In winter I went to Sverdlovsk springtime 1942. It was a very snowy winter. I could not cross the street before it was cleansed from snow. I learned that the Kiev Conservatoire had been evacuated to Sverdlovsk. The teachers recognized me and treated me well. I rented a part of a room. We studied in the premises of the Sverdlovsk Conservatoire. It was a wonderful building downtown, on Lenin Street. We had a life full of music. Famous pianists, actors, singers and musicians came there. We, students, performed in hospitals. We had to smile there. We were looking at those wounded soldiers wrapped in bandages, our souls cried out, but we had to sing and smile to them. Especially if we met somebody from Ukraine, we became like relatives to one another and tried to do whatever that other person desired from you. The military who formed tank divisions in Sverdlovsk came together in the Officers’ House. We performed a concert to them as well. And the next morning, we went to see them off, and when we were at the train station; it was very cold and frosty and we should not have sung, but we sang anyway. There were different people, including the Jews. But there was no anti-Semitism.
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Displaying 36181 - 36210 of 50826 results
Mira Markovna Mlotok
We heard on the radio that Kiev was liberated. Both students and teachers hugged and kissed each other, jumping high. It was such a joy that I can’t even describe it. We were taken to Kiev.
In Vladivostok I even sang in a philharmonic society. Fima worked as the chief constructor at a shipbuilding works with huge naval ships. He was very talented. And his bosses characterized him in an excellent way. In our flat we had nothing, only an iron bed just like in dormitories, a small bedside table and a box in which I brought my belongings, which we used as a chair. But we had such a wonderful time together that we did not notice how empty it was in the flat. His friends and colleagues came over and we were happy to be alive, to see one another. We did not need anything else! I went to sing and Fima went to try his underwater mines.
In Vladivostok my husband submitted requests to be transferred to reserve, and finally he was allowed to. He had a choice: to live in Port-Arthur, Dantzig, Keningsberg, or Kiev. He certainly chose Kiev. We moved here and he was given a wok at a shipbuilding plant. This plant was located in Podol, near Dnepr. It used to be named after Stalin. Fima restored the diesel workshop of that plant. He stayed there day and night. I brought him meals there because he had no time to go home and eat, even though we lived nearby.
Stepan Neuman
My grandfather was a harness maker. Horses pulled street cars at that time and his profession was in great demand.
Before he got married my grandfather moved to Budapest in Hungary. [Bohemia and Hungary were both parts of the same Austro-Hungarian state.] He opened a harness shop in the center of the city and became so popular that he was appointed the king’s harness maker. [Franz Joseph (1849-1916), Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.] He had a few employees working for him. They made harness and saddles for the king’s court. His shop also manufactured harness for the army. Only wealthier people kept saddle horses or carriages and they paid well for this kind of work.
My grandfather married Regina Rosenberg, born in 1857, a girl from a wealthy Jewish family. My grandfather bought a house in a central street of Budapest. They were wealthy. My grandmother had housemaids and their children had nannies and governesses.
As far as I can judge from the photographs of my grandmother that I saw in my childhood and that, regretfully, have not been kept, my father’s was a secular family. My grandmother wore fancy gowns and had nice hairdos made on her thick long dark hair. Judging from my father, his parents did not honor religion or Jewish traditions. At least, when I knew my father, he was a convinced atheist.
As far as I can judge from the photographs of my grandmother that I saw in my childhood and that, regretfully, have not been kept, my father’s was a secular family. My grandmother wore fancy gowns and had nice hairdos made on her thick long dark hair. Judging from my father, his parents did not honor religion or Jewish traditions. At least, when I knew my father, he was a convinced atheist.
My father was twelve years old then. My grandmother managed to make arrangements for my father to become an apprentice of a type setter in a printing house. The type setting process was manual: the words were set from lead letters to make sentences. My father told me that he was short and for him to be able to reach a box with lead letters they put a box so he could stand on it. Those lead letters were also too heavy for him, but he overcame all difficulties and had a profession by the age of 15.
At that time qualified professionals needed to have experience of work in other countries. The more countries he had worked in the more high-skilled a person was believed to be. My father left Budapest to work in Italy, France and Germany. When my father was working in a printing house in Leipzig, he began to attend evening classes in a college. Since my father composed books and magazines in German, he managed to learn it well. Even before he finished his studies, my father also did editing of books in German.
