Only the grandparents from my mother’s side spoke Yiddish.
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Eveline Ciocoiu
These grandfathers had a regular household. They had both electricity and running water.
They even had a bathroom. My grandparents didn’t raise livestock.
They even had a bathroom. My grandparents didn’t raise livestock.
He was a tinker, while my grandmother was a housewife.
Cornelia Gatlan
My father also had relationships with Romanian doctors. He died at an early age, while the others were still alive and well. He worked at the Hospital no.1 on Calarasi Street and he had friends there: Doctor Vintilescu, who came from a Christian family, Doctor Hercica, and other Romanian doctors. He had many friends because he worked both at the Hospital no.1 and at the high school.
All the friends my parents had were Jewish physicians. Of course, we had relationships with other ethnic groups too, but I remember from my childhood that many Jewish physicians gathered at my parents’ place. For instance, they were friends with the doctors Grunberg and Nutescu, and their families. One of the reasons why they had relationships with them is that they were doctors. There weren’t many physicians in Braila at that time.
Romania
The new regime didn’t confiscate my father’s practice, but he was forced to close it. He later took an exam in Iasi – while I was there myself – and was certified as a generalist physician. He got a public job. He worked at the Hospital no.1 on Calarasi Street, in Braila, and at a precinct clinic. When he became very ill – because he had a hemiparesis and had to use a walking cane – he served as a physician at the former ‘Balcescu’ High School, because he couldn’t stand not being active.
In 1948 or so, my father took down the sign on his practice. It read ‘Dr. Noe Gatlan, specialized in skin and venereal diseases.’ Had he not done that, my sister would have never been admitted to college, because she would have been considered petit bourgeois, which would have dramatically diminished her chances. So my father took the sign down. My sister had just graduated from high school, having completed the eleven years of education of the old-style theoretical education system. That was right at the time when there was no room for the petit bourgeoisie.
The new regime didn’t confiscate my father’s practice, but he was forced to close it.
The new regime didn’t confiscate my father’s practice, but he was forced to close it.
But they knew that Jews from other regions were being sent to Auschwitz or to Transnistria, so, of course, they were afraid not to end up there themselves.
I was very young – only three or four – and I didn’t really know what kind of talks took place in my family. My father was very affected by what was going on; he was afraid they would seize him and he was worried about what might happen to us, so he almost went as far as to deny he was a Jew. He did it all for our sake, lest something bad should happen to us. And we survived.
Growing Up After the War
Afterwards, because he had had a cold attitude towards the Jews and he had tried to deny his being Jewish, the town’s Jewish community looked down on him. But everyone knew he was a Jew after all, and, eventually, they all understood what the situation had been during the war. There were Jews who gave in, and Jews who didn’t. My father was among the former – because he got scared, as they’d put it.
I was very young – only three or four – and I didn’t really know what kind of talks took place in my family. My father was very affected by what was going on; he was afraid they would seize him and he was worried about what might happen to us, so he almost went as far as to deny he was a Jew. He did it all for our sake, lest something bad should happen to us. And we survived.
Growing Up After the War
Afterwards, because he had had a cold attitude towards the Jews and he had tried to deny his being Jewish, the town’s Jewish community looked down on him. But everyone knew he was a Jew after all, and, eventually, they all understood what the situation had been during the war. There were Jews who gave in, and Jews who didn’t. My father was among the former – because he got scared, as they’d put it.
There was also that dreadful period when Jews were sent to sweep the streets. But my father kept his practice for a while. He wasn’t deported to Transnistria [6], like others were, but he did get sent to forced labor here, locally, in 1942 or 1943. They took white-collar and blue-collar Jews out in the street and made them do chores.
Jews had a really hard time in Bukovina [7] and Transylvania [8]. Those in the Regat [Kingdom] weren’t forced to do hard labors. [Editor’s note: ‘Kingdom’ was used by Transylvanians in everyday speech when referring to the Romanian Kingdom, before the unification of 1918. It remained in use after the unification, designating the regions of Moldova and Wallachia that had formerly composed the Romanian Kingdom.] They were sent to sweep the streets.
