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After the war things seemed at first hopeful, but when the communists gained power, everything got worse. My father was imprisoned in the 1950s. We lived in Nitra. My father was in prison and we had a picture taken for him in 1951. My father was in prison several times. That time it was after the illegal emigration of his brother. The history of Zionism influenced our family all the time and I was excluded from university for that reason.
My cousin Ivan Reitman emigrated from Czechoslovakia under very dangerous circumstances. I had problems because of my father and my cousin who illegally emigrated. I couldn’t study at university, which I wanted to do so much. Today I’m retired but I still work in a library.
The stories of the Reitman family were very interesting. They go as follows: The youngest brother, Laci, fled from Czechoslovakia under very dangerous circumstances in 1951. He illegally crossed the border in Komarno and was smuggled, along with his five-year-old son Ivan, to Vienna on a cargo ship. Uncle Laci died five years ago, his wife, Aunt Klari lives in Toronto and their son Ivan lives in Los Angeles. My father died in October 1988, my mother is, thanks God, still alive. The second oldest brother was called Imro Reitman; he lives in Toronto. Unfortunately, Imro suffers from Alzheimer disease. He is 89 and mentally in a very bad condition. His wife was called Magda. She survived Auschwitz. Imro and Laci were hiding in Hungary. Both brothers had more children. Ivan has two sisters and Marika has a sister called Dana.
In 1961 I married engineer Juraj Kosik. We have two children, Peter and Zuzana. Peter is 35 and Zuzana is 28. We got divorced after 30 years of marriage. My husband Juraj Kosik wasn’t a Jew. I can say that no Jew would ever do so much harm to his family as he did. He can have a lover, but the family is always above all. At the moment, I live alone. My children come to visit me, I have close friends and, fortunately, my mother.
At the end of 1963, my mother went to Israel to visit her brother Dodo. She met my cousin Judita and Dodo’s wife, Dita. She is a marvelous person. She came to Levice by chance from Kalna. They got married in 1938 or even earlier and they went to Israel with the first aliyah. My cousin Judita, who was born in Israel, speaks fluent Slovak. Her husband comes from Poland; he is an architect. They speak Hebrew and English. But when the husband and children weren’t present, we spoke Slovak without any problems.
In spite of my health problems, which are partially caused by the suffering during the Holocaust, I’m actively involved in the activities of the Jewish community, especially in the association Hidden Child.
My cousin Ivan Reitman emigrated from Czechoslovakia under very dangerous circumstances. I had problems because of my father and my cousin who illegally emigrated. I couldn’t study at university, which I wanted to do so much. Today I’m retired but I still work in a library.
The stories of the Reitman family were very interesting. They go as follows: The youngest brother, Laci, fled from Czechoslovakia under very dangerous circumstances in 1951. He illegally crossed the border in Komarno and was smuggled, along with his five-year-old son Ivan, to Vienna on a cargo ship. Uncle Laci died five years ago, his wife, Aunt Klari lives in Toronto and their son Ivan lives in Los Angeles. My father died in October 1988, my mother is, thanks God, still alive. The second oldest brother was called Imro Reitman; he lives in Toronto. Unfortunately, Imro suffers from Alzheimer disease. He is 89 and mentally in a very bad condition. His wife was called Magda. She survived Auschwitz. Imro and Laci were hiding in Hungary. Both brothers had more children. Ivan has two sisters and Marika has a sister called Dana.
In 1961 I married engineer Juraj Kosik. We have two children, Peter and Zuzana. Peter is 35 and Zuzana is 28. We got divorced after 30 years of marriage. My husband Juraj Kosik wasn’t a Jew. I can say that no Jew would ever do so much harm to his family as he did. He can have a lover, but the family is always above all. At the moment, I live alone. My children come to visit me, I have close friends and, fortunately, my mother.
At the end of 1963, my mother went to Israel to visit her brother Dodo. She met my cousin Judita and Dodo’s wife, Dita. She is a marvelous person. She came to Levice by chance from Kalna. They got married in 1938 or even earlier and they went to Israel with the first aliyah. My cousin Judita, who was born in Israel, speaks fluent Slovak. Her husband comes from Poland; he is an architect. They speak Hebrew and English. But when the husband and children weren’t present, we spoke Slovak without any problems.
In spite of my health problems, which are partially caused by the suffering during the Holocaust, I’m actively involved in the activities of the Jewish community, especially in the association Hidden Child.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Veronika Kosikova