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On the evening of 31st March – it was Friday – 15 men entered our apartment by force and started beating my father. Mom seized my sister’s hand and ran to the police station for help. But the police already were on the side of these bandits. Our neighbor, a widow – a very stout woman – took my brother, who was one and a half years old. She put him on her stomach, and he was hidden from view. They went on beating my father in my presence. Suddenly another neighbor, a wife of a Nazi – SS soldier – entered. [SS: abbreviation of “Schutzstaffel,” German for “Protective Squadron”– a privileged military organization of the Nazi Party in Germany.]
She shouted at the pogrom-makers: ‘What are you doing? Have these people done anything wrong to you?’ She took me to her place. You see, she didn’t care a bit about her husband’s views on life, if it was necessary to rescue a child. In their family there was a boy, an awful hooligan, one year younger than me. Right at the time, when we stayed in the hospital, he fell down from a scaffolding and broke his arms and legs. So that hooligan, having not recovered yet after his injuries, approached me, wiped away my tears and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Zenta, everything will be OK.’ As for me, I already knew how OK it would be! The neighbor gave me strong sweet tea to drink, and also some tranquilizer drops. Later she saw me to the door of our apartment.
And meanwhile Father’s torturers took him away to a neighboring pub. They were going to go on beating him, but already in the presence of the pub customers. But at that time two underground members of the Communist Party were present there. They knew my father very well: it happened in our district, where people knew each other. They asked: ‘What are you beating him for?’ – ‘He called Hitler an Austrian.’ – ‘Who heard it?’ – ‘My wife.’ – ‘Well, your wife can’t be a witness.’
At that time Fascism only started gathering strength, and their interference was enough to stop the tormenting of my father. He was brought home covered in blood. As it turned out later, he had concussion of the brain. All the rest of his life he suffered from severe headaches. My parents immediately decided to leave for the USSR. Especially because the day after my father was beaten up, they arranged a Jewish Boycott in Berlin. It was the day, when nobody was allowed to buy from Jewish shops. They gave people the opportunity to enter a Jewish shop, and beat them at the exit.
She shouted at the pogrom-makers: ‘What are you doing? Have these people done anything wrong to you?’ She took me to her place. You see, she didn’t care a bit about her husband’s views on life, if it was necessary to rescue a child. In their family there was a boy, an awful hooligan, one year younger than me. Right at the time, when we stayed in the hospital, he fell down from a scaffolding and broke his arms and legs. So that hooligan, having not recovered yet after his injuries, approached me, wiped away my tears and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Zenta, everything will be OK.’ As for me, I already knew how OK it would be! The neighbor gave me strong sweet tea to drink, and also some tranquilizer drops. Later she saw me to the door of our apartment.
And meanwhile Father’s torturers took him away to a neighboring pub. They were going to go on beating him, but already in the presence of the pub customers. But at that time two underground members of the Communist Party were present there. They knew my father very well: it happened in our district, where people knew each other. They asked: ‘What are you beating him for?’ – ‘He called Hitler an Austrian.’ – ‘Who heard it?’ – ‘My wife.’ – ‘Well, your wife can’t be a witness.’
At that time Fascism only started gathering strength, and their interference was enough to stop the tormenting of my father. He was brought home covered in blood. As it turned out later, he had concussion of the brain. All the rest of his life he suffered from severe headaches. My parents immediately decided to leave for the USSR. Especially because the day after my father was beaten up, they arranged a Jewish Boycott in Berlin. It was the day, when nobody was allowed to buy from Jewish shops. They gave people the opportunity to enter a Jewish shop, and beat them at the exit.
Period
Location
Berlin
Germany
Interview
Klara-Zenta Kanevskaya