The Arrow Cross men came just then, so I couldn’t go back. I was deported. It was the regular route: brick factory, Kophaza, Waldhausen, Gunsekirchen, I was liberated in Wels.
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Gyorgyne Preisz
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In the picture taken in 1894, my grandfather is wearing a Hungarian-style suit made of black felt, a well-fitting jacket with black braids and nicely-shined boots. Only the wide-brimmed hat on his head indicates his racial affiliation. Grandfather had a full, black beard.
Grandfather died suddenly, and his funeral had to be arranged in a hurry. A carriage was sent for the rabbi, who lived at the other end of Szatmar. However it returned without him. As Miklos reported, when the rabbi learnt what had happened, he quickly recited a funeral blessing, saying that he would go to Vilmos Farkas’s funeral on foot.
He put on his black gown, put his angular priest's hat on his head, and took the prayer book and all that was needed. So he trudged along through the town with the cantor on his left, in similar mourning dress.
After the funeral the siblings sold off the house, portioned out the chattels, and the boys from Pest packed the belongings of their mother and their sister, Helen and took them along to Budapest. Vilma Katz didn’t survive her husband long. She died on January 26, 1922.
He put on his black gown, put his angular priest's hat on his head, and took the prayer book and all that was needed. So he trudged along through the town with the cantor on his left, in similar mourning dress.
After the funeral the siblings sold off the house, portioned out the chattels, and the boys from Pest packed the belongings of their mother and their sister, Helen and took them along to Budapest. Vilma Katz didn’t survive her husband long. She died on January 26, 1922.
When grandfather got married, he must have been around 22 years old, judging by the number of children he had. He married Vilma Katz who was also from a poor family. She was 17 years old when they got married. Vilma Katz gave birth to eleven children. Two of them died, and they raised nine – five boys, four girls.
All the children were assigned their own work around the house. There was not much talk around the table. One who talks remains hungry easily, as the food is eaten by the others. Grandfather never raised his voice and he never raised his hand, it was quite enough for him to look reproachfully at any of the children who were being boisterous. Grandmother was more vociferous. It was easy to receive a slap from her too, though she was moderate in that.
All the children were assigned their own work around the house. There was not much talk around the table. One who talks remains hungry easily, as the food is eaten by the others. Grandfather never raised his voice and he never raised his hand, it was quite enough for him to look reproachfully at any of the children who were being boisterous. Grandmother was more vociferous. It was easy to receive a slap from her too, though she was moderate in that.
Grandfather didn’t really go to school. The children were needed for work around the house and for fetching and carrying, for loading, transporting, looking after the horses and carriage. In his bachelor years, grandfather went to Szatmarnemeti, where he went into service for a Jewish grain broker called Swarz, as a sacking laborer.
After a time his master made him a storeman. Grandfather‘s tasks included hiring reapers, since the grain broker occasionally leased land, and he purchased standing crops, so he arranged the harvest.”
However he had a very great ambition: he had a desire to study, he wanted to learn to read and write. Learning and books had been mystical things for him since his childhood, probably because they were rare guests at Izsak Farkas’ house; only on holidays did his father hold a dog-eared prayer book in his hands.
He read the letters, looked at the words without understanding their meaning. So the reason for his having gone into town was that he had hoped to realize his dream. He learnt to read [from the rabbi] in Hungarian and Hebrew, to write nicely, with fancy letters.
When, at the end of the day he returned home from the grain-store he washed, and changed into clean clothes, and the family sat down for supper. Then he arranged family matters, before finally retreating to his beloved books. Reading, burying himself in holy books, was his delight. Over the years he managed to get hold of most of the holy literature in Hebrew.
He read newspapers too: "the Szatmar Messenger". On his bookshelf, there was one volume of Petofi, one of Janos Arany, a thin volume by Jozsef Kiss, and a couple of Kincses Kalendarium ( Treasury or thesaurus calendar), folk customs of Szatmar and similar publications.
After a time his master made him a storeman. Grandfather‘s tasks included hiring reapers, since the grain broker occasionally leased land, and he purchased standing crops, so he arranged the harvest.”
However he had a very great ambition: he had a desire to study, he wanted to learn to read and write. Learning and books had been mystical things for him since his childhood, probably because they were rare guests at Izsak Farkas’ house; only on holidays did his father hold a dog-eared prayer book in his hands.
He read the letters, looked at the words without understanding their meaning. So the reason for his having gone into town was that he had hoped to realize his dream. He learnt to read [from the rabbi] in Hungarian and Hebrew, to write nicely, with fancy letters.
When, at the end of the day he returned home from the grain-store he washed, and changed into clean clothes, and the family sat down for supper. Then he arranged family matters, before finally retreating to his beloved books. Reading, burying himself in holy books, was his delight. Over the years he managed to get hold of most of the holy literature in Hebrew.
He read newspapers too: "the Szatmar Messenger". On his bookshelf, there was one volume of Petofi, one of Janos Arany, a thin volume by Jozsef Kiss, and a couple of Kincses Kalendarium ( Treasury or thesaurus calendar), folk customs of Szatmar and similar publications.
My grandfather was born into the large family of drayman Izsak Farkas on March 15, 1848. It is a family legend that when great-grandfather arrived to register the newborn, the news of the great events [the revolution of 1848] in Pest had already reached Szatmar.
So then, when drayman Izsak Farkas announced that he intended to give his son the name Wilhelm, the notary angrily slapped his pen down on the desk and shouted: What? Wilhelm? The German world is over now. The boy’s name is Vilmos Farkas!
