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My son lives with his family. We’re in touch every day, he always calls in the evening. He lives in Nitra. He’s this local patriot, he didn’t want to leave Nitra, and never did leave it. He stayed here after he finished school, and got a job at the hospital. Now he’s independent, he’s a private doctor. He’s had a private practice for four years now.
I didn’t bring my son up in the Jewish faith. Though he did see it at home, because my aunts and cousin also lived in this building. My aunts were quite religious. On of them, Gizela, was a very good mathematician. She used to teach my son math. She’d watch out the window, and when she’d see him returning from school, she’d grab him on the stairs and wouldn’t let him go upstairs. When the poor thing died, he was very distressed, saying who was going to teach him mathematics.
My son was never in any Jewish youth group. He didn’t attend summer camp either. He used to go on holidays with us, and when he was in university, he had summer jobs. My son didn’t have a bar mitzvah. It’s quite hard to say whether my son had problems at school because of his father being a Jew. He didn’t say anything, at least to me.
I told my son about how I survived the war. He’s relatively informed about it, he knows what the Holocaust is and is interested in it. With the young one it’s worse. My grandson doesn’t like to listen to these things. He is aware of these things, he knows of it, but despite that it’s all Greek to him. My son knows about the Holocaust. My mother lived with us, and I used to tell him about it too. He knows what kind of things we lived through, though he doesn’t take it to heart as much.
I didn’t bring my son up in the Jewish faith. Though he did see it at home, because my aunts and cousin also lived in this building. My aunts were quite religious. On of them, Gizela, was a very good mathematician. She used to teach my son math. She’d watch out the window, and when she’d see him returning from school, she’d grab him on the stairs and wouldn’t let him go upstairs. When the poor thing died, he was very distressed, saying who was going to teach him mathematics.
My son was never in any Jewish youth group. He didn’t attend summer camp either. He used to go on holidays with us, and when he was in university, he had summer jobs. My son didn’t have a bar mitzvah. It’s quite hard to say whether my son had problems at school because of his father being a Jew. He didn’t say anything, at least to me.
I told my son about how I survived the war. He’s relatively informed about it, he knows what the Holocaust is and is interested in it. With the young one it’s worse. My grandson doesn’t like to listen to these things. He is aware of these things, he knows of it, but despite that it’s all Greek to him. My son knows about the Holocaust. My mother lived with us, and I used to tell him about it too. He knows what kind of things we lived through, though he doesn’t take it to heart as much.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Bedrich Hecht