Jews had a really hard time in Bukovina [7] and Transylvania [8]. Those in the Regat [Kingdom] weren’t forced to do hard labors. [Editor’s note: ‘Kingdom’ was used by Transylvanians in everyday speech when referring to the Romanian Kingdom, before the unification of 1918. It remained in use after the unification, designating the regions of Moldova and Wallachia that had formerly composed the Romanian Kingdom.] They were sent to sweep the streets.
My father’s clientele was multi-ethnic. During the war [World War II], he was very busy, especially after the Russians occupied us. As he was a gynecologist – he mostly practiced gynecology and had a gynecological table – Russians used to come to him to treat their gonorrhea. So many of my father’s clients were Russian officers – they asked one another where they had their condition treated, and this is how my father’s name came up.
My parents didn’t use to go to restaurants. But there were charity balls and house visits, which are now gone. They used to receive two or three family at a time, not just one person. This is what social life used to look like: visiting other families and going to balls to meet the others. Balls were held at the Communal Hall, which now houses the ‘Maria Filoti’ Theater. The Army House also organized huge balls.
I remember the family of Doctor Bizamcer. They were Jewish and had a daughter, Gratiela. We used to pay visits to one another on major holidays.
I remember the family of Doctor Bizamcer. They were Jewish and had a daughter, Gratiela. We used to pay visits to one another on major holidays.
Romania
But I, for one, do my best to observe the religious tradition by the book. I have no problem with the [Christian] Orthodox holidays, and if someone invites me over on such a holiday, I go. I have friends who aren’t Jewish, but I make no discrimination.
As far as religion is concerned, I think I’m more committed to it than my parents used to be. We went through times of war [World War II], some very troubled times, and people weren’t at ease with admitting they were Jews. I’m not blaming my parents. They tried to refrain themselves for our sake, because they wanted us to survive and get an education. This is why they weren’t very religious.
Religious traditions weren’t kept by the book for as long as my father lived, because he was more or less an atheist.
My mother must have suffered because of that, for she wasn’t like my father. After all, she was the descendant of some Jews who had settled in Moldova centuries ago. My mother tried to guide us on a religious path, but she didn’t manage all the time, because our father was around. My parents weren’t active members of the town’s Jewish community. Their circle of friends may have been composed of Jewish families mostly, but religiousness was not their strongest point.
My mother must have suffered because of that, for she wasn’t like my father. After all, she was the descendant of some Jews who had settled in Moldova centuries ago. My mother tried to guide us on a religious path, but she didn’t manage all the time, because our father was around. My parents weren’t active members of the town’s Jewish community. Their circle of friends may have been composed of Jewish families mostly, but religiousness was not their strongest point.
Romania
Their circle of friends mainly consisted of Jewish physicians. There were also Christian physicians, but most of the physicians were Jewish.
Our relationships with the Jewish families were very good, and holidays were observed as tradition required. I may be emphasizing this a bit too much, since I’m not a bigot. However, I remember when the great fast is – the black fast [on Yom Kippur] – and I go to the synagogue on certain holidays. I could tell you that the Jewish New Year, which everyone celebrated, was celebrated at our place. September marks the beginning of fall and announces the high holidays. On Rosh Hashanah, we didn’t use to go to the restaurant, but we invited people over to our place. Everyone brought something: steak, cakes, wine.
For other holidays – as far as I remember, because I was very young – guests would only bring cakes. People used to call on one another on holidays before. They would send cakes to one another for Channukah and Purim – but especially for Purim, when all sorts of cakes were made. Everybody enjoyed themselves, but I was just a kid and couldn’t be part of it.
Our relationships with the Jewish families were very good, and holidays were observed as tradition required. I may be emphasizing this a bit too much, since I’m not a bigot. However, I remember when the great fast is – the black fast [on Yom Kippur] – and I go to the synagogue on certain holidays. I could tell you that the Jewish New Year, which everyone celebrated, was celebrated at our place. September marks the beginning of fall and announces the high holidays. On Rosh Hashanah, we didn’t use to go to the restaurant, but we invited people over to our place. Everyone brought something: steak, cakes, wine.
For other holidays – as far as I remember, because I was very young – guests would only bring cakes. People used to call on one another on holidays before. They would send cakes to one another for Channukah and Purim – but especially for Purim, when all sorts of cakes were made. Everybody enjoyed themselves, but I was just a kid and couldn’t be part of it.
