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The non-Jewish neighbors took pity on us when we returned. You could write to them about [from] Auschwitz, but only that we were healthy. We could only write, ‘I’m fine and the whole family is fine’, those were the regulations. I wrote a letter to Felsoszeli, to one of our old neighbors. The neighbors got the letter, but I didn’t put it away, it got misplaced, though they gave it to me after the war. The neighbors believed what I wrote, since my name was signed on it.
In Galanta, we ate in a communal kitchen [cafeteria]. The cook, Elemer Eckstein left for Palestine. We went there to eat. They demolished the kitchen since then, it was also on Main street. They opened another kitchen later in the courtyard of Rabbi Buxbaum. Rabbi Buxbaum was a victim of the Holocaust. I worked as an assistant cook there. Two of us cooked, but we went to help the work brigade also. The kitchen was maintained by the Joint [Joint (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee)][12], they funded it. We even got clothes there. The head cook, Mrs. Wollner, Sarika [from Sarolta], grabbed the goose liver and took it home, but I didn’t let her. One time, a five liter jar full of goose liver. She wanted to take it, but it fell and the jar broke. I said, ‘Thank god, we’re going to eat.’ I never took food home, I gave it all to the young men and women. Mrs. Wollner was jealous of me, because the boarders yelled that I should cook and serve, because I gave them more generous portions. They really loved me, since I gave everyone the same sized portions. I think it was rather, that I didn’t look anyone in the eye, so I couldn’t even make distinctions among them. Many came there to eat. The kitchen was still working in 1946. I think it closed in 1947.
Following the war, my father got married. Fina Messinger was the sadchen for Father and his new wife. Father’s new bride-to-be, Sara Schiffer, lived in Pest with her siblings. She was from an orthodox Jewish family in Satoraljaujhely. Since one of her older brothers had taken a non-Jewish wife before the war, they expelled him from the family.
I don’t even know where the wedding was held. I was with my father’s sister at the time, with Etel in Prague. I lived for a time with Father’s new family, up until I got married. I didn’t like them at first, so I didn’t call her Mother, but rather Aunt Sari. Later, my children also called her Aunt Sari and that was very painful for her. When my father died, my husband said, ‘Sarika you are a guest at our house every Saturday.’ She appreciated this very much and came every Saturday for lunch.
She had a sister, who didn’t have a family. She lived in Budapest, so Sari moved in with her. I often went to visit them on 4 Angyal Street. On every occasion, she was so glad. I brought a lot of presents with me. After her sister died, I cleaned house for her. While I was there, we would go down to the Pava Street Jewish kitchen to eat. In our free time, we usually took walks, went to the cinema or theater. I saw the play ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ for the first time in Budapest, and the film as well. Bessenyei played the lead role in the play, while on the screen, it was played by the American actor, Smulanski.
When I became a widow, I sometimes celebrated the holidays at Sarika’s. We went to the Dohany Street synagogue. I went on foot from Angyal Street all the way to Dohany Street, not by streetcar.
Sarika died about ten years ago. She spent the last days of her life in the hospital, as she had cancer. Sarika’s American niece and I were at her side. Sunday I had gone home to Galanta, but by that evening the telephone rang, Sarika was dead. That week I went back to Pest to one of my girlfriend’s house and we arranged the burial. The Neolog community [Neolog Jewry] [13] was based in Wesselenyi street. Rabbi Deutsch buried her, I paid him to recite the Kaddish for a year.
In Galanta, we ate in a communal kitchen [cafeteria]. The cook, Elemer Eckstein left for Palestine. We went there to eat. They demolished the kitchen since then, it was also on Main street. They opened another kitchen later in the courtyard of Rabbi Buxbaum. Rabbi Buxbaum was a victim of the Holocaust. I worked as an assistant cook there. Two of us cooked, but we went to help the work brigade also. The kitchen was maintained by the Joint [Joint (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee)][12], they funded it. We even got clothes there. The head cook, Mrs. Wollner, Sarika [from Sarolta], grabbed the goose liver and took it home, but I didn’t let her. One time, a five liter jar full of goose liver. She wanted to take it, but it fell and the jar broke. I said, ‘Thank god, we’re going to eat.’ I never took food home, I gave it all to the young men and women. Mrs. Wollner was jealous of me, because the boarders yelled that I should cook and serve, because I gave them more generous portions. They really loved me, since I gave everyone the same sized portions. I think it was rather, that I didn’t look anyone in the eye, so I couldn’t even make distinctions among them. Many came there to eat. The kitchen was still working in 1946. I think it closed in 1947.
Following the war, my father got married. Fina Messinger was the sadchen for Father and his new wife. Father’s new bride-to-be, Sara Schiffer, lived in Pest with her siblings. She was from an orthodox Jewish family in Satoraljaujhely. Since one of her older brothers had taken a non-Jewish wife before the war, they expelled him from the family.
I don’t even know where the wedding was held. I was with my father’s sister at the time, with Etel in Prague. I lived for a time with Father’s new family, up until I got married. I didn’t like them at first, so I didn’t call her Mother, but rather Aunt Sari. Later, my children also called her Aunt Sari and that was very painful for her. When my father died, my husband said, ‘Sarika you are a guest at our house every Saturday.’ She appreciated this very much and came every Saturday for lunch.
She had a sister, who didn’t have a family. She lived in Budapest, so Sari moved in with her. I often went to visit them on 4 Angyal Street. On every occasion, she was so glad. I brought a lot of presents with me. After her sister died, I cleaned house for her. While I was there, we would go down to the Pava Street Jewish kitchen to eat. In our free time, we usually took walks, went to the cinema or theater. I saw the play ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ for the first time in Budapest, and the film as well. Bessenyei played the lead role in the play, while on the screen, it was played by the American actor, Smulanski.
When I became a widow, I sometimes celebrated the holidays at Sarika’s. We went to the Dohany Street synagogue. I went on foot from Angyal Street all the way to Dohany Street, not by streetcar.
Sarika died about ten years ago. She spent the last days of her life in the hospital, as she had cancer. Sarika’s American niece and I were at her side. Sunday I had gone home to Galanta, but by that evening the telephone rang, Sarika was dead. That week I went back to Pest to one of my girlfriend’s house and we arranged the burial. The Neolog community [Neolog Jewry] [13] was based in Wesselenyi street. Rabbi Deutsch buried her, I paid him to recite the Kaddish for a year.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Ruzena Deutschova