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I play scrabble with Zaklin. She is a special case. She is from a village in France on the border with Germany. She got married to a friend of my husband’s from childhood. His name was Morris Inkra. They were very close with my husband; they went to the Lycee together, so I met him when we got engaged.
When the war started he got caught and was a prisoner of war. When Mussolini fell, they went to Switzerland and as they where prisoners of war they were giving them packets from the Red Cross. He was one of very few people who knew French. They used to send him to get the packets from the Red Cross, and he got his bride from there too, so to speak.
He wasn’t very religious but he told her, to marry her she would have to change her religion and become Jewish. She agreed and they went to the rabbi in Geneva. So he said to him, ‘Look I am Jewish, and I want to marry her, but she is Christian. I want you to make her a Jew so I can marry her.’ ‘What?’ he said, ‘look I have three daughters, choose which one you want and marry her.’ But he wanted her, so they went to another city, I don’t remember where, to find a rabbi who would accept to teach her and turn her into a Jew. She knows the religion better than me because she was even given exams on it.
When the war started he got caught and was a prisoner of war. When Mussolini fell, they went to Switzerland and as they where prisoners of war they were giving them packets from the Red Cross. He was one of very few people who knew French. They used to send him to get the packets from the Red Cross, and he got his bride from there too, so to speak.
He wasn’t very religious but he told her, to marry her she would have to change her religion and become Jewish. She agreed and they went to the rabbi in Geneva. So he said to him, ‘Look I am Jewish, and I want to marry her, but she is Christian. I want you to make her a Jew so I can marry her.’ ‘What?’ he said, ‘look I have three daughters, choose which one you want and marry her.’ But he wanted her, so they went to another city, I don’t remember where, to find a rabbi who would accept to teach her and turn her into a Jew. She knows the religion better than me because she was even given exams on it.
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Interview
Roza Benveniste