Tag #157107 - Interview #79440 (Leo Luster)

The atmosphere in the country was good, despite the poverty and many problems. We had a lot of friends. It was a strange country: parents learned the language from their children, not the other way around. I first learned Hebrew from my children. My wife spoke Hebrew well. She had studied Hebrew in school, so she could interpret. I could make myself understood, but couldn’t speak Hebrew. There were many Jews from Germany and Austria living where we were. We met and talked and we celebrated all the holidays together and took trips. It was really a big family. The whole neighborhood! That was very nice. We weren’t rich, but we had everything. For example, every Friday we met and everyone brought something to eat. There weren’t enough groceries. There were a lot of vegetables and fruit, bread was dirt cheap, but there weren’t proper things. And everything was rationed in the beginning. Sugar and oil were rationed. That was already over by 1953.