We made blouses from parachutes and colored them with onion peels and herbs to prevent them from luminescence in the dark. Mikhail managed to get children's boots for me. At some stage I was secretary of the Komsomol unit. On 24th December 1943 we went on a mission. We were to blast a bridge. There were only Komsomol members in our group and the mission was called a Komsomol one. The chief engineer of the local paper factory, a Polish man, was with us to help us. This took place during Catholic Christmas and his daughters came to visit him. I was invited to the party. There were candles on the table and I cannot describe the feeling I had sitting at a festive table for the first time in many years. However, this was a rare occasion. Our life consisted of severe routines, earth huts, fires and missions. On 13th July 1944 we went on another mission. When we returned, the unit was preparing to march to Vilnius. The Soviet army was in town, when we arrived there. Vilnius was liberated. I was happy and sad walking familiar streets. I knew I would never see my father, mother or sister again. From what the locals said the ghetto had been eliminated on 23rd -24th September 1943.
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Displaying 23341 - 23370 of 50826 results
Fania Brantsovskaya
I became a member of a group. I was given a rifle and then an automatic gun. I dragged it with me and took part in military missions. I rarely saw Doba. Since she looked like a Slavic girl, she joined an intelligence group. We blasted trains and placed explosives in the enemy's equipment. We shot and killed them. Yes, I did, I killed them and did so with ease. I knew that my dear ones were dead and I took my revenge for them and thousands others with each and every shot. Mikhail was at the head of a group. There were cooks and other logistics people in the unit to take care of the routines. We suffered from lack of vitamins. Once, a comrade of mine brought me half a lemon when he came back from a task. I thought that was very nice of him. Mikhail suffered from scurvy and wasn't involved in any missions. Somehow he managed to overcome his illness. I suffered from stomatitis. Our doctor prescribed me an injection of cow milk. They must have infected me with something. I got a huge abscess and fever, but somehow I managed to recover.
Mikhail finished a Hebrew gymnasium. Before the war Mikhail's brother, whose name I don't remember, went to visit his grandfather in Lida [today Belarus] and perished there. Mikhail, his father and mother were in the ghetto, but we had never met there. A Jewish man from the police reported on Mikhail's father one day when he was hiding in a 'malina' shelter. Max was taken to Ponary. Mikhail's mother Dina stayed in the ghetto. Mikhail and I felt close to one another at once. We had a common fate: a happy cloudless childhood interrupted by the war and the ghetto. We were both worried about what happened to our dear ones kind of guessing their tragic end. We had very moving relationships in the partisan unit. When Misha and I started seeing one another, a friend of mine came to tell him not to hurt me.
Some time later we joined the group of Samuel Kaplinskiy, the one that had escaped through the sewer. We formed the big partisan unit 'For Victory!' under the command of Kaplinskiy. Here, in this partisan unit, I met my true love. My future husband, Mikhail Brantsovkiy, came from Vilnius. He was born on 10th November 1921. The name Brantsovskiy was well-known in Vilnius. There was Brantsovskiy, who owned a paper factory before the war. There was wood cut for the factory stored in the forest and our comrades used to joke: 'Misha [affectionate for Mikhail], we've burnt your wood'. Mikhail wasn't related to the rich man. His father Max owned a food store.
