Selected text
After the war there were almost no Jews in Piestany. Most of them left for Prague, and some of them went even further, to England or Israel. In 1949 there was a large wave of emigration. Back then there was the so-called ‘lift.’ There were wooden crates into which things were packed. Each crate had to have an exact list, which went to the customs office. They came to see my father as well, and said: ‘Mr. Pharmacist, we’ll pack up your pharmacy as it stands, all the furnishings and everything, and it’ll go to Israel.’ My father wasn’t well, and didn’t want to go to a place with a harsh climate. So we stayed here.
Life returned to the Jewish community in Piestany to the extent that my parents’ generation occasionally met up. There was one prayer hall here, and that’s where they’d meet. Likely they talked and reminisced. My generation almost wasn’t. They also observed holidays in that prayer hall. When we were building the memorial, one man from Vrbova was here. He came over to me and asked where the Torahs were. I didn’t know, all I knew was that when the Torah is in danger, it has to be buried. He said: ‘It’s got to be here, because in 1953 I had a bar mitzvah in that little prayer hall. We searched for it, but didn’t find out anything. If anyone knew anything, they kept quiet.
Life returned to the Jewish community in Piestany to the extent that my parents’ generation occasionally met up. There was one prayer hall here, and that’s where they’d meet. Likely they talked and reminisced. My generation almost wasn’t. They also observed holidays in that prayer hall. When we were building the memorial, one man from Vrbova was here. He came over to me and asked where the Torahs were. I didn’t know, all I knew was that when the Torah is in danger, it has to be buried. He said: ‘It’s got to be here, because in 1953 I had a bar mitzvah in that little prayer hall. We searched for it, but didn’t find out anything. If anyone knew anything, they kept quiet.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Heda Ambrova