So then, when drayman Izsak Farkas announced that he intended to give his son the name Wilhelm, the notary angrily slapped his pen down on the desk and shouted: What? Wilhelm? The German world is over now. The boy’s name is Vilmos Farkas!
Buena Davico
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I wanted to go enroll to the Uuniversity and I enrolled in the Law Sschool because of my two best Serbian friends. Father at once turned into a strict Jew and he was horrified at the thought that I might marry a non-Jew and he constantly chose boyfriends for me and always brought a cousin of mine, his sister’s son, to take me to the Jewish Municipal Hall in order for me to fall in love with some Jew.
And finally when I did fall in love with a Jew dad didn’t like him because he was a communist and so he confined me to the house and wouldn’t let me out. He was very strict about it. And only after my sister’s mother-in-law, aunt Rhea, a prominent,rich Belgrade Jewess, pleadedand insisted that he was a very fine young man, did father agreedand did I geot the permission to marryhim.
And finally when I did fall in love with a Jew dad didn’t like him because he was a communist and so he confined me to the house and wouldn’t let me out. He was very strict about it. And only after my sister’s mother-in-law, aunt Rhea, a prominent,rich Belgrade Jewess, pleadedand insisted that he was a very fine young man, did father agreedand did I geot the permission to marryhim.
My entire schooling since the first grade of primary school was in the famous Kralja Petra school,which is a lovely establishment (and is one of the oldest schools in Belgrade). My father and his father attended the same school. At the time his father went to school it was composed of solely two huts.
I haven’t seen them, my father told me about it, and also that the school was built only later. Father also studied in one of those huts for a while. When we came from Sarayevo to Belgrade I went to first grade in “Kralja Petra” school located near our appartment in Vuka Karadzica St. and I finished four grades there.
After that I went to high school, to the famous “Kraljica Marija”school, which was just opened– it was,a splendid high school in Narodnog Fronta St.--and there I completed eight grades. After that I attended a graduation the matriculation course, because my father insisted. I failed, I was flunked in one of the subjects and had to take it again in September.
I haven’t seen them, my father told me about it, and also that the school was built only later. Father also studied in one of those huts for a while. When we came from Sarayevo to Belgrade I went to first grade in “Kralja Petra” school located near our appartment in Vuka Karadzica St. and I finished four grades there.
After that I went to high school, to the famous “Kraljica Marija”school, which was just opened– it was,a splendid high school in Narodnog Fronta St.--and there I completed eight grades. After that I attended a graduation the matriculation course, because my father insisted. I failed, I was flunked in one of the subjects and had to take it again in September.
After fasting, large dinner parties were at our house. A lot of people would come. By that time my aunt Clara, mother’s sister from SarayevoSarajevo, had moved with her husband, uncle Isidor was there as well, my grandmother and her brother and we were all at that big dinner which would begin after the great fast with white coffee and ring-cake kugloff.
After about half an hour, so we wouldn’t be sick, the real dinner with chowder and everything else would begin, because that was the custom after a whole day of starving. Apart from that, I remember one more thing, but I don’t know what it’s called, when cocks and chickens are turned around everyone’s heads.
Mother would buy both cocks and chickens and father would, with the kippah on his head, whirl circle those hens around our heads for good luck and health. It was done on Rosh Hashanah. (Editor’s note: the interviewee is referring to the custom of kaporot).
After about half an hour, so we wouldn’t be sick, the real dinner with chowder and everything else would begin, because that was the custom after a whole day of starving. Apart from that, I remember one more thing, but I don’t know what it’s called, when cocks and chickens are turned around everyone’s heads.
Mother would buy both cocks and chickens and father would, with the kippah on his head, whirl circle those hens around our heads for good luck and health. It was done on Rosh Hashanah. (Editor’s note: the interviewee is referring to the custom of kaporot).
As for Jewish holidays I must say father wasn’t very religious, while mother was, because of her mother,and grandmother Mazalta. We didn’t keep Sabbath at our house, but at my father’s cousin Rezinka Handel Sabbath was observed. It was in Jovanova St. She was married to a very appealing man Julius Handel and it was a known fact that we were there every friday for dinner.
We often had would have pechugas and pachas, smoked goose meat. Aunt Rezinka made extraordinary cracklings that my father adored, made them of course of goose meat, not of pork. Their son Arthur Handel, who married the daughter of the famous rabbi of the Jewish Community of Belgrade Isaac Alkalaj, was there as well. We were at aunt Rezinka’s for Sabbath untilp to the year 1941.
Apart from that we celebrated two holidays, which was a very strict custom, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. Father would be fasteding, just like as well a smother, and I was also supposed to fast should have been fasting as well,but I would cheated sometimes, because I liked to eat. In the evenings there was a service at the temple, in Cara Urosa St. We used to go there.
We often had would have pechugas and pachas, smoked goose meat. Aunt Rezinka made extraordinary cracklings that my father adored, made them of course of goose meat, not of pork. Their son Arthur Handel, who married the daughter of the famous rabbi of the Jewish Community of Belgrade Isaac Alkalaj, was there as well. We were at aunt Rezinka’s for Sabbath untilp to the year 1941.
Apart from that we celebrated two holidays, which was a very strict custom, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. Father would be fasteding, just like as well a smother, and I was also supposed to fast should have been fasting as well,but I would cheated sometimes, because I liked to eat. In the evenings there was a service at the temple, in Cara Urosa St. We used to go there.