I don't regret that my husband and I have lived our life in Lithuania. Though, in the course of time, we had more and more understanding of the hypocrisy of the Soviet power, we were its true servants. However, I'm happy that Lithuania has become independent [46]. This promotes the development of the Lithuanian and Jewish nations. Every year on 9th May, Victory Day [47] I make a speech at the town meeting. At the 45th anniversary of the victory [1990] I spoke in the Jewish Knesset [Israeli parliament] where I was invited and so were other veterans of World War II, former ghetto inmates and partisans.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
I often go to Israel. In 1989 my maternal relatives found me. They invited my older daughter and me to visit them. I met my cousin brothers and sisters. My friends also invited me to Canada and the USA and I visited there. I live a fulfilled life, also since I'm involved in the Jewish life in Lithuania. I'm not religious, but I'm happy that there is a wonderful Jewish community and the Hesed [45] taking care of old people in Lithuania. I volunteer for the section of former ghetto inmates. I also conduct public activities as a former inmate of the ghetto. I meet with children in the local Jewish school - there is a state Jewish state school in Vilnius - speak at meetings and on memorial days. I also visit Ponary where Jewish Lithuanians were killed. I always speak in Yiddish, which is my mother tongue, with other survivors of the Holocaust.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
There were discussions about whether it was necessary to start fighting in the ghetto. In July 1943 Yitzhak Vittenberg was arrested. His comrades fought him back using their weapons. I didn't take part in it as I was a junior member. Then Gensas sent a message to the underground organization saying that if they didn't give in Yitzhak all 20,000 inmates of the ghetto would be shot. Yitzhak did a heroic deed coming out to face his executioners. He was severely tortured by the Gestapo and shot. The leadership of the underground organization decided to leave the ghetto and take people to the woods. Their groups, moving in the direction of Belarus, were captured. Their relatives in the ghetto were taken to prison or Ponary.
I became a member of a group. I was given a rifle and then an automatic gun. I dragged it with me and took part in military missions. I rarely saw Doba. Since she looked like a Slavic girl, she joined an intelligence group. We blasted trains and placed explosives in the enemy's equipment. We shot and killed them. Yes, I did, I killed them and did so with ease. I knew that my dear ones were dead and I took my revenge for them and thousands others with each and every shot. Mikhail was at the head of a group. There were cooks and other logistics people in the unit to take care of the routines. We suffered from lack of vitamins. Once, a comrade of mine brought me half a lemon when he came back from a task. I thought that was very nice of him. Mikhail suffered from scurvy and wasn't involved in any missions. Somehow he managed to overcome his illness. I suffered from stomatitis. Our doctor prescribed me an injection of cow milk. They must have infected me with something. I got a huge abscess and fever, but somehow I managed to recover.
We made blouses from parachutes and colored them with onion peels and herbs to prevent them from luminescence in the dark. Mikhail managed to get children's boots for me. At some stage I was secretary of the Komsomol unit. On 24th December 1943 we went on a mission. We were to blast a bridge. There were only Komsomol members in our group and the mission was called a Komsomol one. The chief engineer of the local paper factory, a Polish man, was with us to help us.
We made blouses from parachutes and colored them with onion peels and herbs to prevent them from luminescence in the dark. Mikhail managed to get children's boots for me. At some stage I was secretary of the Komsomol unit. On 24th December 1943 we went on a mission. We were to blast a bridge. There were only Komsomol members in our group and the mission was called a Komsomol one. The chief engineer of the local paper factory, a Polish man, was with us to help us.
Later I heard more details about my parents. My father perished in the concentration camp in Klooga in Estonia at the very end of the war. I don't know the exact date, but in fall 1944 he was still on the lists of the prisoners of this camp. The girls, who were with my mother, found me. They were taken to Riga. One day all women over 35 were taken away. My little sister wanted to come with Mama, but a German pushed her away telling her she was too young. According to the information I have the women were taken into the sea on a barge and drowned. My husband's mother Dina Brantsovskaya perished in the same group with my mother. My sister worked at the weaving factory in Riga. Riva wrote poems and the other girls told me a few lines from her poems. She wrote something like 'I'm standing by a machine weaving belts to hang fascists on them'. All I know is that my little sister perished in a death camp, one of those that fascists were destroying before the Soviet army came.
There were hardly any Jews left in Vilnius. When I saw older Jews, or they looked old to me considering how young I was, I felt like kneeling before them to kiss their hands. I approached them to talk to them and find out where they had been during the war. What happened to our dear ones made my attachment to Mikhail much stronger.
There were hardly any Jews left in Vilnius. When I saw older Jews, or they looked old to me considering how young I was, I felt like kneeling before them to kiss their hands. I approached them to talk to them and find out where they had been during the war. What happened to our dear ones made my attachment to Mikhail much stronger.
