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I know a lot more about my mother's parents. They lived in the village of Pasika in Svaliava district. My grandfather, Kaske Aisdorfer, was born in Pasika in the 1850s. I don't know where my grandmother, Rosa Aisdorfer, came from. She was born in the 1860s. Her Jewish name was Reizl. I don't know her maiden name. Some of my grandfather's relatives lived in Pasika, but I can't remember any of them.
Grandfather Kaske was a short stout man. He had a big black beard with streaks of gray hair. My grandfather wore a kippah at home and a hat to go out. He didn't have payes. Only Hasidim [3] wore payes in Subcarpathian villages. My grandmother was a short slim woman. She wore plain clothes like all other women in villages. She always wore a dark kerchief on her head.
My grandfather owned a water mill. The villagers paid him with money or flour for grinding the grain. My grandparents were quite wealthy. My grandmother was a housewife after she got married.
My mother, Mira Aisdorfer, was born in the 1890s. I don't know all of my mother's brothers and sisters. There were six or seven of them. My mother's older brother whose name I don't remember moved to Galanta, a big resort town in Czechoslovakia, in the early 1920s. He went to work in a restaurant there and got married. Another brother, Kalman, was two or three years older than my mother. He lived in Pasika. The Hungarian fascists shot him in 1942. I don't know any details. Her younger brother, Iosif, went to work in the village of Vary near the Hungarian border in the early 1930s. Some people there took illegal emigrants to Israel. In 1933 Iosif was taken to Israel via the Netherlands. He lived his life there and died in 1985. When I traveled to the USA in the 1990s I tried to find his family in Israel from there, but I failed. I also knew two of my mother's sisters. I don't know whether they were older or younger than her. One of them, Sima, lived in Pasika with her husband. They had two children, a son and a daughter. The fascists killed their son. Their daughter, Rukhl, is in the USA. I met with her and her children when I traveled there. My mother's other sister, Rivka, got married and moved to her husband, who lived in a village in Svaliava district near the border with Hungary. They all perished during World War II.
My mother's parents were religious. Pasika was a small village, but it was still bigger than Rososh. There were about 60 families living there and about 15 of them were Jewish. The Jews were craftsmen for the most part: tailors, shoemakers, blacksmiths and saddle makers. There were also tradesmen among them. There was no synagogue in Pasika, but there was a prayer house. Women were allowed to come to the prayer house four times a year: at Pesach, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Purim. The men went there on Sabbath and on Jewish holidays. On weekdays my grandfather prayed at home in the morning and in the evening. They raised their children religiously. My mother could read and write in Yiddish and Hebrew and knew the prayers. I don't know where she got her religious education. The boys studied in cheder and the girls usually studied with a visiting private teacher. The family celebrated Sabbath and Jewish holidays at home and followed the kashrut. They spoke Yiddish and Hungarian at home.
Grandfather Kaske was a short stout man. He had a big black beard with streaks of gray hair. My grandfather wore a kippah at home and a hat to go out. He didn't have payes. Only Hasidim [3] wore payes in Subcarpathian villages. My grandmother was a short slim woman. She wore plain clothes like all other women in villages. She always wore a dark kerchief on her head.
My grandfather owned a water mill. The villagers paid him with money or flour for grinding the grain. My grandparents were quite wealthy. My grandmother was a housewife after she got married.
My mother, Mira Aisdorfer, was born in the 1890s. I don't know all of my mother's brothers and sisters. There were six or seven of them. My mother's older brother whose name I don't remember moved to Galanta, a big resort town in Czechoslovakia, in the early 1920s. He went to work in a restaurant there and got married. Another brother, Kalman, was two or three years older than my mother. He lived in Pasika. The Hungarian fascists shot him in 1942. I don't know any details. Her younger brother, Iosif, went to work in the village of Vary near the Hungarian border in the early 1930s. Some people there took illegal emigrants to Israel. In 1933 Iosif was taken to Israel via the Netherlands. He lived his life there and died in 1985. When I traveled to the USA in the 1990s I tried to find his family in Israel from there, but I failed. I also knew two of my mother's sisters. I don't know whether they were older or younger than her. One of them, Sima, lived in Pasika with her husband. They had two children, a son and a daughter. The fascists killed their son. Their daughter, Rukhl, is in the USA. I met with her and her children when I traveled there. My mother's other sister, Rivka, got married and moved to her husband, who lived in a village in Svaliava district near the border with Hungary. They all perished during World War II.
My mother's parents were religious. Pasika was a small village, but it was still bigger than Rososh. There were about 60 families living there and about 15 of them were Jewish. The Jews were craftsmen for the most part: tailors, shoemakers, blacksmiths and saddle makers. There were also tradesmen among them. There was no synagogue in Pasika, but there was a prayer house. Women were allowed to come to the prayer house four times a year: at Pesach, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Purim. The men went there on Sabbath and on Jewish holidays. On weekdays my grandfather prayed at home in the morning and in the evening. They raised their children religiously. My mother could read and write in Yiddish and Hebrew and knew the prayers. I don't know where she got her religious education. The boys studied in cheder and the girls usually studied with a visiting private teacher. The family celebrated Sabbath and Jewish holidays at home and followed the kashrut. They spoke Yiddish and Hungarian at home.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
zoltan shtern
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