My grandmother Mazalta had three sisters (Saphira, Rifka and aunt Altarac) and four brothers (Isidor, Samuel, Joseph and Moritz). My uncle Isidor never married, he adored his sisters none of whom lived in Belgrade besides aunt Rifka (and later grandmother Mazalta). Saphira lived in Banja Luka, and aunt Altarac in Sarajevo.
He made so-called Sumbuliads and those were very interesting events. He invited all of his sisters and their children, without their husbands, to have fun in Belgrade. He was their host for ten days, he organized wonderful field trips, singing nights, Jewish and Serbian singers would come and sing Jewish and Serbian songs. Aunt Rifka’s son was good at organizing these evenings and he was the master of ceremony. For me, as a girl, those were the most wonderful days, those Sumbuliads.
(Editor’s note: from the family of Bonka’s maternal grandmother Mazalta, comes the famous architect Samuel Sumbul. He designed the building, where the head office of Jewish humanitarian societies Oneg Sabbath and Gemilot Hesedim was located.
He made so-called Sumbuliads and those were very interesting events. He invited all of his sisters and their children, without their husbands, to have fun in Belgrade. He was their host for ten days, he organized wonderful field trips, singing nights, Jewish and Serbian singers would come and sing Jewish and Serbian songs. Aunt Rifka’s son was good at organizing these evenings and he was the master of ceremony. For me, as a girl, those were the most wonderful days, those Sumbuliads.
(Editor’s note: from the family of Bonka’s maternal grandmother Mazalta, comes the famous architect Samuel Sumbul. He designed the building, where the head office of Jewish humanitarian societies Oneg Sabbath and Gemilot Hesedim was located.
They insisted very much on Jewish holidays, especially my grandmother. For Sabbath we as well as her other daughter were all at her house. I can’t remember exactly what Sabbath was like, because we, my parents and my brother and I moved to Belgrade when I was 6.
My grandparents dressed in a very modern fashion. Grandmother loved to dress nicely and had her clothes made at famous tailors’ shops, she never wore a tokado (Editor’s note: cap worn by Sephardi women made of silk or brocade), and as I recall, grandfather was dressed in European-styleclothes (that is, he was fashionably dressed).
However my daughter left for to Vienna on business just about the time the bombing was about to begin. (Editor’s note: the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in March 1999).
We had a house in Vienna about which something had to be arranged. She called and said, mama, leave for Vienna immediately, there’s going to be a bombing. I didn’t believe, I didn’t know. She called again, I wasn’t packed, she ordered my granddaughter and me, we packed on Tuesday and left for Vienna on Wednesday.
I left with a small suitcase. So I went left into exile twice the same way. We arrived to Vienna around 7 o’clock, my daughter welcomed us most adorably, and at 9 o’clock I saw Belgrade was being bombed. It was awful, I couldn’t believe it. And so we stayed in Vienna.
After the bombing I went back and my daughter stayed, because it was very difficult under Milosevic’s rule. My granddaughter also stayed in Vienna with her husband, as they couldn’t find work in Belgrade and there she gave birth to two children. I have two great-grandchildren. One’s name is Stevan and the other’s Pavle.
We had a house in Vienna about which something had to be arranged. She called and said, mama, leave for Vienna immediately, there’s going to be a bombing. I didn’t believe, I didn’t know. She called again, I wasn’t packed, she ordered my granddaughter and me, we packed on Tuesday and left for Vienna on Wednesday.
I left with a small suitcase. So I went left into exile twice the same way. We arrived to Vienna around 7 o’clock, my daughter welcomed us most adorably, and at 9 o’clock I saw Belgrade was being bombed. It was awful, I couldn’t believe it. And so we stayed in Vienna.
After the bombing I went back and my daughter stayed, because it was very difficult under Milosevic’s rule. My granddaughter also stayed in Vienna with her husband, as they couldn’t find work in Belgrade and there she gave birth to two children. I have two great-grandchildren. One’s name is Stevan and the other’s Pavle.
After the war I must say that while I was working I couldn’t get around to doing Jew affairs at the Jewish Community, but my daughter Svetlana even before she went to school attended the Jewish kindergarten, the best day care facility in Belgrade.
Many Serbs would ask through other connections and me to enroll their children there. It was located in the front yard of the synagogue in Marsala Birjuzova St., then in Kosmajska St. and two women ran it.
Many Serbs would ask through other connections and me to enroll their children there. It was located in the front yard of the synagogue in Marsala Birjuzova St., then in Kosmajska St. and two women ran it.
I returned to Belgrade in the beginning of November 1945 and I got a job immediately, in Tanjug, (Press Agency) as an English-Serbian translator. However, there was a man who had no trust in me and he fired 20 of us for not being the members of the Party. During the war I worked in London in the radio station for Free Yugoslavia, as an announcer.
One day the manager of Radio Belgrade Vasiljevic came to London, he heard me and said: “When you come back to Belgrade you’re going to work in Radio Belgrade”. When I was kicked out of Tanjug, I saw an add that announcers were needed in Radio Belgrade and I applied. It was in September of 1948, during the time of the Inform bureau.
One day the manager of Radio Belgrade Vasiljevic came to London, he heard me and said: “When you come back to Belgrade you’re going to work in Radio Belgrade”. When I was kicked out of Tanjug, I saw an add that announcers were needed in Radio Belgrade and I applied. It was in September of 1948, during the time of the Inform bureau.
Immediately after the war, I got a job and was very busy, I wasn’t active in the Jewish Municipal Hall. But, asWhenI was retired in 1980. I became very activein the Jewish Community. I was in the Women’s Aaffairs Comitee Committee, organized and held various lectures. Once in 15 days we held the Women’s section meetings that always drew a large number of people, I have been very active in various projects and as a lecturer.