When my father finished his college the company in Berlin manufacturing linotypes, offered my father to write a manual on the use of linotype units making lead letters. My father wrote a manual in German and it was published. There were very good references for this manual. I have this book. My father did a great job. There is a big article about my father Edvard Neuman in the Polygraphist Encyclopedia.
At that time qualified professionals needed to have experience of work in other countries. The more countries he had worked in the more high-skilled a person was believed to be. My father left Budapest to work in Italy, France and Germany. When my father was working in a printing house in Leipzig, he began to attend evening classes in a college. Since my father composed books and magazines in German, he managed to learn it well. Even before he finished his studies, my father also did editing of books in German.
When my father finished his college the company in Berlin manufacturing linotypes, offered my father to write a manual on the use of linotype units making lead letters. My father wrote a manual in German and it was published. There were very good references for this manual. I have this book. My father did a great job. There is a big article about my father Edvard Neuman in the Polygraphist Encyclopedia.
My father always remembered his Jewish origin. His ancestors were Jews and he believed he could not offend them, but my father believed that in the Jewish religion and traditions there was a lot going back to middle ages. He disapproved of the way religious people dressed, same as many centuries before. Life was changing and fashion in clothing and views was to change as well.
My father supported the assimilation of Jews and thought that it was good for Jews to be no different from other people in the way they dressed and looked. Faith and convictions were one thing and beard and payes – a different story. Those were outer signs and it wasn’t worth to get too deep into them. He wore contemporary clothing and had his hair cut short. My father was elegant and knew how to wear clothes.
My father supported the assimilation of Jews and thought that it was good for Jews to be no different from other people in the way they dressed and looked. Faith and convictions were one thing and beard and payes – a different story. Those were outer signs and it wasn’t worth to get too deep into them. He wore contemporary clothing and had his hair cut short. My father was elegant and knew how to wear clothes.
During World War I my father was recruited to the Hungarian army [1]. He was sent to the [Russian] front. He was a private and took part in combat action in the Carpathians. There, in the trenches, my father became an ardent pacifist. During intervals he wrote about the horrors of the war. He wrote about what he saw with his own eyes. My father sent his front line reports to newspapers and they published them. I still have a pen with which my father wrote his field reports. This was a fountain pen which was to be filled up with ink. My father brought a few reports home.
My father had an amazingly beautiful and distinct handwriting, very fine. There was little paper available at the front line, and my father tried to put as much text as possible on one page. I’ve always tried to imitate my father, even his handwriting, but I failed to do it. Other soldiers often asked my father to write letters home to let them know that their husband was alive and hoping to come back home soon.
My father was at the front line until 1916. Near the town of Stryy [540 km from Kiev] my father was wounded in his hand with shrapnel. He was sent to a hospital in Mukachevo. He had three fingers on his left hand amputated. After his release from the hospital he was demobilized due to his wound and returned to Budapest.
My father had an amazingly beautiful and distinct handwriting, very fine. There was little paper available at the front line, and my father tried to put as much text as possible on one page. I’ve always tried to imitate my father, even his handwriting, but I failed to do it. Other soldiers often asked my father to write letters home to let them know that their husband was alive and hoping to come back home soon.
My father was at the front line until 1916. Near the town of Stryy [540 km from Kiev] my father was wounded in his hand with shrapnel. He was sent to a hospital in Mukachevo. He had three fingers on his left hand amputated. After his release from the hospital he was demobilized due to his wound and returned to Budapest.
In Budapest my father became an editor of the social democratic newspaper ‘Nepszava.’ The newspaper propagated for new power without national segregation and suppression, a democratic state, kind relations between people and friendship of people. This was a revolutionary newspaper, one can say.
In 1917 the revolution [2] took place in Russia. The Hungarians who were in Russian captivity during World War I and stayed there during the Soviet regime learned the program of the Soviet regime and the Soviet ways. When they were allowed to leave Russia, they decided to follow the way of the Soviets: land to the peasants and plants to workers.
These slogans were inspiring people. Masses of common people supported the socialist regime and the socialist program. This was how democratic [communist] power came to Hungary [cf. Hungarian Soviet Republic] [3]. There were many Jews in the government. I think that in their majority Jews were disposed to internationalism rather than nationalism and chauvinism and many Jews supported this power.
