In 1996 our son and his family emigrated to Israel. His son went to study at school in Israel and then my son and his wife went to visit him there and decided to stay. My wife and I approved of his decision. My son and his wife were young and could start their life anew.
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Displaying 12661 - 12690 of 50826 results
Henrich Zinger
Our son works as a driver in Israel.
Our grandson finished school and serves in the army.
Our daughter Elena went to work at the Uzhgorodpribor Plant where my wife worked.
Elena married a Jewish man from Uzhgorod. Elena and her husband also had a Jewish wedding.
In 1976 their son Edward was born. Our grandson finished school and went to Israel under a program for young people. He lives and works in Israel.
Elena worked at the plant for 22 years until it was shut down. Since then she has worked with Hesed. She used to deliver hot meals to old people and now she works as a visiting nurse.
Many of our friends and relatives moved to Israel in the 1970s. My wife and I sympathized with them and supported their plans, but we didn't intend to leave. I'm too old to work in Israel and I couldn't think of staying at home receiving a pension. I wanted to work and enjoyed working.
I was enthusiastic about perestroika [10], which began in the 1980s at the initiative of Mikhail Gorbachev [11]. I was glad that people got an opportunity to start their business without obstacles and fear. Private businesses were allowed for the first time in the history of the USSR. Of course, private entrepreneurship existed before, but if a person got caught for working for himself he might have been arrested and imprisoned for it. Besides, anti-Semitism mitigated, both on the state and interpersonal level. Relationships with Israel improved at that time. Soviet people got an opportunity to travel abroad, visit their relatives and friends and invite them to their homes. Official Jewish organizations were established and people got an opportunity to read books by Jewish writers and attend Jewish concerts. In the past even the word 'Jew' wasn't officially used. If they talked about Jews that perished during World War II they called them 'Soviet people' and when they mentioned those that were at the front they said 'Russians, Ukrainians, Belarus and representatives of other nationalities of the Soviet Union'. Now they mention Jews, Heroes of the Soviet Union, scientists and use the word 'Jew' to identify the nation.
In 1997 I went to Israel to visit my son and his family, my grandson and see my great-grandson. I toured Israel. It's such a wonderful country! It's a pity there is no peace. I was pleased to see how much Israelis love their country and how patriotic young people are there.
In 1991, after the fall of the USSR, Ukraine became independent. Since then Jewish life began to revive. Many Jews dropped their Jewish traditions in the past. There were often fewer than ten people, which is necessary to have a minyan, at prayer houses and we had to go home without praying. Now many of those that didn't even identify themselves as Jews before go to the synagogue with their children and identify themselves as Jews. I go to the synagogue every Saturday. I'm glad that many young people identify themselves as Jews. Many young people attend the synagogue.
There's also a Jewish school in Uzhgorod.
, Ukraine
In 1999 Hesed was established in Uzhgorod. It's very important for older people and for children. There are many clubs at Hesed where young people learn Jewish traditions, customs, Yiddish and Ivrit, foreign languages and get computer education. There is a choir and dance club for children and adults. We celebrate Sabbath and Jewish holidays at Hesed. Beside spiritual development and communication Hesed supports and provides assistance to old people. They deliver food packages, medications and hot meals to their homes. This is great assistance to people in this hard time.
I asked Ptashynskiy, the chief of the camp who was Jewish, to get some information about the situation in Subcarpathia. He sent a request about my family and received a response saying that no member of my family was alive. They perished in Auschwitz where the Germans took them.
In May 1945 we heard that the war was over: the inmates were telling this news to one another. On 9th May 1945 all inmates of the camp were lined up in front of the headquarters of the camp and announced that Germany had capitulated and that the war was over. We felt very happy. People in the streets hugged and kissed each other. I hoped to be able to go home soon. I had no information about my family. Sophia and I decided to get married but postponed it until we came to my home. We wanted to celebrate our wedding with my family.
Before we were released from the camp we were asked where we wanted to live. I could have gone anywhere, but I only wanted to go back home, even though I knew that nobody was waiting for me there. I was in captivity from the beginning of 1942 till September 1946. In September I obtained the required permits to go home. In 1945, after World War II was over, Subcarpathia joined the USSR, but it didn't scare me away. I remembered that the Soviet army had liberated us from the fascists. I was still hoping that I would find at least some of my relatives when I came home. I left for home alone. I wanted to prepare everything for the arrival of my future wife.
I arrived in Velikiy Berezny where my neighbors confirmed that the Germans had taken my whole family to Auschwitz in 1944 and none of them returned.
