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I've got to say that life there was nice. We never had any conflicts with neighbors or felt any signs of anti-Semitism. As I've said, I also started attending school here. I attended Slovak people's school here. It was a one- room schoolhouse. From Grade 1 to Grade 5, and there were about two to four students in each grade. There were so few of us because Zlatna na Ostrove was a relatively strong Hungarian village, and Hungarians were in the majority. Even though I've got to say that we never had any problems with them because of it. We took it as a matter of fact.
Now that I've started on school, I can't but recall the teacher who gave me excellent foundations as far as studies go. It was our teacher Mr. Klacansky, and as a teacher he was simply excellent. While I was in school, I liked all subjects. If I'm to be honest, I was better at the humanities, like for example geography or history. In math, I was a little weaker. But never bad. I was always among the best students in school.
After my first three years at Slovak people's school in Zlatna na Ostrove, we moved with our parents to Dolne Krskany. Our father had bought his own farm there, and farmed on it. But the soil there wasn't too fertile, and so after some three years we moved away from Krskany. But before I go on, I'll mention one incident that's remained in my memory all these years. My brother didn't attend school in Parovce, like most of the local Jewish children. We attended school in Nitra. A Protestant school. And once on the way there, it happened that children started yelling at us: 'Jew! Smelly Jew!' It truly didn't sit well with us, and I can't forget it to this day.
Now that I've started on school, I can't but recall the teacher who gave me excellent foundations as far as studies go. It was our teacher Mr. Klacansky, and as a teacher he was simply excellent. While I was in school, I liked all subjects. If I'm to be honest, I was better at the humanities, like for example geography or history. In math, I was a little weaker. But never bad. I was always among the best students in school.
After my first three years at Slovak people's school in Zlatna na Ostrove, we moved with our parents to Dolne Krskany. Our father had bought his own farm there, and farmed on it. But the soil there wasn't too fertile, and so after some three years we moved away from Krskany. But before I go on, I'll mention one incident that's remained in my memory all these years. My brother didn't attend school in Parovce, like most of the local Jewish children. We attended school in Nitra. A Protestant school. And once on the way there, it happened that children started yelling at us: 'Jew! Smelly Jew!' It truly didn't sit well with us, and I can't forget it to this day.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Magda Frkalova