As soon as Hitler came to power in Germany, parents took all Jewish children from lyceum. Brothers Shlapoberskiys and other our friends left that lyceum, and brother was transferred to Shvabes lyceum. I went to Shvabes lyceum in 1934. Our wonderful teachers and headmaster Rutskus made a real team of like-minded people. The ideas of repatriation to Israel were delicately nurtured in the lyceum. Other than that it was an ordinary school, where subjects were taught in Ivrit. We had religion classes taught by Lipskiy. He was not a very educated person. He was only knowledgeable in his subjects, so we boys often were frolicking. For instance, I came to school without a kippah and said that I had left it at home (I followed my father’s example). In general, neither I nor my comrades were awed by religion. I was not a bad student. I liked to spend my spare time running around with my friends in the hallway and play children’s games.
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Displaying 28621 - 28650 of 50826 results
Iosif Yudelevichus
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I was a rather developed child. I often was present at my brother’s studies and I had learnt letters before going to school. When parents were to choose where I should study, they chose secular Jewish lyceum Shvabes right away. There were several schools for Jewish children in Kaunas– Ivrit Realschul, commercial lyceum, Lithuanian Jewish lyceum, where children were taught in Lithuanian, religious school Yavne. As for the last one, there was no way I could go there. There used to be German lyceum in town and many Jewish children from privileged families went there. My brother David finished the first grade there.
Father came to Isaac without kippah. He did it deliberately, empathizing his negative attitude to Jewish traditions. When grandmother Sarah moved to Kaunas, father could not refuse marking holidays and family festivities were moved to her place. Father contributed a lot of money to Jewish mutual aid fund. Both religious Jews and atheists donated money for revival of the Jewish state. Later on, when brother went to Ivrit lyceum, he took an interest in religion. It was easy for David to be carried away. He started talking on Judaism and asking father a lot of questions, which irritated him. Father took a lot of efforts to convince brother in malignancy of the religion. Father tried to persuade us that religion was created by domineering classes in order to subordinate common people. In general, he had his own views, which were in compliance with the ideas of global revolution [16].
But it was rare. I think that father was strongly against my going there. Though, when I was a child we celebrated Chanukkah. Mother lit beautiful silver chanukkiah, which was placed on special round table. The cook made potato fritters, doughnuts with jam. There was an air of holiday at home. I do not remember if we were given money the way it was with other children. We marked Purim for couple of times. As a rule there was a pageant for us and neighboring children. But it was arranged only in early childhood, in elementary school I should say. Parents did not observe mandatory fast for Jews on Yom-Kippur. They did not mark Rosh-Hashanah. On Pesach we were always invited to uncle Isaac. There was matzah on the table as well as different dishes from matzah, gefilte fish, delicious stew, all kinds of tsimes and deserts. Uncle Isaac reclined at the head of the table carrying out seder. Some of the children asked him questions on the origin of the holiday. We also looked for afikoman and waited for prophet Iliah in accordance with the holiday traditions.
If we came on Friday, we met Sabbath. Beautiful grandmother in white laced kerchief lit the candle, grandpa said a prayer and our Sabbath dinner started. There were all kinds of different dishes on grandmother’s table, but I cannot remember what was there since I was pampered with chicken cutlets at home. We did not mark Sabbath at home. There were no candles on Friday. Though, there was a silver candlestick in the drawing-room and judging by that I could say that mother used to light candles. I do not remember if father worked on Saturdays. As a rule, he sat in his office, read and wrote something, if needed as he was an active atheist. He must have continued his inner argument with his father Lazar. I did not know anything about kashrut in my childhood. There were all products at home, including sausages, ham, pork. I just heard from my cousins that chicken was to be cut by shochet in the synagogue, meat was to be eaten separately from milk, but Jewish traditions were alien to me. Sometimes, when uncle Isaac was going to the synagogue, he would take me with him.
