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In those days, there were also a lot of Jewish immigrants from Poland living in Kezmarok. After the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy fell apart, they ran away to Czechoslovakia. This was because the Poles and Ukrainians were persecuting them en masse, pillaging their homes and stores.
They burned a lot of shtetls, towns. They even killed some of them. Polish Jews that settled in Kezmarok were mostly merchants, tradesmen, butchers, stonemasons. Stonemasons made matzeyves, gravestones. One of the Polish Jews was in charge of the ritual bath, the mikveh. He was called the Mikveh Yid.
His name was Östereicher. Jews in the town were also divided into Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Ashkenazim were mostly the original Jewish residents of Kezmarok, and Sephardim were immigrants from Poland. Immigrants were different in several basic ways.
Locals used to go pray at 6:00 a.m., so that at 7:00 a.m. they could open their stores and begin working. The Sephardim went to their synagogue at 8;00 a.m. Locals spoke mostly German, the immigrants Yiddish. The Ashkenazim dressed mostly the same as the rest of the population, but some of them had beards and wore black hats, while part of the Sephardim wore black caftans and black hats.
They burned a lot of shtetls, towns. They even killed some of them. Polish Jews that settled in Kezmarok were mostly merchants, tradesmen, butchers, stonemasons. Stonemasons made matzeyves, gravestones. One of the Polish Jews was in charge of the ritual bath, the mikveh. He was called the Mikveh Yid.
His name was Östereicher. Jews in the town were also divided into Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Ashkenazim were mostly the original Jewish residents of Kezmarok, and Sephardim were immigrants from Poland. Immigrants were different in several basic ways.
Locals used to go pray at 6:00 a.m., so that at 7:00 a.m. they could open their stores and begin working. The Sephardim went to their synagogue at 8;00 a.m. Locals spoke mostly German, the immigrants Yiddish. The Ashkenazim dressed mostly the same as the rest of the population, but some of them had beards and wore black hats, while part of the Sephardim wore black caftans and black hats.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Singer Alexander