In summer 1945 Mikhail and I were in the Lithuanian delegation standing on the Red Square [in Moscow] at the Victory Parade. These were unforgettable moments. My husband and five others were awarded the 'Medal for Partisan of the Great Patriotic War' [37], Grade I, and they were one of the first awardees.
Life was gradually improving. In 1944 Vilnius was bombed several times, but this wasn't all that scary. I was offered a teacher's job, but I only wanted to teach Jewish children, and there were very few of them in Vilnius. In 1945 I finished the technical school of statistics. In April 1945 I became a statistical analyst in the Central Statistical Department of Lithuania. I worked there till I retired. I was promoted to personnel manager, and then became chief of the registration department.
In 1945 the factory where my husband was working burnt down. We were very concerned that my husband might get in trouble. There were many people taken to jail for sabotage or negligence. Fortunately, my husband's investigation officer from the NKVD [38] happened to be a decent man. He knew my husband was not to blame. My husband went to work as chief of department in the Lithuanian Industrial Council and then worked as chief of Department of State Planning of Lithuania for 25 years. He finished Moscow Institute of Engineering and Economics extramurally. We joined the Communist Party following our convictions. We joined it very consciously.
Life was gradually improving. In 1944 Vilnius was bombed several times, but this wasn't all that scary. I was offered a teacher's job, but I only wanted to teach Jewish children, and there were very few of them in Vilnius. In 1945 I finished the technical school of statistics. In April 1945 I became a statistical analyst in the Central Statistical Department of Lithuania. I worked there till I retired. I was promoted to personnel manager, and then became chief of the registration department.
In 1945 the factory where my husband was working burnt down. We were very concerned that my husband might get in trouble. There were many people taken to jail for sabotage or negligence. Fortunately, my husband's investigation officer from the NKVD [38] happened to be a decent man. He knew my husband was not to blame. My husband went to work as chief of department in the Lithuanian Industrial Council and then worked as chief of Department of State Planning of Lithuania for 25 years. He finished Moscow Institute of Engineering and Economics extramurally. We joined the Communist Party following our convictions. We joined it very consciously.
We didn't observe Jewish traditions. We spoke Yiddish to one another. Shortly after the war the synagogue opened in Vilnius. We attended it, but not to pray. There was a sort of Jewish center there where Jewish survivors searched for information about their families. I found my friend through the synagogue. She lives in Israel, in Haifa. Almost right after Vilnius was liberated I received a letter from aunt Niusia, my uncle Meishke's wife. I was very happy to learn she had survived. I visited her in Moscow several times. Once I met a few girls from Taurag at a Komsomol gathering. I mentioned that my uncle Shimon had lived there before the war, the only one of my mother's brothers who managed to evacuate, and it turned out that Shimon had survived. He visited us with Shulamit, his daughter, the only one of his daughters who also survived. He and his daughter visited us in Vilnius to bid us farewell. Shimon couldn't bear to stay in the town after losing his wife and four daughters and they moved to Israel.
I knew I had relatives in Israel. My mother's parents, her brother and sister had moved there before the war. I wrote to them from Belarus back in 1939 and they replied, but after the war it was no good to try to get in touch with them. The Soviet regime didn't trust people who had relatives abroad [39]. People could lose their jobs and the party membership. Besides, at this time the prosecution of Jews and campaign against cosmopolitans [40] began. It had no impact on us and we truly believed the propaganda.
I knew I had relatives in Israel. My mother's parents, her brother and sister had moved there before the war. I wrote to them from Belarus back in 1939 and they replied, but after the war it was no good to try to get in touch with them. The Soviet regime didn't trust people who had relatives abroad [39]. People could lose their jobs and the party membership. Besides, at this time the prosecution of Jews and campaign against cosmopolitans [40] began. It had no impact on us and we truly believed the propaganda.