Romania
My parents were moderate in observing the Sabbath too; they didn’t go to the synagogue on Saturday, because they weren’t bigots. They only did it when the major holidays came. In general, they weren’t very religious people.
Romania
However, my mother did have vessels that she used only for meat and fish, and vessels that she used only for milk.
I don’t make this distinction anymore, although I’m an old woman now and I really should. I don’t think the young ones observe this tradition anymore. Apart from that, I do light candles every Friday night and I do my best to keep the other traditions. On Saturday, I obey the rules of the Sabbath as much as I can. This day is like Sunday is to Christians. I don’t go to extreme, but I avoid doing certain things that oughtn’t to be done on Sabbath, which is a day for rest.
I don’t make this distinction anymore, although I’m an old woman now and I really should. I don’t think the young ones observe this tradition anymore. Apart from that, I do light candles every Friday night and I do my best to keep the other traditions. On Saturday, I obey the rules of the Sabbath as much as I can. This day is like Sunday is to Christians. I don’t go to extreme, but I avoid doing certain things that oughtn’t to be done on Sabbath, which is a day for rest.
My mother would light the Sabbath candles on Friday night. My father wasn’t very religious, and people often told him he was an atheist. But he wasn’t. Circumstances forced him to deviate from his faith a little. We kept the Sabbath, but didn’t overdo it. We didn’t eat the same special dish on every Sabbath, like Jews who really observe the tradition do; and we didn’t use separate covers for dairy products and meat. However, my mother did have vessels that she used only for meat and fish, and vessels that she used only for milk.
Romania
My father’s clinic kept him busy most of the time – he had to work hard, because he was the breadwinner of the family, my mother being a housewife. We belonged to the petit bourgeoisie.
Romania
I remember my parents took us everywhere they went, from an early age. This is why I loved art. I didn’t miss one single performance. For instance, when Ion Dacian [operetta artist, head of the Operetta Theater in Bucharest] came to town with his operetta performance, I was there. We didn’t have a nanny anymore, so our parents couldn’t leave us at home, and took us with them to operetta and opera performances, and to the movies. They probably did that partly because they couldn’t find anyone to baby-sit. As for us, we really enjoyed going out like that.
The way to acquire a musical education is to start going to performances at an early age. I was ‘impregnated’ with music and concerts in my childhood, and I know all there is to know about it. I can hum operas from the beginning to the end, because I listened to them many times. I don’t want to brag, but I really have a musical culture, more than I have a literary one. I used to read and I still read, but I always felt more attracted to theater, cinema, and music. I didn’t want to become an actress, but I would have liked to work as a movie set technician or something, just to be part of the artists’ world, which is an exceptional world. Theirs is a totally different life than ours – it’s as if they came from another planet.
The way to acquire a musical education is to start going to performances at an early age. I was ‘impregnated’ with music and concerts in my childhood, and I know all there is to know about it. I can hum operas from the beginning to the end, because I listened to them many times. I don’t want to brag, but I really have a musical culture, more than I have a literary one. I used to read and I still read, but I always felt more attracted to theater, cinema, and music. I didn’t want to become an actress, but I would have liked to work as a movie set technician or something, just to be part of the artists’ world, which is an exceptional world. Theirs is a totally different life than ours – it’s as if they came from another planet.
Romania
My parents spent their vacations in the mountains or at the seaside [of the Black Sea], and they took us along. However, my sister got to go more often than I did, I think. By the time I was born, their trips had probably grown scarcer.
Romania
My father was into music for a long time. After being a physician, he was a musician. Doctor Teodorescu, a radiologist from Braila, wrote a book in which he mentioned my father, because he was one of the town’s intellectuals who had a major contribution to the musical life. There were other physicians who did that, and there was even a physicians’ orchestra at that time.
For a short while, my father worked as the physician of the State Theater in Braila, at the beginnings of this institution. Being his daughter, I acted in ‘The Little Red Riding Hood’ for some time. They needed children for the play. One of my acting partners was actress Vasilica Tastaman [Vasilica Tastaman (1933-2003) made her debut in 1949, at the State Theater in Braila; she was one of the founders of the Comedy Theater, and she played at the Giulesti and Bulandra theaters.]