These slogans were inspiring people. Masses of common people supported the socialist regime and the socialist program. This was how democratic [communist] power came to Hungary [cf. Hungarian Soviet Republic] [3]. There were many Jews in the government. I think that in their majority Jews were disposed to internationalism rather than nationalism and chauvinism and many Jews supported this power.
Moisey came from Uzhgorod. He told my father that his family was in Uzhgorod, and his younger sister Eva Preusz was single. Moisey invited Eva to Budapest where my father met her. They fell in love with each other and got married in 1919. They had a traditional Jewish wedding – the Preusz family was religious and observed Jewish traditions.
Uzhgorod was the center of Subcarpathia [4]. This was a small beautiful town on the banks of the Uzh River. There was a strong Jewish community in the town. There were Jews of different levels [streams] of religiosity – from Orthodox [5] and Hasidim [6] to Neologs [7]. They had synagogues, community buildings and cheders. There was a yeshivah, a higher religious educational institution. Jews lived in the center of Uzhgorod and the non-Jewish population lived in the suburbs.
Jews did well during all regimes. They were craftsmen: plumbers, tinsmiths and blacksmiths. Jews owned many shops. All tailors and barbers in the town were also Jews. They also owned almost all trade businesses. There were Jewish freight wagoners and passenger cabmen. They owned wagons, nice carriages and had fancy harness on their horses. There were rich Jews who owned factories, were doctors, lawyers and bakers.
The Jewish community took care of all poor Jews and there were no Jewish beggars in the town. All Jews, with few exceptions, were religious. They went to synagogues on Sabbath and Jewish holidays, celebrated Sabbath and Jewish holidays at home. The Jewish community provided food to all poor Jewish families on Sabbath, and matzah, chicken, gefilte fish and wine on Pesach. Every week collectors of money made the rounds of Jewish houses to collect money for poor Jews. They willingly contributed for the needs of the poor.
There was no routinely or state-level anti-Semitism during the Austro-Hungarian and Czechoslovak rule [cf. First Czechoslovak Republic] [8], but the situation changed when the Hungarians came to power in 1938.
Jews did well during all regimes. They were craftsmen: plumbers, tinsmiths and blacksmiths. Jews owned many shops. All tailors and barbers in the town were also Jews. They also owned almost all trade businesses. There were Jewish freight wagoners and passenger cabmen. They owned wagons, nice carriages and had fancy harness on their horses. There were rich Jews who owned factories, were doctors, lawyers and bakers.
The Jewish community took care of all poor Jews and there were no Jewish beggars in the town. All Jews, with few exceptions, were religious. They went to synagogues on Sabbath and Jewish holidays, celebrated Sabbath and Jewish holidays at home. The Jewish community provided food to all poor Jewish families on Sabbath, and matzah, chicken, gefilte fish and wine on Pesach. Every week collectors of money made the rounds of Jewish houses to collect money for poor Jews. They willingly contributed for the needs of the poor.
There was no routinely or state-level anti-Semitism during the Austro-Hungarian and Czechoslovak rule [cf. First Czechoslovak Republic] [8], but the situation changed when the Hungarians came to power in 1938.
A few generations of the Preusz family lived in Uzhgorod. My great-grandfather David Preusz, the first of the Preusz kinship about whom we have information, was a rabbi in an Orthodox synagogue in Uzhgorod, and his brother, Herman Preusz, studied in the yeshivah in Uzhgorod near their house in Rakoczi Street where our family settled down later. Herman was a rabbi somewhere in present-day Hungary.
My grandfather, my mother’s father Herman Preusz, was born in Uzhgorod in the 1840s. My grandfather didn’t finish his studies in the yeshivah and became a chazzan in the synagogue in Uzhgorod. He had a strong and beautiful voice, and many people came to listen to him singing.
I remember well my grandfather Herman. He was of average height, slim, with a long beard and payes. My grandfather always wore black clothes, a black hat and a kippah at home. My grandmother Roza was a slim woman of average height. She had a beautiful, biblical type face. My mother looked like my grandmother in her youth. My grandmother wore a wig and long black gowns.