Serbia
Singer Alexander
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The Rosh Ha Yeshivah [rosh ha yeshivah: "head of the yeshivah", thus the principal. Yeshivah; a school of higher Jewish religious education – Editor's note] was Rabbi Weissmandel [8], that means that he was in charge of everything, acceptance for studies, food, everything.
As far as teaching goes, that was taken care of by the main rabbi, Shmuel David Ungar. He lectured almost every day from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The lectures were on individual sections of the Talmud. We took mainly the practical part, like the observance of various laws and regulations.
As a matter of fact, we acquired good basic knowledge of some important parts of the Talmud at the Jesodeh Hatorah school in Bratislava, but here at the yeshivah the studies comprised of, among others, very important commentaries made over the centuries by some Talmudic scholars,and alse extended to the deeper study of some parts of the Talmud that had not been included in the studies at the Jesode Hatorah.
There were also those among us that had rich parents who were particular about their son studying at such and such a school and with such and such a rabbi. In yeshivah they only went into special things. Mainly legal matters and historical background from the Talmud were interesting.
Rabbi Shmuel David Ungar was from Piestany. He had three sons. The oldest one was a rabbi in the town of Hlohovec. Our entire yeshivah attended his inauguration. His younger son was named Shalom Moshe Ungar, in Jewish jargon Sholem Moishe. We were studying at yeshivah together.
I was his older classmate. He married my cousin, the daughter of the Kezmarok rabbi Nathan Grünberg. During the war Rabbi Shmuel Ungar and his son Moshe became partisans. Rabbi Shmuel Ungar perished in 1944. He was buried in the forest.
After the war they exhumed him and transferred him to a cemetery in Piestany, where he was from. Moishe moved to the USA, where he became a rabbi. In the USA, he and Rabbi Weissmandel together restarted the functioning of the Nitra yeshivah. Sholem Moishe Ungar died a few years ago.
As far as teaching goes, that was taken care of by the main rabbi, Shmuel David Ungar. He lectured almost every day from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The lectures were on individual sections of the Talmud. We took mainly the practical part, like the observance of various laws and regulations.
As a matter of fact, we acquired good basic knowledge of some important parts of the Talmud at the Jesodeh Hatorah school in Bratislava, but here at the yeshivah the studies comprised of, among others, very important commentaries made over the centuries by some Talmudic scholars,and alse extended to the deeper study of some parts of the Talmud that had not been included in the studies at the Jesode Hatorah.
There were also those among us that had rich parents who were particular about their son studying at such and such a school and with such and such a rabbi. In yeshivah they only went into special things. Mainly legal matters and historical background from the Talmud were interesting.
Rabbi Shmuel David Ungar was from Piestany. He had three sons. The oldest one was a rabbi in the town of Hlohovec. Our entire yeshivah attended his inauguration. His younger son was named Shalom Moshe Ungar, in Jewish jargon Sholem Moishe. We were studying at yeshivah together.
I was his older classmate. He married my cousin, the daughter of the Kezmarok rabbi Nathan Grünberg. During the war Rabbi Shmuel Ungar and his son Moshe became partisans. Rabbi Shmuel Ungar perished in 1944. He was buried in the forest.
After the war they exhumed him and transferred him to a cemetery in Piestany, where he was from. Moishe moved to the USA, where he became a rabbi. In the USA, he and Rabbi Weissmandel together restarted the functioning of the Nitra yeshivah. Sholem Moishe Ungar died a few years ago.
Slovakia
In 1933 I began studying at the yeshivah in Nitra. In Nitra I rented a room along with a classmate. We lived in Farska Street. It was close to school. It was a nice room that we had. For that my father always had to have money.
Accommodations cost 150 crowns a month. That was a lot of money for our family, which is why my parents weren't able to support me [in order for the reader to be better able imagine the amount spent on accommodations, I append the following: In the Regional State Archive in Sali, I found a document in which the Regional Office in Bratislava discloses the annual salary of the head rabbi of Samorín, Jakob Singer, to be 2,113.70 Czechoslovak crowns – Editor's note].
As far as food went, that was very miserable. I used to eat in the mensa [school cafeteria] of the rabbinical school. Luckily in Nitra there were Bulgarians selling vegetables [7], and those vegetables made up the main part of my daily menu.
For 50 hellers I got all sorts of vegetables. Bread was the most expensive, as a kilo cost a crown fifty. With one portion of vegetables, I always had a third or quarter of a loaf of bread. That's what I ate in the morning and evening, as the mensa only served lunch. On Saturday I always ate with some family.
Accommodations cost 150 crowns a month. That was a lot of money for our family, which is why my parents weren't able to support me [in order for the reader to be better able imagine the amount spent on accommodations, I append the following: In the Regional State Archive in Sali, I found a document in which the Regional Office in Bratislava discloses the annual salary of the head rabbi of Samorín, Jakob Singer, to be 2,113.70 Czechoslovak crowns – Editor's note].
As far as food went, that was very miserable. I used to eat in the mensa [school cafeteria] of the rabbinical school. Luckily in Nitra there were Bulgarians selling vegetables [7], and those vegetables made up the main part of my daily menu.
For 50 hellers I got all sorts of vegetables. Bread was the most expensive, as a kilo cost a crown fifty. With one portion of vegetables, I always had a third or quarter of a loaf of bread. That's what I ate in the morning and evening, as the mensa only served lunch. On Saturday I always ate with some family.