My parents were not religious. Moreover, they did not observe Jewish traditions. That is there is nothing for me to say on family traditions, or Jewish holidays marked in the family. Only in early childhood, when brother and I went to Jonava with parents, grandpa took us to the synagogue. I enjoyed those times, when we went to the synagogue. I liked carrying his prayer book for him. I took it as a game. We went to Jonava couple of times. At that time the distance of 35 kilometers was considerable. First we had to hire a cabman, then there was a bus traveling between Jonava and Kaunas. The trip was always like a holiday to us as we spent the night in grandparents’ place and played with grandpa.
When mother came back from vacation in 1934, she decided that brother and I should be taught music. There was no musical instrument. We went to a lady, who taught us music. We were as if glued to a piano for an hour. Both brother and I were against it. We did not like our music classes. Father, having decided that it was useless, talked mother into giving up our music education.
I was growing a good and a robust boy, but mother being frightened by brother’s feebleness (he was afflicted with rickets in early childhood and was constantly getting ill), looked into the way we were dressed and fed. In summer our family went on vacation for two months. The first month was spent in Kemery and then we went to Buldury- the spa with salves, baths and all kinds of treatments. At that time it was customary to spend summer on the coast. Many of our relatives came there with children, so we were not bored. Later on we spent summer vacation in Palanga. Parents often had rest and recreation abroad. They went to Karlovy Vary, to the spas in France, Switzerland. Usually they went on vacation separately. There were few times when they went together.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
They had stayed by 1934 or so. When Hitler’s power was strengthened in Germany and Kristallnacht [14] came to place, they were fired. In 1937 they left for Germany. By the way, a kind Zina, subsequently joined fascist party and became Gestapo agent. Later on, when brother was a lyceum student, I was taken care of Froebel lady [15] Doba, a young Jewish girl. One of her duties was to take strolls with me. Mother requested that we should stay outside as long as possible in the park or in the street. Mother said– «the child should breathe some air». Young Doba was mostly interested in cinema. German, American and even Soviet comedies were demonstrated in Kaunas. She and I watched a lot of movies. We agreed that mother would not know about that. Doba and I went to a café to eat ice-cream. There was Italian ice-cream café in the park. There was delicious ice-cream there, but mother would not approve of it so she thought there was a risk to have a sore throat. So, we did not tell her about that either.
Of course, there was a kitchen, but I cannot recall my being there. There were servants and a cook in the house so there was no need to go in the kitchen, as the food was served in the dining-room. The servants changed with time and the only maid I remember was a cook- Lithuanian lady Elya. She treated us very good and cooked tasty food. Mother only ran the house, giving orders. Sometimes she went in the kitchen to make some corrections. We, children, had the governesses. Our first governess was a Russian girl Irina. She was very kind and tender. I loved her a lot. Even now I cannot get why she was fired by my mother. Maybe she thought that brother and I were grown-up enough to have a nanny and she wanted a governess for us. After Irina German ladies worked for us. The first one was froelein Zina, then Gerta. They also were very kind.
I remember myself from the age of five. Since early childhood my brother I had been close. We were called – Dodya and Osya, pronouncing our names separately. I remember the apartment, where I spent my childhood. There were five rooms in it- one room was after another. The first two rooms were occupied by father: one room was a reception, where his clients and visitors were waiting for him, and another room was father’s office. Father’s secretary Kozlovskiy was at the reception desk. Father’s customers sat on the leathern couches waiting for my father to receive them. At that time my father was one of the most famous lawyers on civil cases in Kaunas. There was a large desk in father’s office with a lamp and ink well ,a small adjoining table for negotiations and book shelves containing the works on jurisprudence, books by ancient Greek and Roman philosophers and regulation documents. There were few fiction books. Most of them were written by Russian classics - Tolstoy, Turgenev etc. I do not remember whether there were books by Jewish writers at home. There was a large dining-room behind father’s office. There was a large round dining table, the one we are sitting now, arm- chairs, chairs, beautiful carved cupboard, bedroom furniture and children’s furniture used by brother and I .
