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I was born in Budapest, in the Jewish hospital ‘szeretetkorhaz’. I was born on Yom Kippur on September 21, 1920. My grandfather Gabor lived 10 kilometers away from the hospital and on the second day after my birth (it was still Yom Kippur) he had walked to the hospital to see me.
We didn’t live in Budapest for long. To Novi Sad my mother and I came with the ship ‘Franc Jozef’, it was the first voyage that I remember. We traveled for a long time from Pest to Novi Sad, but it was fun. When we arrived, my father was waiting for us and waiving. My father had come to Novi Sad before we did in order to prepare everything for our arrival. We went with a coach to our house. I think I was 3 or 4 years old.
In Novi Sad we first lived at my grandmother’s place. In 1927 we moved into our house. It was located near a public bathhouse and a catholic cemetery. It is even today one of the nicest houses. There were 5 rooms and down there in the basement there were a couple of rooms. In that house we had a bathroom, the most modern bathroom with our on plumbing; we had this automatic tank that could fill up automatically. The water had to be warmed up using fire wood, since there was no boiler. In the bathroom we had a bidet and a sink. In that house there was also a central heating that is floor heating on coke; we also had a phone line, radio, it was an equipped house of today’s grade. There were servants, there was a woman who cooked, a young girl who helped with cleaning the rooms and we had, for some time, a nurse while my brother was little but she left later on. We had a gardener and a janitress who washed and ironed the laundry.
We grew roses and some other flowers. I was a well-intentioned boy and would always bring home some flowers. On Futoska Street near the Jewish school there was a store with seeds; there I would by different seeds day and night, violets and sometimes radishes. So I had my own garden where I grew my flowers and radishes.
While we lived in the house, my friends were Vermes Tibor, Iric Mandika, Lemberger’s children, they all lived close by. We all went together to Jewish primary school. Most of our time was spent playing ping-pong less playing football. And we socialized in the school and at home in the afternoons. Later on I associated with Miki Berkovic. His parents had a big factory ‘Prva Jugoslovenska Kemicka fabrika’, they manufactured soaps, cologne, shoe cream ‘Idol’ and I don’t know what else. Together with him I used to go to the school dances, movies and theaters. For some time I was in love with Miki’s sister. However, my first love was Bjanka in the first grade of elementary school. She danced ballet nicely and my whole class was in love with her. Today Bjanka lives in Israel in Ashkelon and she is 83 years old.
We had friends besides the family but I don’t remember them. Mainly we associated with our relatives. We often got together with our relatives who were in Novi Sad, with Hereds, the other Schosbergers, grandfather’s brother-in-laws, Kraus, Rozencweigs; they were all married to Schosberger’s girls.
While we lived on Futoska Street we had in the neighborhood our seller ‘Najbauer i sin’ [the name of the shop ‘Najbauer and son’]. He was German. He had a variety store and we used to buy there. We had a book where it was recorded everything we bought and at the end of the month we would be paying. We were on good terms with him. This Najbauer had a son.
Once I bought some candies, found a kind of number in them. I asked him ‘what is this?’ he told me to hold on to this number because I could get a watch. Since then I have started buying these candies and collecting the numbers and at the end, we had all the numbers. He went to the factory’s main office that manufactured these candies and I received a pocket watch. It was a pocket watch, quiet thick and I was very proud of it.
After we moved to the house we would always go to ‘Jelisaveta Marberger’ store. As alleged this Jelisaveta was a distant relative of ours. She had a husband Aladar. This store was located on today’s Zeleznicka Street. We didn’t go there to buy, but we ordered over the phone what we needed and their man would bring the merchandise on the bicycle. On Postanska Street there was a kosher butcher store ran by Marer, grandfather of our friend Evika Marer. We used to buy meat there. There also used to be shacter office (a poultry slaughterhouse) in the backyard of synagogue. The main shochet Simon Fleishman was also teaching and preparing kids for Bar Mitzvah.
We didn’t live in Budapest for long. To Novi Sad my mother and I came with the ship ‘Franc Jozef’, it was the first voyage that I remember. We traveled for a long time from Pest to Novi Sad, but it was fun. When we arrived, my father was waiting for us and waiving. My father had come to Novi Sad before we did in order to prepare everything for our arrival. We went with a coach to our house. I think I was 3 or 4 years old.
In Novi Sad we first lived at my grandmother’s place. In 1927 we moved into our house. It was located near a public bathhouse and a catholic cemetery. It is even today one of the nicest houses. There were 5 rooms and down there in the basement there were a couple of rooms. In that house we had a bathroom, the most modern bathroom with our on plumbing; we had this automatic tank that could fill up automatically. The water had to be warmed up using fire wood, since there was no boiler. In the bathroom we had a bidet and a sink. In that house there was also a central heating that is floor heating on coke; we also had a phone line, radio, it was an equipped house of today’s grade. There were servants, there was a woman who cooked, a young girl who helped with cleaning the rooms and we had, for some time, a nurse while my brother was little but she left later on. We had a gardener and a janitress who washed and ironed the laundry.
We grew roses and some other flowers. I was a well-intentioned boy and would always bring home some flowers. On Futoska Street near the Jewish school there was a store with seeds; there I would by different seeds day and night, violets and sometimes radishes. So I had my own garden where I grew my flowers and radishes.
While we lived in the house, my friends were Vermes Tibor, Iric Mandika, Lemberger’s children, they all lived close by. We all went together to Jewish primary school. Most of our time was spent playing ping-pong less playing football. And we socialized in the school and at home in the afternoons. Later on I associated with Miki Berkovic. His parents had a big factory ‘Prva Jugoslovenska Kemicka fabrika’, they manufactured soaps, cologne, shoe cream ‘Idol’ and I don’t know what else. Together with him I used to go to the school dances, movies and theaters. For some time I was in love with Miki’s sister. However, my first love was Bjanka in the first grade of elementary school. She danced ballet nicely and my whole class was in love with her. Today Bjanka lives in Israel in Ashkelon and she is 83 years old.
We had friends besides the family but I don’t remember them. Mainly we associated with our relatives. We often got together with our relatives who were in Novi Sad, with Hereds, the other Schosbergers, grandfather’s brother-in-laws, Kraus, Rozencweigs; they were all married to Schosberger’s girls.
While we lived on Futoska Street we had in the neighborhood our seller ‘Najbauer i sin’ [the name of the shop ‘Najbauer and son’]. He was German. He had a variety store and we used to buy there. We had a book where it was recorded everything we bought and at the end of the month we would be paying. We were on good terms with him. This Najbauer had a son.
Once I bought some candies, found a kind of number in them. I asked him ‘what is this?’ he told me to hold on to this number because I could get a watch. Since then I have started buying these candies and collecting the numbers and at the end, we had all the numbers. He went to the factory’s main office that manufactured these candies and I received a pocket watch. It was a pocket watch, quiet thick and I was very proud of it.
After we moved to the house we would always go to ‘Jelisaveta Marberger’ store. As alleged this Jelisaveta was a distant relative of ours. She had a husband Aladar. This store was located on today’s Zeleznicka Street. We didn’t go there to buy, but we ordered over the phone what we needed and their man would bring the merchandise on the bicycle. On Postanska Street there was a kosher butcher store ran by Marer, grandfather of our friend Evika Marer. We used to buy meat there. There also used to be shacter office (a poultry slaughterhouse) in the backyard of synagogue. The main shochet Simon Fleishman was also teaching and preparing kids for Bar Mitzvah.
Location
Serbia
Interview
Pavle Sosberger