Slovakia
During my high school studies I lived in a sublet in Bratislava. Each day I'd go eat with a different family. We used to call it Tagessing [from the German Tag – day and essen – eat – Editor's note]. I used to go to former classmates, friends, of my father's. Each day to a different family. I wasn't picky, and I liked it everywhere the same.
In Bratislava I finished Talmudic Yesodei HaTorah and council school at the same time. From 1933 I studied at a rabbinical, Talmudic school in Nitra. There I studied for three years. Then I also studied at rabbinical school in Bratislava with Akiva Schreiber. After I finished I privately prepared for an entrance exam for 7th year of high school, on the basis of permission given by the Ministry of Education and National Enlightenment.
In Bratislava I finished Talmudic Yesodei HaTorah and council school at the same time. From 1933 I studied at a rabbinical, Talmudic school in Nitra. There I studied for three years. Then I also studied at rabbinical school in Bratislava with Akiva Schreiber. After I finished I privately prepared for an entrance exam for 7th year of high school, on the basis of permission given by the Ministry of Education and National Enlightenment.
Slovakia
In May my mother went to Bratislava to find out how her son was doing in school. Well, and Mr. Professor König told her: "I haven't seen your son for three months now!" I didn't have any money. In Bratislava there were two tennis players, one was a Jew, Mr. Danzig, the other a non-Jew, named Bula.
Bula was some sort of official at the Tatra Bank. Danzig was a sack wholesaler. The two of them used to play together. Well, and in the afternoon, during the time I was supposed to be in school, I went to Petrzalka to be a ballboy. I'd get fed there. Yes, there was a lot of hunger.
I was eleven when I arrived in Bratislava. I finished Grade 5 of people's school in Samorín, and then started here, in Bratislava. On Zitny Ostrov [Zitny Ostrov (Island) takes up the majority of the Lower Danube Plain, and is the largest inland island in Europe. The town of Dunajska Streda lies in the middle of Zitny Ostrov – Editor's note], all the Jewish elementary schools were Hungarian. That was five grades with one teacher in one classroom. To this day I can't imagine how that teacher did it, but we learned normally.
Bula was some sort of official at the Tatra Bank. Danzig was a sack wholesaler. The two of them used to play together. Well, and in the afternoon, during the time I was supposed to be in school, I went to Petrzalka to be a ballboy. I'd get fed there. Yes, there was a lot of hunger.
I was eleven when I arrived in Bratislava. I finished Grade 5 of people's school in Samorín, and then started here, in Bratislava. On Zitny Ostrov [Zitny Ostrov (Island) takes up the majority of the Lower Danube Plain, and is the largest inland island in Europe. The town of Dunajska Streda lies in the middle of Zitny Ostrov – Editor's note], all the Jewish elementary schools were Hungarian. That was five grades with one teacher in one classroom. To this day I can't imagine how that teacher did it, but we learned normally.
Slovakia
I was born in 1916 in Kezmarok, the firstborn son of Jakub and Margite Singer. I grew up in a rabbinical family. At the age of three, I already began learning. Still back in Kezmarok I began attending cheder [cheder: religious primary school for the teaching of the Torah and Judaism – Editor's note].
I used to go see this one old person who taught me to read, write and pray. Well, and then we studied Hummash, that's the Five Books of Moses, complete with commentaries. As far as secular educations goes, I attended four grades of people's school in Kezmarok in the Slovak language, and then one more year in Samorin, Grade 5 of peoples' school, in Hungarian [6].
Then I began attending Talmudic school in Bratislava. It was named Yesodei HaTorah [foundations of the Torah – Editor's note]. That was for four years. At 3:00 p.m. we'd also go to the council school in Zochova Street. That was a normal council school, a Jewish one. There we studied secular subjects up until 6:00 p.m. I failed the first year of council school, not however because I was dumb.
I used to go see this one old person who taught me to read, write and pray. Well, and then we studied Hummash, that's the Five Books of Moses, complete with commentaries. As far as secular educations goes, I attended four grades of people's school in Kezmarok in the Slovak language, and then one more year in Samorin, Grade 5 of peoples' school, in Hungarian [6].
Then I began attending Talmudic school in Bratislava. It was named Yesodei HaTorah [foundations of the Torah – Editor's note]. That was for four years. At 3:00 p.m. we'd also go to the council school in Zochova Street. That was a normal council school, a Jewish one. There we studied secular subjects up until 6:00 p.m. I failed the first year of council school, not however because I was dumb.
Slovakia
Disagreements amongst the Jewish population were resolved by the rabbi, thus my father. He was roch beyt din [from Hebrew, "head judge" – Editor's note]. Yes, he was a judge. He mainly judged disagreements of a business nature.
I personally never participated in any trial. I wasn't allowed to be present. It was top secret. He didn't even talk to my mother about these matters, just superficially. My father got along very well with the other members of the community.
My father didn't slaughter poultry, we had a shachter [ritual butcher] for that. He was named Stern, and lived beside the synagogue. He had a lot of children. He also butchered cattle. The only thing my father had to see was the veshet [throat]. The community also had a shammash [servant], who was named Schwarz. He lived in a house right by the synagogue. He took care of order and cleanliness in the synagogue, prayer rooms, ritual bath and the Jewish school.
I personally never participated in any trial. I wasn't allowed to be present. It was top secret. He didn't even talk to my mother about these matters, just superficially. My father got along very well with the other members of the community.
My father didn't slaughter poultry, we had a shachter [ritual butcher] for that. He was named Stern, and lived beside the synagogue. He had a lot of children. He also butchered cattle. The only thing my father had to see was the veshet [throat]. The community also had a shammash [servant], who was named Schwarz. He lived in a house right by the synagogue. He took care of order and cleanliness in the synagogue, prayer rooms, ritual bath and the Jewish school.