My parents did not stay in Jonava for a long time. They moved to Kaunas shortly after wedding. They rented an apartment in the heart of the city. They barely stayed there for a year. In 1925 my elder brother David was born. The family needed a more spacious apartment, so they had to move. Another apartment was in the house leased by Boris Shlapoberskiy. Father was a private lawyer and made pretty good money. The amount of rent was 800 litas. At that time it was a lot of money. Parents could afford a trip to the spa. It was in style and decent to take a vacation for couple of days or weeks to go seaside in any season. My brother was a feeble and in 1928 my mother expecting a child in couple of weeks, took brother to the seaside. They went to a village not far from Klaipeda [300 km from Vilnius]. Soon father came there as well. I, Iosif Yudelevich, was born in that village on the 25th of December 1928. Before long the family came back in Kaunas.
My father was born in Jonava in 1894. He has been an atheist since early childhood, and that strongly displeased grandpa, who was deeply religious. I do not know if father went to cheder. He went to Russian lyceum in the town of Suwalki [Poland, 10 km away from the border of Lithuania and Poland and 170 km from Vilnius]. Upon graduation he decided to enter university. He dreamt to become a lawyer. Grandpa Lazar was very displeased with father’s decision. He hoped that his son would follow in his footsteps, but my young father was adamant. That is why grandfather practically cut him off a shilling. Father went to Russia to enter the institute. I do not know how he happened to be in Siberia. He entered Tomsk university [about 3000 km from Moscow]. Father studied there for couple of years and got transferred to Yekaterinburg [Russia, 1500 km from Moscow], where he graduated juridical department. Father came back to the motherland in 1918 right after Lithuania became independent [Lithuanian independence] [13] In couple of years, namely in 1923 father proposed to mother. Parents had never told anything about their wedding. I think it was carried out in accordance with Jewish traditions. At any rate before war at home there was parents’ wedding certificate issued by the rabbi.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
Father’s younger sister Pera, born in 1900, married Emmanuel Katsnelson- a mirthful and witty man. He well-read and possessed encyclopedic knowledge. Pera and her husband lived in France for a while. Emmanuel was involved in revolutionary movement in Russian and was an adherer of communist party, so he talked Pera into leaving for Russia. In 1926 Pera and Emmanuel happened to be in Moscow. They were lucky not to have come in the period of repressions. Emmanuel and Pera had a serene life in Moscow. Emmanuel was acquainted with outstanding activists of Soviet regime and communist party. He knew most of them from the underground. Either somebody gave him a hint, or Emmanuel himself understood what was going on, he decided ‘not to stand out’. Thus, he was assigned to inconsiderable positions and escaped almost inevitable arrest in his position – native of bourgeois Lithuania and resident of France. Emmanuel died at the age of 70. Pera died shortly after him, in 1997. Pera’s son Yuri, born in 1930s, is currently living in the USA. Younger daughter Nina, born before war, is currently living in Israel. She was not happy in her marriage. She got divorced. She does not have children. Now Nina is living in kibbutz.
Lazar and Gitel Yudelevich had three children. The eldest was my father Abram Yudelevich. Isaac was the middle son. He was born in 1896. He was a subcontractor before war. He took the orders for construction of the houses. He was in charge of a construction crew, practically having the functions of the foreman. Isaac lived in Kaunas with his wife Raya Melamed and daughter Giten, born in 1929. When Soviet army came to power, he had to be in hiding as he might be deported for being rather rich. He stayed with us for some time, but mother was against it thinking that our house could not serve as a shelter putting our family in danger. I do not know how, but Isaac was able to escape repressions and arrest. During Great Patriotic War all of them, including Raya’s elderly mother were in Kaunas ghetto. Being rather active Isaac understood at once that they should get out from ghetto at any cost. He managed to ingratiate with Lithuanians, who were helping out Jews. All of them left ghetto in different time and by different means. Uncle Isaac was in hiding for a long time. He was sheltered by Lithuanians, passing from one reliable person to another. In 1943 he lived on a picturesque island on a farmstead of two Lithuanian brothers. Somebody gave away Isaac and he was found by politsei. Both Isaac, and brothers, who sheltered him, were beaten black and blue and imprisoned. He was sent to Estonian concentration camp from the prison, and then to Dachau [12]. There he lived to see the liberation. All those years Isaac had known nothing about the fate of his family and he was sure that all of them perished. Uncle was afraid to come back to his motherland understanding that Stalin’s camps would be imminent for him instead of the fascists’ ones. He left for Palestine upon liberation. Being there he found out that Raya and Gitel were rescued. They lived in Vilnius. The family reunion took place only in 1972 as before that time Raya and Gitel were not issued a permit to depart for Israel. Being tortured by yearning for her husband in long separation, Raya had lived with him for ten years. Uncle Isaac passed away at an old age - 89 or 88.