In my mother’s family they spoke Yiddish at home and knew German and Hungarian well. All children received a Jewish education. I don’t know for sure, but I think the boys studied in cheder and the girls had visiting teachers at home. My grandfather also believed that secular education was important. My mother and her sisters finished a Hungarian grammar school for girls in Uzhgorod. The sons also finished grammar schools and some of them continued their education.
Of course, my grandfather and grandmother were religious. They celebrated Sabbath and Jewish holidays and followed the kashrut. Their children grew up in a religious manner and observed Jewish traditions.
For my parents and my mother’s brother Moricz it was best to go to Uzhgorod where my mother’s family lived and that was annexed to Czechoslovakia [cf. Trianon Peace Treaty] [9]. At that time Tomas Garrigue Masaryk [10] was President of Czechoslovakia. He was very loyal to political immigrants. Czechoslovakia needed to have printing houses on the territory of annexed Podkarpatska Rus [Czech and Slovak for Subcarpathian Ruthenia], as Subcarpathia was called at that time [during the Czechoslovak era it was also often referred to as Rusinsko], to issue newspapers in various languages.
The USA provided funds for Moricz Preusz to purchase polygraphist equipment. Moricz Preusz bought a fully equipped printing house in Russkaya Street [this is the contemporary name of the street] in Uzhgorod from the Lam polygraphist company that went bankrupt and was selling out its property.
Moricz offered my father to organize two newspapers: Vostochnaya Gazeta and Novyie Izvestiya in Czech and Ukrainian [Ruthenian] to publish the Czechoslovakian state governed information on the first two pages and articles of the democratic leftist bias on the remaining space. My father was invited to Czechoslovakia as a specialist in the polygraph business, and he became a major polygraphist and book printer.
The USA provided funds for Moricz Preusz to purchase polygraphist equipment. Moricz Preusz bought a fully equipped printing house in Russkaya Street [this is the contemporary name of the street] in Uzhgorod from the Lam polygraphist company that went bankrupt and was selling out its property.
Moricz offered my father to organize two newspapers: Vostochnaya Gazeta and Novyie Izvestiya in Czech and Ukrainian [Ruthenian] to publish the Czechoslovakian state governed information on the first two pages and articles of the democratic leftist bias on the remaining space. My father was invited to Czechoslovakia as a specialist in the polygraph business, and he became a major polygraphist and book printer.
In the first years upon arrival in Uzhgorod our family rented an apartment from the Jewish family of Danzinger. They were very religious people. They had mezuzot over the entrance door to their house and over the door to each room. The Danzingers were in good relations with my parents, and it was with them that I observed the Jewish traditions for the first time in my life. On Sukkot they installed a sukkah in the yard and invited us to join them there. On Friday my mother always visited them for Sabbath and took me and my sister Judit with her.
My mother spoke Yiddish in her parents’ home, but it was hard for my father to talk in Yiddish and Hungarian was spoken more often in our house. When they were in Subcarpathia my parents began to learn Czech. Jews always got adjusted to the country they lived in studying the language, customs and traditions of its people.
My father believed there were two values in life: education and health. After we moved into our house, our parents hired a governess to teach us languages. Her name was Hedvika Belska, a young girl from Olomouc [in Moravia]. My mother couldn’t spend much time with us due to her health condition, and Hedvika became our second mother. She knew Czech and German and spoke these languages to us. She took us out and in winter we all, including our father, went sleighing. I still remember German songs that we sang with Hedvika and I can sing them. I shall never forget Hedvika, she was a part of my childhood and I will always keep love for her in my heart. After World War II I was trying to find Hedvika, but I failed.
My father was a convinced atheist, and we, children, were not raised religiously, but we celebrated Jewish holidays. On Jewish holidays our family and my mother’s brother Moisey always visited Cili, the widow of my mother’s brother Andor, who had perished at the front.
Cili was religious and believed that her sons had to observe Jewish traditions. Moisey, like my father, was an atheist, but he knew all Jewish traditions, knew how to celebrate all holidays, and had a good conduct of Hebrew. Moisey always conducted the seder on Pesach. One of Cili’s sons asked the traditional questions. Cili cooked traditional Jewish food. We didn’t celebrate Jewish holidays at home. My mother always lit candles on Sabbath, but my father was quite indulgent about it and didn’t participate in the Sabbath events.