I entered the theatrical world and I went on tours to Galati. I grew up in an environment filled with culture, art, music, theater. I was very young when I acted in those plays. My father was still alive, and I was going to elementary school. I earned my first pennies and I became familiar with that world – with dressing rooms, actors and tours.
For a short while, my father worked as the physician of the State Theater in Braila, at the beginnings of this institution. Being his daughter, I acted in ‘The Little Red Riding Hood’ for some time. They needed children for the play. One of my acting partners was actress Vasilica Tastaman [Vasilica Tastaman (1933-2003) made her debut in 1949, at the State Theater in Braila; she was one of the founders of the Comedy Theater, and she played at the Giulesti and Bulandra theaters.]
I entered the theatrical world and I went on tours to Galati. I grew up in an environment filled with culture, art, music, theater. I was very young when I acted in those plays. My father was still alive, and I was going to elementary school. I earned my first pennies and I became familiar with that world – with dressing rooms, actors and tours.
My father ended up teaching classes. I know he taught many renowned fiddlers in Braila, and they were really playing by the notes, not just because they had an ear for it. It was a people’s school, as they used to call it in those days.
We took piano lessons in our childhood. My father composed, and we played the piano; we studied this instrument for quite a number of years. I didn’t enjoy it too much, but I did it anyway.
Romania
There was a lot of music playing going on in our house. My parents would organize small violin and piano concerts, where they would invite all the high-life of Braila. Our place had an intense musical life. My father had been playing the flute since he was young, and he mastered the notes perfectly. I don’t think he had been to some special music school, but he must have taken private lessons as a child, since he could decipher the musical notes and play the flute. He even did some composing – he wrote modern tunes, like tangos, and foxtrots. He also played the piano, and his compositions were for this instrument. But his specialty as an instrumentalist was the flute.
Naturally, he was a member of the Composers’ Union. I don’t have his old partitions anymore; we left them at the house on Galati Street.
Naturally, he was a member of the Composers’ Union. I don’t have his old partitions anymore; we left them at the house on Galati Street.
Romania
When I was young, I used to spend my spare time in the Main Garden, in Monument Park, or at Lacul Sarat, where I went bathing and sunbathing on the nudist beach. I was the first one to get to the beach in the morning. The Main Garden was very nice; it had a restaurant, and a terrace that gave onto the Danube, and fiddlers.
We also lived on Vasile Sasu Street, but not for long, and I don’t remember when. I still know where the house is located, but what I distinctly remember is the other house, the one at 5 Galati Street – in the center of the town, close to the kindergarten and the clock.
We lived on the second floor. There was no one living downstairs. The courtyard looked like the interior of a country inn. The entrance was rather ugly, through an archway, although the place was right in the center of the town. It opened onto the large courtyard; our quarters were the first thing you saw to the left, and then there was nothing else. At the back of the courtyard, there were several small houses, with apartments. The people who used to live there are no longer among us.
So our place was on the second floor and it was very nice. The hallway led to the main rooms: my father’s practice, the bedroom, and the living room, which was large enough to house private concerts, in the company of friends. The house was big and it had stoves. Heating it was a bit of a problem, because there were many rooms and the woodshed was downstairs; you had to climb four steps to enter the corridor that led to the courtyard and from that corridor, you could access the kitchen and the dining room. Back then, people didn’t eat in the kitchen, like they do now; they sat at table in a room next to the kitchen. We had electricity and running water. I can’t believe the kind of life we used to have.
Let me tell you about our furniture. The house on Galati Street had nice furniture, the kind that was fashionable in those days, with Moldova-type sideboards, as they used to call the pieces in the living room. It was some massive, quality furniture, with sculptures and crystal mirrors. We had delicate china, Persian rugs, a piano, a telephone, and everything else we needed. My parents were among the first people from Braila who were connected to the telephone network.
These candlesticks you see on my table are very old. Any Jewish family used to have some of those, especially the elderly. I have many things that belonged to my parents, including a tray and some china. But I don’t have silver. My parents didn’t really think about securing our future, because they imagined their children’s lives would be no different from their own.