Slovakia
My father loved books. In the room where I slept there was a huge cabinet full of books. Besides the cabinet there were also wooden shelves, which were full of books all the way up to the wood-paneled ceiling. These were books that my father had inherited from his grandfather, the Lucenec rabbi.
That means that they were very, very old. In 1942 I was in Budapest, and by then my parents were dirt poor. In Budapest I got to know one big businessman, Schlessinger. In those days Josef Schlessinger was a famous book merchant. Before the Anschluss, he had a big bookstore in Vienna and one in Budapest. Josef Schlessinger & Sohn.
He was a great expert on books, so I wanted my father to sell some of them. He was interested, so in 1942 he traveled to Samorin and picked out various books. For one book, my father would have gotten 8,000 pengö. Back then, one modest lunch in a "buffet" in Budapest cost about 40 fillér [100 fillér = 1 pengó].
You can imagine how much money that was, because already at that time there was great poverty. There wasn't anything to live on. But my father wouldn't sell that book for anything. Not for anything, because it was too valuable for him.
He didn't want to sell any of the books, even when he needed money badly. The books were worth millions, because they were also valuable from a historical standpoint. After the war, when I returned, I went to the ghetto in Zlate Klasy, where my parents had been staying before they deported them to Dunajska Streda.
The residents that had pilfered the books after the Jews were deported from the ghetto were using them as fuel for their stoves! Some were also in the bathroom. They were using them because they didn't have toilet paper. That was the fate of my father's library.
That means that they were very, very old. In 1942 I was in Budapest, and by then my parents were dirt poor. In Budapest I got to know one big businessman, Schlessinger. In those days Josef Schlessinger was a famous book merchant. Before the Anschluss, he had a big bookstore in Vienna and one in Budapest. Josef Schlessinger & Sohn.
He was a great expert on books, so I wanted my father to sell some of them. He was interested, so in 1942 he traveled to Samorin and picked out various books. For one book, my father would have gotten 8,000 pengö. Back then, one modest lunch in a "buffet" in Budapest cost about 40 fillér [100 fillér = 1 pengó].
You can imagine how much money that was, because already at that time there was great poverty. There wasn't anything to live on. But my father wouldn't sell that book for anything. Not for anything, because it was too valuable for him.
He didn't want to sell any of the books, even when he needed money badly. The books were worth millions, because they were also valuable from a historical standpoint. After the war, when I returned, I went to the ghetto in Zlate Klasy, where my parents had been staying before they deported them to Dunajska Streda.
The residents that had pilfered the books after the Jews were deported from the ghetto were using them as fuel for their stoves! Some were also in the bathroom. They were using them because they didn't have toilet paper. That was the fate of my father's library.
Slovakia
A rabbinical position came up in Samorin, because the rabbi there was a former classmate of my father's, Dr. Weiss. He was a modern person, and became a rabbi in Wiener Neustadt [New Vienna]. For one, he himself recommended my father for his old position, and Akiba Schreiber also recommended him for it. Samorin was only a small town, about sixty Jewish families, which was about 200 souls.
But the problem was that there was only a Hungarian Jewish school there, and in Kezmarok I'd been attending a Slovak school, and my other siblings a German one. So we began learning Hungarian.
In Samorin we lived at 4 Hlavna St. The apartment had three rooms and a kitchen, no great luxury. The building also had a small garden, but there wasn't anything there, just a couple of flowers. As the oldest, I used to sleep in the last room, which also served as the living room. The windows faced the street.
The entire street was lined with acacia trees which gave off a beautiful aroma. Electricity had already been installed, but not running water. There was no sewage system either. The town had open sewers that collected dirty water, and the main sewer was in Hlavna Street. In the summer it stank horribly. I'll never forget how in the evening the beautiful aroma of the acacia flowers mingled with the stench of the sewers. It was intolerable. People had to close their windows.
But the problem was that there was only a Hungarian Jewish school there, and in Kezmarok I'd been attending a Slovak school, and my other siblings a German one. So we began learning Hungarian.
In Samorin we lived at 4 Hlavna St. The apartment had three rooms and a kitchen, no great luxury. The building also had a small garden, but there wasn't anything there, just a couple of flowers. As the oldest, I used to sleep in the last room, which also served as the living room. The windows faced the street.
The entire street was lined with acacia trees which gave off a beautiful aroma. Electricity had already been installed, but not running water. There was no sewage system either. The town had open sewers that collected dirty water, and the main sewer was in Hlavna Street. In the summer it stank horribly. I'll never forget how in the evening the beautiful aroma of the acacia flowers mingled with the stench of the sewers. It was intolerable. People had to close their windows.
Slovakia
My father got married in 1914, about two years before I was born. He married the daughter of the Kezmarok rabbi. After the wedding he became a dayan [dayan: a judge of the rabbinical court – Editor's note] and taught German and religion at the German high school in Kezmarok. Kezmarok was mainly full of Germans, but they were from Spis, so they didn't speak grammatically correct German, but spoke a dialect. My father also spoke Yiddish, but it was so-called Oberländer Yiddish.
I was born into the worst poverty, in 1916, in Kezmarok. My parents named me Alexander, Jewish name Shmuel. With my father I spoke mostly German, but with my mother Slovak as well. I spent my early childhood in Kezmarok. Later, in 1926, we moved to Samorin, where my father became the head rabbi. For us it was a change to abundance.
