Tag #146061 - Interview #100586 (Riva Smerkoviciene )

There was an underground press. Small dirt cheap books were published in Yiddish, covering the biographies of great people – Lenin [8] and his brothers-in-arms. We spread that literature and gave it to people in the street or placed it stealthily in the houses of people. We became atheists, against all religions. At home we weren’t brave enough to stand up openly against Jewish traditions; besides, we loved our parents and knew how important it was for them. Once, my mother asked us to wash up, and my sister and I mixed meat and dairy dishes. Having seen that my mother said that it was a sin against God and my sister and I were ashamed. Being pioneers, then Komsomol members, [9], we still celebrated Sabbath and Jewish holidays with our parents, for them to be pleased by that and to feel calm. We expressed our protest against religion after the holiday. We bought pork sausages, pig’s fat and got together to eat that banned non-kosher food. Luckily, my parents didn’t find out about it; violation of traditions would have been a big blow for them.