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In front of the children the parent never talked about about anti-Semitism. It was known to exist though. So to say, every month a man would come to sell a photo of King Aleksandar [4], and every time would Vlada's father open the door and buy a photo, Vlada would ask him, 'Why are you father buying a photo when we already have 5-6'. Then his father for the first time told him, 'My son, it is a must because we are Jews and we have to'. When King Aleksandar was killed, it was quite unclear and unpleasant for Vlada, and especially for Vlada's father since such a killing was being suspected.
At that time in Subotica ruled a far right organization ORJUNA, [the Organization of Yugoslav nationalists] [5]. Since the official explanation was that Hungarians killed the king, ORJUNA went its rage by circling the city on bicycles. [Editor’s note: The Hungarians in interwar Yugoslavia –contrary to the Macedonian IMRO and the Croatian Ustasa- did not maintain separatist and terrorist organizations. These accusations, even if existed, were false and without any bases. The king himself was assassinated by the Croatian Ustasa, and that was not a secret for the contemporaries.] On gridiron would sit someone with a sling and smash store windows of Jewish and Hungarian stores and the windows of Jewish apartments. That was the time when in Vlada's apartment window-blinds would close.
Vlada remembered that his father, who was an Austro-Hungarian reserve officer and who spent some 3-4 years in Siberia in captivity, had his revolver, official, that he, of course, kept against the law. He remembers that in those ORJUNA times, after the killing of the king, his father went to a meeting of the Jewish Community one evening, but he turned back from the stairs and put the revolver into the pocket. Mother was sitting the whole time up until father returned from the meeting. That is what the atmosphere was in the country in which officially anti-Semitism didn't exist.
In Subotica father forbade Vlada and his brother Paja to go to the Zionist organizations, regardless of their father being religious and an active member of the Zionist organization.
After Vlada's 11th birthday, in 1936 they moved to Novi Sad. Vlada started school and his father told him he should learn everything twice better than the other kids, 'because we are Jews, we have to know more and better, because you kids will be most likely graded more strictly by the teachers because it appears as we are not very likeable to them'.
In Novi Sad they lived in the very center of the town. Vlada's father founded his private company that was engaged in international freight forwarding. His father was a customs freight forwarder and in his company he had 3 employees: Joca Banjanin, a Serb, Matija Simerling a Jew and a German, a 'Volksdeutcher’ [6]. They 3 worked well together. Vlada's father, Maxim was very reserved, a cold employer, and also reserved with the family and with the children. He was overloaded with his office duties and mainly he spent the whole day on the job, and in the afternoon he stayed in hotel Putnik. There some official businesses would be concluded. In contrast to father Maxim, mother Irena would stay home, devoted to kids.
At that time in Subotica ruled a far right organization ORJUNA, [the Organization of Yugoslav nationalists] [5]. Since the official explanation was that Hungarians killed the king, ORJUNA went its rage by circling the city on bicycles. [Editor’s note: The Hungarians in interwar Yugoslavia –contrary to the Macedonian IMRO and the Croatian Ustasa- did not maintain separatist and terrorist organizations. These accusations, even if existed, were false and without any bases. The king himself was assassinated by the Croatian Ustasa, and that was not a secret for the contemporaries.] On gridiron would sit someone with a sling and smash store windows of Jewish and Hungarian stores and the windows of Jewish apartments. That was the time when in Vlada's apartment window-blinds would close.
Vlada remembered that his father, who was an Austro-Hungarian reserve officer and who spent some 3-4 years in Siberia in captivity, had his revolver, official, that he, of course, kept against the law. He remembers that in those ORJUNA times, after the killing of the king, his father went to a meeting of the Jewish Community one evening, but he turned back from the stairs and put the revolver into the pocket. Mother was sitting the whole time up until father returned from the meeting. That is what the atmosphere was in the country in which officially anti-Semitism didn't exist.
In Subotica father forbade Vlada and his brother Paja to go to the Zionist organizations, regardless of their father being religious and an active member of the Zionist organization.
After Vlada's 11th birthday, in 1936 they moved to Novi Sad. Vlada started school and his father told him he should learn everything twice better than the other kids, 'because we are Jews, we have to know more and better, because you kids will be most likely graded more strictly by the teachers because it appears as we are not very likeable to them'.
In Novi Sad they lived in the very center of the town. Vlada's father founded his private company that was engaged in international freight forwarding. His father was a customs freight forwarder and in his company he had 3 employees: Joca Banjanin, a Serb, Matija Simerling a Jew and a German, a 'Volksdeutcher’ [6]. They 3 worked well together. Vlada's father, Maxim was very reserved, a cold employer, and also reserved with the family and with the children. He was overloaded with his office duties and mainly he spent the whole day on the job, and in the afternoon he stayed in hotel Putnik. There some official businesses would be concluded. In contrast to father Maxim, mother Irena would stay home, devoted to kids.
Location
Serbia
Interview
Vladislav Rothbart