My parents weren't religious. They didn't observe the kosher laws either. We often had sausage and ham at home. Mama was raised in a more traditional Jewish family and tried to observe Jewish traditions at the beginning. She lit candles on Sabbath and prayed, but my father often worked on Saturday and Mama gradually gave up praying, but kept lighting candles. Later she just told me, 'Fania, light the candles'. Mama also fasted on Yom Kippur and tried to involve my father in it. She didn't make dinner on this day and my father and his friend, a shochet's son, used to go to a missioners' cafe where they served nice dinners to all those willing. Later Yom Kippur became just a day off for us; it was a good occasion for the family to get together. Mama cooked a lot and the family had dinner together enjoying themselves; Aunt Tyoma and her husband visited us.
Mama usually cooked Jewish food on Pesach. She made sweet and sour stew, cookies made from the dough boiled in honey, tsimes [19] with carrots, beans, potatoes and prunes. She also made tsimes with lentils, grown in Lithuania. She also made imberlach with carrots and ginger, which I still cook every now and then. On Pesach mama made borscht with marinated beetroots. She also made jam with these beetroots and nuts. Mama also made a cake from matzahmuki [matzah flour] on Pesach. She also served medok, both Jewish and Lithuanian beverage with honey and hops. We celebrated Pesach, but didn't have the seder ceremony. We cleaned our house and bought gifts for the family. However, I cannot remember any Jewish traditions related to this holiday being observed in our family. Matzah was bought long before the holiday and kept in a basket. Mama made latkes and little pies from matzah flour stuffed with fried onions and jam. Mama also made boiled buckwheat with fried onions - this was a typical Jewish meal in Vilnius. On Chanukkah mama made potato pancakes. We didn't have a chanukkiyah.
There were a number of schools and gymnasiums for Jewish children in Vilnius. They were schools where the teaching was in Hebrew and Yiddish or in Polish. There were 7 and 8-year schools. There were a number of Yiddish schools: Gurewich, Shimon Fruk, Zeire Kuperstein schools. They were named after their sponsors and founders. There was a Tiksin school for retarded children, named after its founder Tiksin. The humanitarian Realschule [27] and the Sophia Gurwich gymnasium were the best. I went to the Sophia Gurewich gymnasium. Doctor Shabath's wife was my teacher. This Jewish doctor was a very nice person. There were legends about his professionalism and kindness towards the poor. The teachers were extremely skilled. Our teachers had high goals to educate and teach Jewish children and make them well-cultured people. They taught us real things.
My parents weren't religious. They didn't observe the kosher laws either. We often had sausage and ham at home. Mama was raised in a more traditional Jewish family and tried to observe Jewish traditions at the beginning. She lit candles on Sabbath and prayed, but my father often worked on Saturday and Mama gradually gave up praying, but kept lighting candles. Later she just told me, 'Fania, light the candles'. Mama also fasted on Yom Kippur and tried to involve my father in it. She didn't make dinner on this day and my father and his friend, a shochet's son, used to go to a missioners' cafe where they served nice dinners to all those willing. Later Yom Kippur became just a day off for us; it was a good occasion for the family to get together. Mama cooked a lot and the family had dinner together enjoying themselves; Aunt Tyoma and her husband visited us.
Mama usually cooked Jewish food on Pesach. She made sweet and sour stew, cookies made from the dough boiled in honey, tsimes [19] with carrots, beans, potatoes and prunes. She also made tsimes with lentils, grown in Lithuania. She also made imberlach with carrots and ginger, which I still cook every now and then. On Pesach mama made borscht with marinated beetroots. She also made jam with these beetroots and nuts. Mama also made a cake from matzahmuki [matzah flour] on Pesach. She also served medok, both Jewish and Lithuanian beverage with honey and hops. We celebrated Pesach, but didn't have the seder ceremony. We cleaned our house and bought gifts for the family. However, I cannot remember any Jewish traditions related to this holiday being observed in our family. Matzah was bought long before the holiday and kept in a basket. Mama made latkes and little pies from matzah flour stuffed with fried onions and jam. Mama also made boiled buckwheat with fried onions - this was a typical Jewish meal in Vilnius. On Chanukkah mama made potato pancakes. We didn't have a chanukkiyah.
