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The Jewish community in Cakovec was very large in terms of both members and space; I remember well the spacious rooms in the community. All together, there was a complex of buildings: in one building, the rabbi lived with his family, and the president of the Jewish Community lived with his family, one apartment above the other; to the right, there was a Community building with large rooms and a hall where various manifestations took place, such as celebrations of holidays and performances for holidays; and behind these two buildings, there was a large courtyard with the synagogue in the middle of the courtyard.
The synagogue, or the temple as we used to call it, was large and beautiful, and always full for the Jews attended the services on a regular basis. Our rabbi was dr. Ilija Grunwald. Apart from him, there was also a cantor – therefore, two professionals working in one Jewish community. One rabbi, one cantor, one synagogue, and a large Jewish Community building.
The president of the Jewish Community was dr. Schwarz. He was the father of Eva Schwarz, who today lives in Budapest. In addition, there was a kosher butcher who slaughtered animals, but my family did not consume the meat from him. I suppose that the rabbi, the cantor and only a few other families in Cakovec were kosher and consumed kosher meat. There was no mikveh in Cakovec.
Within the Jewish Community, we had many different activities and we met up regularly. Among other things, there was also a Youth Club. As a matter of fact, we had two kinds of Youth Clubs: a Zionist and a revisionist. The Zionists were the followers of Weizmann [3]–while the revisionists followed Jabotinsky [4], the latter were more revolutionary. Some of us belonged to one, and some to the other group, but we didn’t make large distinctions and we mostly socialized together.
The synagogue, or the temple as we used to call it, was large and beautiful, and always full for the Jews attended the services on a regular basis. Our rabbi was dr. Ilija Grunwald. Apart from him, there was also a cantor – therefore, two professionals working in one Jewish community. One rabbi, one cantor, one synagogue, and a large Jewish Community building.
The president of the Jewish Community was dr. Schwarz. He was the father of Eva Schwarz, who today lives in Budapest. In addition, there was a kosher butcher who slaughtered animals, but my family did not consume the meat from him. I suppose that the rabbi, the cantor and only a few other families in Cakovec were kosher and consumed kosher meat. There was no mikveh in Cakovec.
Within the Jewish Community, we had many different activities and we met up regularly. Among other things, there was also a Youth Club. As a matter of fact, we had two kinds of Youth Clubs: a Zionist and a revisionist. The Zionists were the followers of Weizmann [3]–while the revisionists followed Jabotinsky [4], the latter were more revolutionary. Some of us belonged to one, and some to the other group, but we didn’t make large distinctions and we mostly socialized together.
Location
Čakovec
Croatia
Interview
Oto Konstein