It was a very good and big change from the standpoint of accommodations and supporting the family. Compared to Kezmarok, Samorin was a village, as Kezmarok was a town of artisans, but from the standpoint of supporting the family, it was incomparable.
I was born into the worst poverty, in 1916, in Kezmarok. My parents named me Alexander, Jewish name Shmuel. With my father I spoke mostly German, but with my mother Slovak as well. I spent my early childhood in Kezmarok. Later, in 1926, we moved to Samorin, where my father became the head rabbi. For us it was a change to abundance.
It was a very good and big change from the standpoint of accommodations and supporting the family. Compared to Kezmarok, Samorin was a village, as Kezmarok was a town of artisans, but from the standpoint of supporting the family, it was incomparable.
Slovakia
My mother, Margita Singer, neé Grünburg, was a very intelligent and clever woman. I'll tell you just enough for you to be able to imagine our circumstances. I got my first store-bought suit of clothes when I had my bar mitzvah [bar mitzvah - “son of the Commandments”, a Jewish boy that has reached the age of thirteen. A ceremony, during which the boy is declared to be bar mitzvah, from this point on he must fulfil all commandments of the Torah – Editor’s note]. I was 13 years old.
Otherwise it was all sewn from my father's old things. My father used to tell one joke about this: "Young Moritz comes to school with his nose up in the air, and the teacher says to him: Moritz, just because you have a new vest doesn't yet mean that you have to be proud. But they made the vest out of my father's pants, and I can't stand the smell!"
My mother was a very pretty and slim woman. She was one of eleven siblings. Two boys and nine girls. The girls got married to men from all over the monarchy, all the way down to Satmar [Satu Mare, a town in what is now Romania – Editor's note]. Back then I was still a little boy. Because they lived so far apart from each other, they didn't meet very much. I remember two of my mother's sisters.
The oldest was named Saly Horowitz. She married Rabbi Horowitz in Frankfurt am Main, who was also president of the Kolel Shomre Hachomos of Jerusalem [The Society of the Guardians of the Walls: a worldwide Jewish society that has for centuries financially and culturally supported the settlement of Jews in the city of Jerusalem – Editor's note]. He used to live in Jerusalem for three months of the year, and the rest in Frankfurt.
Another of the sisters married an assistant rabbi in Kezmarok. Her name was Roza Glück. I've already talked about my mother's brother, Nathan. He had a red moustache and beard. He was a very kind person. I can also talk about how as children we used to admire him, due to his skill in eating fish.
Back then people used to eat these small, white fish, that cost only a crown fifty a kilo [in 1929 it was decreed by law that one Czechoslovak crown (Kc), as a unit of Czechoslovak currency, was equal in value to 44.58 mg of gold – Editor's note]. They were very tasty, but were full of bones.
He knew how to eat them so that he'd stuff them in one side of his mouth, and bones would come out the other side. I don't remember my mother's other brother. He got married and settled down in the Hungarian town of Csenger. He made a living as a businessman. I unfortunately don't know anything about the fate of the rest of the siblings.
Otherwise it was all sewn from my father's old things. My father used to tell one joke about this: "Young Moritz comes to school with his nose up in the air, and the teacher says to him: Moritz, just because you have a new vest doesn't yet mean that you have to be proud. But they made the vest out of my father's pants, and I can't stand the smell!"
My mother was a very pretty and slim woman. She was one of eleven siblings. Two boys and nine girls. The girls got married to men from all over the monarchy, all the way down to Satmar [Satu Mare, a town in what is now Romania – Editor's note]. Back then I was still a little boy. Because they lived so far apart from each other, they didn't meet very much. I remember two of my mother's sisters.
The oldest was named Saly Horowitz. She married Rabbi Horowitz in Frankfurt am Main, who was also president of the Kolel Shomre Hachomos of Jerusalem [The Society of the Guardians of the Walls: a worldwide Jewish society that has for centuries financially and culturally supported the settlement of Jews in the city of Jerusalem – Editor's note]. He used to live in Jerusalem for three months of the year, and the rest in Frankfurt.
Another of the sisters married an assistant rabbi in Kezmarok. Her name was Roza Glück. I've already talked about my mother's brother, Nathan. He had a red moustache and beard. He was a very kind person. I can also talk about how as children we used to admire him, due to his skill in eating fish.
Back then people used to eat these small, white fish, that cost only a crown fifty a kilo [in 1929 it was decreed by law that one Czechoslovak crown (Kc), as a unit of Czechoslovak currency, was equal in value to 44.58 mg of gold – Editor's note]. They were very tasty, but were full of bones.
He knew how to eat them so that he'd stuff them in one side of his mouth, and bones would come out the other side. I don't remember my mother's other brother. He got married and settled down in the Hungarian town of Csenger. He made a living as a businessman. I unfortunately don't know anything about the fate of the rest of the siblings.
Slovakia
Then, one after the other, his descendants taught there, it was always handed down from father to son, Ketab Sofer and Shevet Sofer. Shevet Sofer was also my father's teacher, and his son, Akiba Schreiber, was my father's classmate.
Before World War II, Akiba moved in time to Palestine, where he also moved the entire yeshivah. It's still active to this day, in the Mea Sherim quarter. My father and David attended this school together with Akiba Scheriber. They were very good friends. Akiba later recommended my father for the position of rabbi in Samorín.
This might be right time to mention an interesting anecdote that my father used to often tell me. My father was a very learned man. Besides other things, he spoke perfect German.
Due to the fact that he had good style and the appropriate knowledge, they entrusted him to welcome the Emperor Franz Joseph during his visit to Bratislava. During his stay in the city, Franz Josef also visited the synagogue in Zamocka St. Right at that time, a wedding was taking place in the courtyard.