Mama usually cooked Jewish food on Pesach. She made sweet and sour stew, cookies made from the dough boiled in honey, tsimes [19] with carrots, beans, potatoes and prunes. She also made tsimes with lentils, grown in Lithuania. She also made imberlach with carrots and ginger, which I still cook every now and then. On Pesach mama made borscht with marinated beetroots. She also made jam with these beetroots and nuts. Mama also made a cake from matzahmuki [matzah flour] on Pesach. She also served medok, both Jewish and Lithuanian beverage with honey and hops. We celebrated Pesach, but didn't have the seder ceremony. We cleaned our house and bought gifts for the family. However, I cannot remember any Jewish traditions related to this holiday being observed in our family. Matzah was bought long before the holiday and kept in a basket. Mama made latkes and little pies from matzah flour stuffed with fried onions and jam. Mama also made boiled buckwheat with fried onions - this was a typical Jewish meal in Vilnius. On Chanukkah mama made potato pancakes. We didn't have a chanukkiyah.
In spring 1941 I went home to Vilnius on vacation. The Baltic Republics were already occupied by the Soviets. My parents didn't have anything against it. They believed that at least there was no fascist threat to Jews any longer. When I came home, Mama was at the parents' meeting. My sister Riva studied in the former Realschule. Having missed home-made food for so long, I was eating my mother's borscht right from the pot. A week later I returned to Belarus. On 1st June 1941 I went to enter Vilnius University. When I came to submit my documents, I was told to come back in July. I met with my friends whom I hadn't seen in two years. At this time the Soviet authorities began with the deportation of Lithuanian Zionists and wealthier people to the Gulag [35] camps. Some of my friends were gone. On 21st June I met a friend, whose father was an outstanding doctor. We were standing near my house discussing whether his parents could possibly be subject to deportation. On the following morning, 22nd June, the [Great Patriotic] war began.
We also celebrated Jewish holidays at school. We had a masquerade on Purim. We wore costumes. I remember wearing a Chinese costume once. We also brought shelakhmones to school. We put everything we brought from home into a big basket and everyone could take a treat from it. In this way poor children could also enjoy better shelakhmones. The gymnasium charged fees. My father paid 50 percent of my tuition fees as he was a member of the teachers' association. However, it happened sometimes that I wasn't allowed to come into the classroom when my father didn't pay my fees on time. We particularly liked the event we celebrated on 1st March - the School Day. We had a banner made of all kinds of geometric figures: quadrates, triangles and rhombi that we took outside. There was a meeting and Sophia Gurewich made a speech. In 1933 the gymnasium was closed. I know that Sophia Gurewich starved to death while in evacuation in a town in Russia.
I went to the Realschule. The fee was lower there and they focused on natural sciences. I was good at those subjects: mathematic, physics, etc. We were taught in Yiddish. We also studied Jewish history and literature. Our teachers also lectured at Vilnius University. There was a wonderful library at school where I spent much time. Our teacher Malka Heimson, who was also the tutor at our literature club, perished in the ghetto in 1942.
I went to the Realschule. The fee was lower there and they focused on natural sciences. I was good at those subjects: mathematic, physics, etc. We were taught in Yiddish. We also studied Jewish history and literature. Our teachers also lectured at Vilnius University. There was a wonderful library at school where I spent much time. Our teacher Malka Heimson, who was also the tutor at our literature club, perished in the ghetto in 1942.
In those years, young Jewish people in Vilnius followed different political convictions. In opposition to young fascists who propagated racial hatred and also used to break windows of Jewish stores, they formed different unions. There was an underground 'Union of the school youth', fond of antifascist and communist ideas, and there was an underground Komsomol [28] organization. There were two Bund organizations: one for younger and the other one for older members. I belonged to the Zionist Jewish scout organization 'Bin'. We spent much time together going on excursions and hiking tours in summer. We often went to the theater. There were two Jewish theaters and a Jewish conservatory in Vilnius. In spring our schools had a meeting at the Maccabi [29] stadium. I remember that when we passed by the Jewish Bank its employees threw flowers from the balcony of the building. I can still remember the overwhelming feeling of joy that I had.