, Lithuania
I have never seen any of my paternal ancestors. I know that my grandpa Lazar Yudelevich, was born in the 1860s in Jonava. He was a rabbi. His wife, my grandmother Gitel Chazan was ten years younger than grandpa. She died rather early, in the 1920s or earlier. When she died, grandpa left for Palestine. He got married there for a second time. I do not know his second wife’s name. There was grandfather’s portrait in the house. I vaguely remember him. He looked stately having a beard, wearing a kippah on a small beautiful grey-haired head. He was as if still in grief, whispering something to himself. This is all I know about my grandparents.
My mother Tauber Pagirskaya was born in 1898. Mother as well as her siblings got a good education at Russian Commercial Lyceum. Upon graduation mother lived with her parents before getting married. She did not work. I do not know exactly where my parents met. I think they knew each other when they were young. I have the picture of my young parents and mother’s siblings, taken at the beginning of the 20th century by the boat, traveling to Jonava across river Neris. My parents got married in 1923.
My mother’s youngest brother David Pagirskiy was born in 1907. David married a Jew Maya Kanber. They lived in Kaunas not far from us. In 1937 daughter Ilan was born and in 1940 – Dalia. When Great Patriotic War was unleashed, David decided to stay in occupation. Like most of the Jews who remembered Germans from the World War One treating Jewish population rather loyally, David’s family remained in occupation. David perished during the first action in Kaunas ghetto. His wife Maya perished in concentration camp Stuttgof, when the war was about to end. The girls were rescued. They were taken out from ghetto by turns and sheltered in Lithuanian families. We had been looking for them after war for a long time. It did not take that long to find Ilan. The family of Epsteins adopted and raised one the girls. It was harder to find Dalia as she stayed in orphanage, then in some Lithuanian family, she even did not know where she came from. When the girl was found, mother took her in our family. She was treated like a younger daughter. Being an adolescent, she left for Israel. Dalia died there in 1980s. Ilan married Leo Rozental, they is currently living in Vilnius.
, Lithuania
Middle brother Haim Itshak (he was called Mitya in the family) was born in 1902. He graduated from Vilnius university. Haim served in Lithuanian army, in medical battalion. He married a Jewish lady Haya Feinstein rather late, when he was over 30. In late 1930s Haim and his wife left for Palestine. He settled in there pretty well. He worked under his specialty. Later on he bought orange-tree grove. Haim and Haya had two sons- Izya, 1935 and Aba, 1937. Before the outbreak of Great Patriotic War Haim came to Lithuania for a visit. I remembered his peculiar looks and Southern tan. Haim took part in Great Patriotic War. He served in the troops of the allies as a military doctor. He perished in Egypt in 1942. His wife had lived a long life. Their children live in Israel, but we do not keep in touch.
Mother had three brothers. I did not know the eldest, Benjamin, born in 1892. He left for Palestine with his wife Ella Sagalovskaya in early 1930s. Benjamin died in 1953. His wife survived him by 10 years. Their children – son Efraim and daughter Rahel - live in Israel, but we do not keep in touch.