My parents had paintings with landscapes on the walls. I am now more modern in taste, but the ones I have used to belong to my mother. At my age, there’s no point in getting new ones. My parents gave their older paintings to the first daughter who got married, that is, to my sister, Lolita. They were all about fruit and flowers, for this is what people used to hang on their living room walls. There were also family pictures. But no one hung icons on the wall.
My mother gave all the prettier things to my sister, when she got married. There was little left for me. Those things are now probably kept by my niece, my sister’s daughter. People didn’t have TV sets back then. Despite all those things we used to have, we weren’t considered really rich, because it was common for all the doctors to be rather well-off back then. We never owned real estate.
The living room of our house at 5 Galati Street had a balcony, which extended along the entire length of the room. In the summer evenings when a family or some guest paid us a visit, we would place a little table on that balcony, which gave onto Galati Street and onto the Main Garden, and beheld the crowd of people who were taking a walk there, because the area was very beautiful.
We lived on the second floor. There was no one living downstairs. The courtyard looked like the interior of a country inn. The entrance was rather ugly, through an archway, although the place was right in the center of the town. It opened onto the large courtyard; our quarters were the first thing you saw to the left, and then there was nothing else. At the back of the courtyard, there were several small houses, with apartments. The people who used to live there are no longer among us.
So our place was on the second floor and it was very nice. The hallway led to the main rooms: my father’s practice, the bedroom, and the living room, which was large enough to house private concerts, in the company of friends. The house was big and it had stoves. Heating it was a bit of a problem, because there were many rooms and the woodshed was downstairs; you had to climb four steps to enter the corridor that led to the courtyard and from that corridor, you could access the kitchen and the dining room. Back then, people didn’t eat in the kitchen, like they do now; they sat at table in a room next to the kitchen. We had electricity and running water. I can’t believe the kind of life we used to have.
Let me tell you about our furniture. The house on Galati Street had nice furniture, the kind that was fashionable in those days, with Moldova-type sideboards, as they used to call the pieces in the living room. It was some massive, quality furniture, with sculptures and crystal mirrors. We had delicate china, Persian rugs, a piano, a telephone, and everything else we needed. My parents were among the first people from Braila who were connected to the telephone network.
These candlesticks you see on my table are very old. Any Jewish family used to have some of those, especially the elderly. I have many things that belonged to my parents, including a tray and some china. But I don’t have silver. My parents didn’t really think about securing our future, because they imagined their children’s lives would be no different from their own.
My parents had paintings with landscapes on the walls. I am now more modern in taste, but the ones I have used to belong to my mother. At my age, there’s no point in getting new ones. My parents gave their older paintings to the first daughter who got married, that is, to my sister, Lolita. They were all about fruit and flowers, for this is what people used to hang on their living room walls. There were also family pictures. But no one hung icons on the wall.
My mother gave all the prettier things to my sister, when she got married. There was little left for me. Those things are now probably kept by my niece, my sister’s daughter. People didn’t have TV sets back then. Despite all those things we used to have, we weren’t considered really rich, because it was common for all the doctors to be rather well-off back then. We never owned real estate.
The living room of our house at 5 Galati Street had a balcony, which extended along the entire length of the room. In the summer evenings when a family or some guest paid us a visit, we would place a little table on that balcony, which gave onto Galati Street and onto the Main Garden, and beheld the crowd of people who were taking a walk there, because the area was very beautiful.
Romania
We didn’t have a nanny for a long time, she just stayed with us until we were nine or ten. When she left, I was still a child, and we were living on Galati Street.
Romania
During my early childhood, my mother had servants: she hired a woman who did the laundry and the cleaning, cooked and went to the market place, but she also had a sort of nanny for us, the children. She kept them as long as my father kept his medical practice. And she couldn’t afford a servant and a governess until my father opened that practice.
Romania
Right after he graduated, my father came to Braila, where he started in fact his medical career, thanks to this uncle. His practice was where we lived. Generally speaking, the center of Braila was full of practices owned by Jewish physicians; there were a lot of Jewish doctors and druggists in Braila, and they occupied the central part of the town. One could even say that being a doctor or a druggist was a traditional occupation for the Jews in Braila, because there were so many of them. But this was back then; today, all the streets are full of all sorts of practices and businesses.