Young people argued a lot about the Soviet regime: about the period of terror [see Great Terror] [30] in the USSR, trials of the Trotsky [31] and Zinoviev [32] followers [see Zinoviev-Kamenev triumvirate] [33]. Once I even had a fight with my father's apprentice who also stayed with us. He was telling me that there was something horrible happening in the USSR and that Lenin's comrades, such as Trotsky, could not be enemies of the people [34]. Older people also had discussions. Some were for the Soviet regime and were interested in everything happening in the USSR.
Young people argued a lot about the Soviet regime: about the period of terror [see Great Terror] [30] in the USSR, trials of the Trotsky [31] and Zinoviev [32] followers [see Zinoviev-Kamenev triumvirate] [33]. Once I even had a fight with my father's apprentice who also stayed with us. He was telling me that there was something horrible happening in the USSR and that Lenin's comrades, such as Trotsky, could not be enemies of the people [34]. Older people also had discussions. Some were for the Soviet regime and were interested in everything happening in the USSR.
All I know about my grandmother's relatives is that her brother Dovid Gilinski was a painter and he was the one who introduced my grandmother to Grandfather Velvl. Dovid's son Mordke Gilinski was popular in the Jewish circles. Before the war there was the Meidem recreation home near Warsaw. It was well known in Poland and Lithuania. [see Annexation of Vilnius to Lithuania] [1] It was founded by a Bund [2] activist named Meidem for poor children in Poland. There were two employees there whose surname was Gilinski: one was the director, who wasn't related to our family. The other one was Mordke Gilinski. Mordke was a teacher. The children liked and respected him and addressed him 'father', 'batka' in Polish. Many Jewish teachers knew Mordke in Poland and Lithuania.
Grigoriy Galunskiy, the oldest of the siblings, was born in 1896. He became a communist. Mama told me he was under arrest frequently and once he was even sentenced to death. Then the rabbi himself spoke for Grigoriy. Though it was Saturday, he signed a petition, which saved Grigoriy's life. [According to the Jewish Law saving life is the single most important command; it overrules all other commands, including the Sabbath restrictions.] After 1919 Grigoriy lived in the USSR and later he moved to Vilnius as Consul of the Soviet Russia in Lithuania [Lithuanian independence] [15]. The capital of Lithuania at that time was Kaunas [since Vilnius (Wilno) belonged to Poland then] and Grigoriy, his wife Esther Grinblat and their children lived in Kaunas. My mother, who loved her older brother, left Varena to live with them. Mama told me that Grigoriy's children loved her dearly.
Grigoriy's wife was a Jewish woman from Kaunas. She was also a convinced communist. Esther was a dentist by profession. She provided her services to prisoners in the local jail. After finishing his military service in Lithuania, Grigoriy was appointed consul in Trieste, Italy. My mother never saw him again. It was only in the late 1930s when a newspaper published the information that Grigoriy Galunskiy, a famous Bolshevik [16], had died in Odessa. My father decided not to mention to my mother that her beloved brother had died hoping that she would never find out, but she did. Her neighbor visited her and together they were looking at old photographs, when the neighbor expressed her regrets about my mother brother's early death. She also mentioned that she had read about it in the newspapers. Her brother's death was a tragedy for my mother. She mourned for him for seven days sitting on the floor wearing torn clothes [she sat shivah]. I don't know what happened to Grigoriy's wife or children. I failed to find them after the Great Patriotic War however hard I tried.
Grigoriy's wife was a Jewish woman from Kaunas. She was also a convinced communist. Esther was a dentist by profession. She provided her services to prisoners in the local jail. After finishing his military service in Lithuania, Grigoriy was appointed consul in Trieste, Italy. My mother never saw him again. It was only in the late 1930s when a newspaper published the information that Grigoriy Galunskiy, a famous Bolshevik [16], had died in Odessa. My father decided not to mention to my mother that her beloved brother had died hoping that she would never find out, but she did. Her neighbor visited her and together they were looking at old photographs, when the neighbor expressed her regrets about my mother brother's early death. She also mentioned that she had read about it in the newspapers. Her brother's death was a tragedy for my mother. She mourned for him for seven days sitting on the floor wearing torn clothes [she sat shivah]. I don't know what happened to Grigoriy's wife or children. I failed to find them after the Great Patriotic War however hard I tried.
