Tag #152761 - Interview #101460 (Mozes Katz)

When in the 1970s mass departures of Jews to Israel began I was eager to move there. Many of my relatives moved. My uncle Moishe, my father’s younger brother, who was in a concentration camp with me, and his family moved to the USA. He lives in Brooklyn.

My mother’s sister Rivka and her big family moved to the USA, too. They also live in Brooklyn. She has six daughters and two sons. She has about 70 grandchildren and great-grandchildren living there. Her daughters married religious Jews and had Jewish weddings and live according to Jewish rules. 

My sister Ghitlia also moved abroad. Her husband died of a heart attack shortly before their departure. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Svaliava in accordance with all Jewish traditions and my sister, her son and daughter left for Israel. She lives in Rehovot. Her daughter got married in Israel and moved to the USA with her husband. Ghitlia’s son and his family live in Israel.

Of course, I didn’t want to stay here, but my wife and her family put an obstacle to our departure. They stated firmly that the USSR was their Motherland and that they didn’t want to move. Of course, I tried to convince my wife, but we happened to have stayed here.