Cili was religious and believed that her sons had to observe Jewish traditions. Moisey, like my father, was an atheist, but he knew all Jewish traditions, knew how to celebrate all holidays, and had a good conduct of Hebrew. Moisey always conducted the seder on Pesach. One of Cili’s sons asked the traditional questions. Cili cooked traditional Jewish food. We didn’t celebrate Jewish holidays at home. My mother always lit candles on Sabbath, but my father was quite indulgent about it and didn’t participate in the Sabbath events.
Judit and I went to a Czech school for boys and girls. Hedvika Belska taught us good Czech and we didn’t have any problems at school. It’s a difficult language. There were three to four Jewish pupils in each grade. There was no anti-Semitism during the Czech rule and Jews were treated loyally and with respect. My sister or I never heard anything abusive or face any humiliating attitudes. We studied well and our teachers often cited us as an example to other children. My father inculcated into us how important it was to be educated people, and his opinions were indisputable for us.
In 1935 my mother’s father, Herman Preusz, died. I remember well his funeral. He was a well known and respected man in the town and probably all Jews of Uzhgorod came to his funeral. I remember how he was taken on a cart to the Jewish cemetery in Uzhgorod and numbers of Jews were walking behind this cart.
My grandfather was buried in an open casket in accordance with Jewish customs, and his religious books were put in this casket so that he could continue studying them like he did during his lifetime. There were many books, and there was lots of studying to be done.
My mother’s brother Moricz recited the Kaddish over my grandfather’s grave. Grandmother Roza and her daughters sat shivah for Grandfather. I remember women tearing the edges of everybody’s clothing at my grandfather’s funeral. I was very concerned having my best suit on.
My grandfather was buried in an open casket in accordance with Jewish customs, and his religious books were put in this casket so that he could continue studying them like he did during his lifetime. There were many books, and there was lots of studying to be done.
My mother’s brother Moricz recited the Kaddish over my grandfather’s grave. Grandmother Roza and her daughters sat shivah for Grandfather. I remember women tearing the edges of everybody’s clothing at my grandfather’s funeral. I was very concerned having my best suit on.
In 1938 Subcarpathia was annexed to Hungary. [Editor’s note: Hungarian troops occupied Subcarpathia in March 1939. The western part where Ungvar/Uzhorod/Uzhgorod is was attached to Hungary as early as 2nd November 1938, together with Southern Slovakia as a result of the First Vienna Decision.] People of the older generation, those who had lived during the Austro-Hungarian rule, were enthusiastic about it. They never learned Czech, and Hungarian was their native language that they spoke even during the Czech rule. Only few understood that this was a fascist Hungary that was going to exterminate Jews.
Fascism was conceived in Hungary long before Hitler came to power in Germany. [The interviewee probably refers to the anti-Semitic, chauvinistic and reactionary Horthy regime that was in power in Hungary from 1919 until 1944.] Anti-Semitic literature was published. In one book it said that everything Jews were doing caused damage to the countries where they lived, but they were doing it to make the life of Jews better. There were maps of the contemporary world enclosed indicating the density of Jewish population, so that it became known where they should be chased away from in the first turn.
There was also a chapter describing how to distinguish between a Jew and non-Jew. That this and that shape of the nose will enable a gendarme to recognize a Jew despite any camouflage. So I believe that nationalism and anti-Semitism were propagated by such literature.
There was a manual for gendarmes, three volumes, published in Hungary. Jews were blamed for terrible things, and the book explained why they were to be exterminated. Knowing this, one does not get surprised at how indifferent and calm the gendarmes were taking innocent people to ghettos and sending them to concentration camps. They were trained in advance and taught to see an enemy in each Jew.
Fascism was conceived in Hungary long before Hitler came to power in Germany. [The interviewee probably refers to the anti-Semitic, chauvinistic and reactionary Horthy regime that was in power in Hungary from 1919 until 1944.] Anti-Semitic literature was published. In one book it said that everything Jews were doing caused damage to the countries where they lived, but they were doing it to make the life of Jews better. There were maps of the contemporary world enclosed indicating the density of Jewish population, so that it became known where they should be chased away from in the first turn.
There was also a chapter describing how to distinguish between a Jew and non-Jew. That this and that shape of the nose will enable a gendarme to recognize a Jew despite any camouflage. So I believe that nationalism and anti-Semitism were propagated by such literature.