I went to Uzhgorod to obtain my documents, but I couldn't get any. Some other people lived in the house of my sister Helena. My sister and her family also perished in concentration camp. I stayed in the house of my distant relative and tried to have the house of my sister returned to me. An attorney, who was my cousin's acquaintance, agreed to help me in court. I finally obtained an identity certificate in Velikiy Berezny, on the basis of which I received a passport. The verdict of the court was positive and I got back the house.
We returned to Uzhgorod where Sophia and I got married. We didn't have a Jewish wedding. We had a civil registration ceremony at the district registry office.
We still live in this house. When we started repairs of the house in the 1950s I found a gift from my sister. We needed to replace the rotten floors. She must have put an envelope with family photographs under the floor before being deported to the concentration camp with her family. We found this envelope and I was very happy to get it since I didn't have a single photograph of my close ones.
I began to work at a garment shop in the center of the town. My clients mainly wanted to alter their old clothes. I went to work and my wife was a housewife.
Our first baby, our son Kalman, named after my father, was born in 1947. He was circumcised according to Jewish traditions.
I had to work a lot to provide for the family. This was a hard time. It was difficult to get food. Our shop grew bigger. I worked there for 25 years. I had a crew at the beginning. The procedure was such that I gave a cut to one seamstress and she had a suit or coat completed from beginning to end. I just checked her work. When the shop switched from individual to operational method I quit. I don't think it's good when one employee does only one operation and it takes eight people to have an item completed. I thought it had an impact on the quality of work. My management tried to keep me at work, but I didn't feel like working in this manner.
I went to another shop where an acquaintance of mine worked. They worked as I was used to: one person made an item from beginning to end. There was one fitting with a client, but if a cut was precise the client didn't even need to come to a fitting. There were many clients. Our work was so good that our clients even paid more to encourage us. They were happy with our work and came another time to have another item made for them. I retired when I was over 70. However, I continued working at home. I had many clients. It was impossible to buy good clothes in stores and people had to have their clothes made for them. I earned enough money and we were in no need of anything.
I went to another shop where an acquaintance of mine worked. They worked as I was used to: one person made an item from beginning to end. There was one fitting with a client, but if a cut was precise the client didn't even need to come to a fitting. There were many clients. Our work was so good that our clients even paid more to encourage us. They were happy with our work and came another time to have another item made for them. I retired when I was over 70. However, I continued working at home. I had many clients. It was impossible to buy good clothes in stores and people had to have their clothes made for them. I earned enough money and we were in no need of anything.
I had very little free time that I tried to spend with my family. I took them to the park or to the cinema.
After I returned to Subcarpathia I noticed some demonstrations of anti- Semitism. During the war common hardships made people stick together. There were different values at the front. Shortly after the war life was so hard that people were busy with their own problems and didn't think about nationality issues, but some time later anti-Semitism started to appear. I think one of the reasons was that so many people came to Subcarpathia from the USSR. Many of them were anti-Semites. There was always anti-Semitism and there still is. One can hear, 'Jews, get out to your Israel' in public transport even nowadays. I cannot say that the state persecutes Jews now, but it did before. However, there are demonstrations of anti-Semitism in our everyday life. We are used to anti-Semitism, even though my family or I have never faced it in person. I had clients of many nationalities, but I never heard a rude word from them. They only thanked me for my work.
My parents' families came from Subcarpathia [1]. Subcarpathia belonged to Austro-Hungary before 1918. Hungarian was the state language and many residents of Subcarpathia can speak it.
At the time of Austro-Hungary there was no anti-Semitism, and when the Czechs came to power they encouraged Jews to take official posts and develop their businesses. Czechs were very cultured and loyal people and there was no anti-Semitism during their reign. In villages Jews and the indigenous population lived side by side and developed friendly relationships through generations.
The center of Subcarpathia was Uzhgorod [about 800 km from Kiev]. Before World War II it was a small and quiet town with a population of about 40,000 people. It was multinational: there were Hungarians, Czechs, hutsuls - Ukrainian ethnic people -, Jews, Russians and gypsies. Jews constituted one third of the population in Uzhgorod. There were no nationality conflicts. Jews were craftsmen and tradesmen, doctors, attorneys and teachers. Most of the Jewish families were poor.
There was a big beautiful synagogue in Uzhgorod built by the French in the 19th century.
After Subcarpathia joined the USSR in 1945 the synagogue underwent reconstruction. The Jewish symbols were removed and it became the building of the Philharmonic.