The bride was standing under the chuppah, hidded under a veil. The emperor approached the bride, and was so bold as to look under the veil earlier than is permitted. He then stepped up to my father and whispered to him: „Kluge Sitten habt ihr Juden!“
That means: "You Jews have very wise habits!" Because the bride was terribly ugly. My father knew a song about an ugly bride: „Ich bin nit lang of a chaseneh gewen di kaleh mis der chosen schejn. Oj cores ojojoj cores. Cores vaksen den meter cores immer hecher. Es kimt a cat fin ach int veh. Ajeder shrat oj vej, oj vej.“ Its loose translation is: "Recently I was at a wedding. Ugly bride, beautiful groom. O misery, o misery, o misery, grows by the meter, higher and higher. Comes a time for lament. Everyone shouts oy vey, oy vey." So when he told he told this story, he also sang this song.
Before World War II, Akiba moved in time to Palestine, where he also moved the entire yeshivah. It's still active to this day, in the Mea Sherim quarter. My father and David attended this school together with Akiba Scheriber. They were very good friends. Akiba later recommended my father for the position of rabbi in Samorín.
This might be right time to mention an interesting anecdote that my father used to often tell me. My father was a very learned man. Besides other things, he spoke perfect German.
Due to the fact that he had good style and the appropriate knowledge, they entrusted him to welcome the Emperor Franz Joseph during his visit to Bratislava. During his stay in the city, Franz Josef also visited the synagogue in Zamocka St. Right at that time, a wedding was taking place in the courtyard.
The bride was standing under the chuppah, hidded under a veil. The emperor approached the bride, and was so bold as to look under the veil earlier than is permitted. He then stepped up to my father and whispered to him: „Kluge Sitten habt ihr Juden!“
That means: "You Jews have very wise habits!" Because the bride was terribly ugly. My father knew a song about an ugly bride: „Ich bin nit lang of a chaseneh gewen di kaleh mis der chosen schejn. Oj cores ojojoj cores. Cores vaksen den meter cores immer hecher. Es kimt a cat fin ach int veh. Ajeder shrat oj vej, oj vej.“ Its loose translation is: "Recently I was at a wedding. Ugly bride, beautiful groom. O misery, o misery, o misery, grows by the meter, higher and higher. Comes a time for lament. Everyone shouts oy vey, oy vey." So when he told he told this story, he also sang this song.
Slovakia
My father attended both synagogues. Some days he'd pray at 6:00 in the main one, and then on other days at 8:00 at the Sephardic one, and this in order to also show those members of the community that he was their man and that he respected their habits.
My father's name was Jakub Singer, and was from a rabbinical family, which is why he himself later became a rabbi in Samorín. His entire name was Abraham Jakob Koppel Singer, and his Jewish name was Abraham Jakov ben Jisrael.
My father was one of four siblings. He and his brother Chaim David were graduates of the world-renowned Talmudic school in Bratislava. The Sofer family taught at this yeshivah. The first one was Moshe Schreiber, known as Chatam Sofer [5].
My father's name was Jakub Singer, and was from a rabbinical family, which is why he himself later became a rabbi in Samorín. His entire name was Abraham Jakob Koppel Singer, and his Jewish name was Abraham Jakov ben Jisrael.
My father was one of four siblings. He and his brother Chaim David were graduates of the world-renowned Talmudic school in Bratislava. The Sofer family taught at this yeshivah. The first one was Moshe Schreiber, known as Chatam Sofer [5].
Slovakia
In those days, there were also a lot of Jewish immigrants from Poland living in Kezmarok. After the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy fell apart, they ran away to Czechoslovakia. This was because the Poles and Ukrainians were persecuting them en masse, pillaging their homes and stores.
They burned a lot of shtetls, towns. They even killed some of them. Polish Jews that settled in Kezmarok were mostly merchants, tradesmen, butchers, stonemasons. Stonemasons made matzeyves, gravestones. One of the Polish Jews was in charge of the ritual bath, the mikveh. He was called the Mikveh Yid.
His name was Östereicher. Jews in the town were also divided into Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Ashkenazim were mostly the original Jewish residents of Kezmarok, and Sephardim were immigrants from Poland. Immigrants were different in several basic ways.
Locals used to go pray at 6:00 a.m., so that at 7:00 a.m. they could open their stores and begin working. The Sephardim went to their synagogue at 8;00 a.m. Locals spoke mostly German, the immigrants Yiddish. The Ashkenazim dressed mostly the same as the rest of the population, but some of them had beards and wore black hats, while part of the Sephardim wore black caftans and black hats.
They burned a lot of shtetls, towns. They even killed some of them. Polish Jews that settled in Kezmarok were mostly merchants, tradesmen, butchers, stonemasons. Stonemasons made matzeyves, gravestones. One of the Polish Jews was in charge of the ritual bath, the mikveh. He was called the Mikveh Yid.
His name was Östereicher. Jews in the town were also divided into Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Ashkenazim were mostly the original Jewish residents of Kezmarok, and Sephardim were immigrants from Poland. Immigrants were different in several basic ways.
Locals used to go pray at 6:00 a.m., so that at 7:00 a.m. they could open their stores and begin working. The Sephardim went to their synagogue at 8;00 a.m. Locals spoke mostly German, the immigrants Yiddish. The Ashkenazim dressed mostly the same as the rest of the population, but some of them had beards and wore black hats, while part of the Sephardim wore black caftans and black hats.
Slovakia