, Lithuania
Tomas Kraus
His literary paragon, family friend and lifelong teacher at the same time was the 'raging reporter' Egon Erwin Kisch [Kisch, Egon Erwin (1885-1948): a German writer and journalist of Jewish origins from Prague]. At one time my father even lived at Kisch's place, and they became very good friends. But later, in 1948 they parted ways in a matter of opinion, because my father was a convinced leftist social democrat, while Kisch remained a Communist even after 1948, and approved of the putsch [8]. From that time onward my father and Kisch never spoke again.
We didn't want to stay in a completely foreign environment, my mother was already older after all, and said that she didn't want to start from scratch in a foreign place. I was 14, I didn't know anything yet. The official propaganda from Czechoslovakia claimed that nothing serious was going on, that the Russians may be here, but everything had been agreed to in Moscow, everything is fine, the reform process is continuing.
When I was 14, in August of 1968, my mother and I managed to leave the country to go visit these friends. By coincidence we were in West Berlin right during the time when the Russians invaded Prague [24]. For a terribly long time we didn't know what we should do. If we should return, or stay in Germany.
My parents tried to give me a nice childhood, so we traveled a lot, so that I wouldn't grow up in Prague, in the city - we'd regularly go to certain places. We visited my grandpa, who lived in Marenice, in the Sudetenland. I spent a large part of my childhood in the area around Ceska Lipa - July and August in Stare Splavy at my father's friend's; fall we spent in Dubi at a friend of my father's, the writer Marketa Reichmanova. In March we'd regularly go on vacation to Svaty Petr. In December, around Christmas, we'd visit the Karlovy Vary [23] spa.
I met up with Judaism from a very young age - as my father was active in the Prague Jewish Community, it was completely natural for me to attend the Community regularly. I went to the Community for parties, later as a student for lunches. I never felt any division of identity - I perceived Judaism as some sort of tradition, however in a non-religious fashion. As a child I remember that during Christmas we had a tree at home, so that we children wouldn't miss out on anything. The tree is this symbol, which actually vouches for coexistence and the intermingling of traditions; I looked at the Christmas tree in a religious context.
These events and the cultural life at the Community functioned perfectly up to the year 1968, when a fundamental turning point occurred, and 90 percent of my friends immigrated. Practically no one from the generation of my friends remained here. The August occupation in 1968 [19] changed these people's lives in a fundamental fashion - before this turning point most of them would never have thought of emigrating.
My father also became one of the main regular contributors to the Jewish Religious Communities' Newsletter. He was the head of a commission that organized parties at the Prague Jewish Community. Parties were held in Maislova Street twice a year - always at Chanukkah and Purim.
Within one day my father lost his positions in both CTK and in Radio. With the exception of the publication of 'The Changed Land,' which was only allowed to be published at the price of dramatic changes in the text, from that time on he could only make a living with occasional writing.
When my father returned to Prague from Budapest, he had nowhere to go. He got the idea to go to the apartment of my grandfather's, Robert Kraus's, second wife. Grandpa survived the war in Terezin, as he had been in a mixed marriage. This aunt, who wasn't Jewish, had been able to hold on to his apartment on Maislova Street the entire time. Right after the liberation she went to Terezin for my grandfather, and brought him back to their apartment. When my father then arrived in Prague, it occurred to him to go to Grandpa's apartment and he found Grandpa there! When my mother returned from the concentration camp, she had no idea what she should do, and because she also had no place to go, she said to herself that she'll go there, and they all met up there! I think that it would be worthwhile to write a novel about this meeting.
Through his career as a journalist he knew a few people in Budapest. So he contacted them, and they found some basic assistance for him, rented a small apartment for him. In Budapest he sat down, and wrote down all the experiences that were still fresh inside of him.