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We spoke Hungarian at home. There were Slovak, Czech, Romanian, Jewish, German and Hungarian schools in Uzhgorod. My parents sent me and then my younger brother to a Slovak school. My sister went to a Czech school in the center of the town. The Slovak school was near our house, so I guess, that was why we were sent there. [Besides geographical proximity the reason for choosing Slovak and Czech schools for Hungarian speaking Jewish children probably was getting accustomed to the state languages.] There was no segregation of schoolchildren to Jews or non-Jews. There were few other Jewish children in my class, but we never faced any anti-Semitic attitudes. Well, truth to tell, I had an incident with a senior boy once. We had breakfast at home and took sandwiches to school to eat them during an interval. Once a senior pupil wanted to take my sandwich. I didn’t give it to him and he called me ‘zidovska svina’ [Slovak for Jewish pig]. I hit him. Then a teacher came to find out what happened. I told him and he stroked my hair. As for my offender, he was not allowed to come to school for two weeks. I was never hurt again.
Period
Location
Uzhgorod
Ukraine
Interview
Ladislav Roth Biography