Selected text
We had a custom, before the war, of course, which during the war had spread: the Jewish boys who came from the countryside to school in Torda used to eat each day at a different family and they didn’t have to pay for the meal. There were two boys who came to eat at our place. One of them came on Sunday, the other on Tuesday.They ate the same food as we did, and they ate well, thank God.We, the children, were on very good terms with them, they used to stay after dinner and we used to play together.One of the boys, Markovits, I don’t remember his first name, was originally from Rod [today Rediu, 20km north of Torda]. The other one, Goldstein, was originally from Jara [today Iara, 30km west of Torda].
There were very interesting stories related to this. In 1945, at the age of 15, my cousin, Joska Hertzlinger, who was born on the same day as me, left his parents and ran away with Markovits; the boy who used to eat at our house. And, very strangely, through Italy, I don’t know how, by some ships, they got to Israel. That was part of the British Empire then, and they were captured and put in jail. In the end, they were released and my cousin went to a kibbutz, while the other boy joined the army. He had managed to climb his way through the army, it seems that he was a natural at it, and advanced very well and became a general. In the end he became ramatkal: chief of the general staff of Israel. It’s a rule in Israel, that every position is time-limited, and when this expires, there is no possibility to extend that. When his term was over, he became the military attache of the embassy in Washington, where Yitzhak Rabin was the ambassador. After he came home, I spoke to him through my cousin. He lived his life in such conditions. In Israel he changed his name to Manachen Maron and he still uses this name.
The other boy, who was originally from Jara, became deeply religious. One time we went with my cousin to Haifa, his wife was employed in a factory there, and we went to see her. Someone rushed to me, ‘Hi Joska…’ and so on … I got scared and said, ‘Tell me, why do you think we are on such good terms?’ He then said, ‘Don’t you remember that I used to eat at your place every Tuesday?’ He was working in that factory as the meshgiah: ritual supervisor. This position also exists in the canteen in Kolozsvar.
There were very interesting stories related to this. In 1945, at the age of 15, my cousin, Joska Hertzlinger, who was born on the same day as me, left his parents and ran away with Markovits; the boy who used to eat at our house. And, very strangely, through Italy, I don’t know how, by some ships, they got to Israel. That was part of the British Empire then, and they were captured and put in jail. In the end, they were released and my cousin went to a kibbutz, while the other boy joined the army. He had managed to climb his way through the army, it seems that he was a natural at it, and advanced very well and became a general. In the end he became ramatkal: chief of the general staff of Israel. It’s a rule in Israel, that every position is time-limited, and when this expires, there is no possibility to extend that. When his term was over, he became the military attache of the embassy in Washington, where Yitzhak Rabin was the ambassador. After he came home, I spoke to him through my cousin. He lived his life in such conditions. In Israel he changed his name to Manachen Maron and he still uses this name.
The other boy, who was originally from Jara, became deeply religious. One time we went with my cousin to Haifa, his wife was employed in a factory there, and we went to see her. Someone rushed to me, ‘Hi Joska…’ and so on … I got scared and said, ‘Tell me, why do you think we are on such good terms?’ He then said, ‘Don’t you remember that I used to eat at your place every Tuesday?’ He was working in that factory as the meshgiah: ritual supervisor. This position also exists in the canteen in Kolozsvar.
Period
Location
Torda
Romania
Interview
Jozsef Farkas