfather was the co-proprietor of the Laundromat.
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Before WW2
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My parents weren’t poor. They weren’t as rich as Croesus, but they lived plentifully. I’m not from rich circles, but people were wealthy, as you could see from their apartments, from everything. My father worked, and my mother probably inherited something from her father, who was the co-proprietor of a firm. All in all it was a relatively good life.
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Before WW2
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My grandparents were wealthy and lived in good conditions.
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Before WW2
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Later I lived on Krolewska. The apartment on Krolewska was nice: four-roomed, though not front-facing but back-facing. There were two courtyards there; I think we lived in the second. The windows of our apartment looked out over the roof of the Cyrulik theater [a small satirical and revue theater in Warsaw, popular before the war].
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Before WW2
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In spite of my age I still work part-time at the Institute of Psychology and Neurology [in Warsaw].
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After WW2
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I found a job in a firm of tailors. I sewed dresses and coats, as unskilled labor.
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During WW2
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My father worked for his stepbrother, Stanislaw, who owned a private firm. His line of work was galvanizing technology, which is electrical metal coating. My father was a specialist at that.
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Before WW2
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I think he was a merchant.
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Before WW2
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