Selected text
My grandfather worked as an accountant with Pravda newspaper, but in the
1950s he was kicked out, accused of being a Zionist. My grandmother worked
at home.
My father wasn't able to study at university because of his 'bourgeois
family history'. He wanted to study archeology, but wasn't accepted during
the 1950s. Then he finished a vocational typographic school and became a
newspaper typesetter. Later, in the 1960s, the situation changed and he was
allowed to study at the Faculty of Economics.
Almost thirty years later he became head of the Faculty of Economics, which
has meanwhile become an independent university; the third biggest in
Slovakia. He still teaches there and is still involved both in the economic
and political life of the country.
My father married my mother Zuzana Sternova, nee Zimkova, born in 1947. She
comes from an Orthodox Jewish family from Nitra, which was a big Jewish
center before the war. Almost 10,000 Jews lived in the city and
surroundings.
1950s he was kicked out, accused of being a Zionist. My grandmother worked
at home.
My father wasn't able to study at university because of his 'bourgeois
family history'. He wanted to study archeology, but wasn't accepted during
the 1950s. Then he finished a vocational typographic school and became a
newspaper typesetter. Later, in the 1960s, the situation changed and he was
allowed to study at the Faculty of Economics.
Almost thirty years later he became head of the Faculty of Economics, which
has meanwhile become an independent university; the third biggest in
Slovakia. He still teaches there and is still involved both in the economic
and political life of the country.
My father married my mother Zuzana Sternova, nee Zimkova, born in 1947. She
comes from an Orthodox Jewish family from Nitra, which was a big Jewish
center before the war. Almost 10,000 Jews lived in the city and
surroundings.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
tomas stern