There was a manual for gendarmes, three volumes, published in Hungary. Jews were blamed for terrible things, and the book explained why they were to be exterminated. Knowing this, one does not get surprised at how indifferent and calm the gendarmes were taking innocent people to ghettos and sending them to concentration camps. They were trained in advance and taught to see an enemy in each Jew.
My father knew German well and knew Germany. He took interest in everything happening in this country before and after Hitler came to power [12]. My father, who had lived among Germans for a long time, could not believe that German people were capable of doing the things happening during the Hitler rule. They also discussed the situation of Jews in Subcarpathia. Jews have always had a hard life.
My father believed that for Jews assimilation was an escape from anti-Semitism and persecution. He said it was not mandatory to marry a Jew, that there were decent people of other nationalities and the children in such marriages, grandchildren and the following generations would not bear this heavy burden of anti-Semitism.
My father believed that for Jews assimilation was an escape from anti-Semitism and persecution. He said it was not mandatory to marry a Jew, that there were decent people of other nationalities and the children in such marriages, grandchildren and the following generations would not bear this heavy burden of anti-Semitism.
During the Czech rule Frantisek Ganzlik, a Czech man, began to court my sister. My sister was a beauty and he fell in love with her. Their parents gave them their consent and they got engaged. They ordered invitation cards to the wedding, when the German army invaded Czechoslovakia [16th March 1939]. My father didn’t allow Judit to get married and live in the occupied country, and Frantisek could not leave his family business in Czechoslovakia [cf. Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia] [13], and my sister’s marriage never took place.
The Germans began to introduce their Nazi laws in Czechoslovakia and Jews were having a hard time. It was impossible to get a job and Jewish children were not allowed to go to school. They had to give away their shops, stores and factories to non-Jewish owners. At first they were to train the new owners and then quit their business. Jews were pushed aside the sources of income.
But this was just a beginning. It started much earlier than in Subcarpathia. It was done in stages: first they intended to take away anything Jews owned – their property and estate – everything, and when there was nothing left to take – they sent them to concentration camps.
The Germans began to introduce their Nazi laws in Czechoslovakia and Jews were having a hard time. It was impossible to get a job and Jewish children were not allowed to go to school. They had to give away their shops, stores and factories to non-Jewish owners. At first they were to train the new owners and then quit their business. Jews were pushed aside the sources of income.
But this was just a beginning. It started much earlier than in Subcarpathia. It was done in stages: first they intended to take away anything Jews owned – their property and estate – everything, and when there was nothing left to take – they sent them to concentration camps.
During perestroika I finally got an opportunity to meet with my brother. In 1989 my wife and I went to see him. Of course, I would not have been able to afford this trip. Now, after 58 years of work records my pension is 210 hrivna [about $ 40], and 40 hrivna of it [about $ 8] I get for 16 years of my deputy work. My brother paid for this trip.
We stayed there a few months and it was like a fairy tale. I met his wife and children and we became friends. We traveled across the country and we talked a lot. We had lived a long life apart from one another. We recalled our life before the war, our parents and talked about life after the war. We were sorry, when it was time for us to leave.
My brother kept telling me that I should move to Australia, but we were not quite comfortable with the climate in Australia. Besides, I’ve lived my life in Ukraine and there are my children and grandchildren, my friends and my memories – everything connecting me with my parents – here. However, we’ve been in touch with my brother. He’s visited here twice: once he came with his older daughter Carole. I hope he will visit us again. I would like to travel to Israel to see my grandson and the country, but I don’t think I will ever be able to afford it.
We stayed there a few months and it was like a fairy tale. I met his wife and children and we became friends. We traveled across the country and we talked a lot. We had lived a long life apart from one another. We recalled our life before the war, our parents and talked about life after the war. We were sorry, when it was time for us to leave.
My brother kept telling me that I should move to Australia, but we were not quite comfortable with the climate in Australia. Besides, I’ve lived my life in Ukraine and there are my children and grandchildren, my friends and my memories – everything connecting me with my parents – here. However, we’ve been in touch with my brother. He’s visited here twice: once he came with his older daughter Carole. I hope he will visit us again. I would like to travel to Israel to see my grandson and the country, but I don’t think I will ever be able to afford it.