Israel
Jacob, being a truly decent man, quitted his job and focused on theatre. Soon he and his family moved to Kaunas, where he also had a part in amateur troupe. Thus, Jacob was able to save his face. When Great Patriotic War was unleashed, Jacob sent Bluma and younger girl in evacuation, and left shortly after them. Aunt was against it, but still she was finally convinced to leave. The matter was that elder daughter Anna was in summer camp in Palanga. As it turned out later, children left the camp and had been walking along the coast towards Latvia. Many of them died on their way during bombing. Those who survived, were captured by fascists and returned in occupation. Bluma and Dalia lived in Middle Asia. In 1942 Jacob was drafted in the army. When military band was established in Lithuanian division[11] he was enrolled there. Thus, he was not involved in military actions, he gave performances with the band. When Vilnius was liberated, he invited Bluma and his daughter there. Bluma had been grieving over her elder daughter all life long. They tried tracing her via Red Cross, also asked those people they knew about her, but it was useless. No information was found about Anna. We assume she perished in June 1941. Bluma died in 1985 in half a year after Jacob had died. Her daughter Dalia is currently living in Vilnius. She is working in Jewish museum.
My mother was the last-but-one daughter, and the youngest was Bluma. She was born in 1904. Bluma’s husband Jacob Epstein was an expert electrician engineer. He had lived and worked in France for couple of years with his family. He was involved in lineup of high-voltage power lines. When grandfather died, grandmother insisted that Bluma came to Jonava. By that time Bluma had daughter Anna, born in 1930. She and her family came back to Jonava. In 1937 their younger daughter Dalia was born. Jacob was a very gifted man. He was fond of theatre. He had the main parts in town Jewish amateur theatre. Jacob sympathized with communists. He had connections in communistic underground. Thus, when the Soviets came in the Baltic countries in 1940 [Occupation of the Baltic Republics] [8], he was assigned Jonava’s mayor at once. Jacob had not worked for a long time. [Great Terror] [9] commenced in Lithuania as well as all over USSR. He was also getting involved in the process. He was supposed to make the lists of people who were not wanted by new regime, walk from one house to another, taking away people’s things and exile people to Siberia [Deportations from the Baltics] [10].
, Lithuania
Mother’s sister Malka was born after Frida in 1891. She married a man from Vilnius- Lipman Maysel and they lived in Vilnius with their children- son Efraim and daughter Miriam (we called her Mika). Mother had not seen her sister for a long time, when Vilnius belonged to Poland [7]. We went to see Malka as soon as Vilnius again became the capital of Lithuania in 1939. The most vivid memories I had from that time was our trip on the small diesel train, consisting of one or two cars. I made friends with Miriam, who was my age. We saw each other rather often before war. Unfortunately aunt Malka, her husband and Miriam did not manage to get evacuated. Malka and Lipman perished during one of the first actions. Miriam lived in Vilnius ghetto and perished in 1943 before liquidation of ghetto. The only survivor from their family- Efraim - left for Palestine in 1936 at the age of 20. He lived in Tel-Aviv and died there in 1973.
, Lithuania
The next daughter was Frida, born in 1890. Her husband Boris Shlapoberskiy was rather feeble. He had heart trouble, which could not be cured. Boris died in 1935. He was a pretty wealthy man. He owned a house in Kaunas and Tel-Aviv. Frida lived in Kaunas several years before Great Patriotic War. When on the first of September 1939 fascists unleashed war beginning with the occupation of Poland [6], she left Lithuania for Palestine that very day. When the war was over, she got married again. Her second husband’s name was Eremei Shochat. He was a good friend of the family. His wife perished in occupation. Frida, remaining active and energetic even when being over the hill, was the so-called ‘connecting link’ in our family. She wrote letter to us and other relatives, dispersed all over the world. Until death she remained kind and good-humored. Frida had lived a long life and died in Tel-Aviv in 1970. Two sons lived in France– Aria, born in 1913 and Eliahu born in 1915. Both of them got an excellent education in Europe. The eldest became a doctor and the younger opened up printing business in New-York. During Great Patriotic War both of them happened to be in the army of the allies- the youngest on the part of the USA and the eldest was enrolled as a volunteer in British army in Palestine, which was a mandated territory of Great Britain. The world is close- the brothers met in Italy during deployment of Soviet troops. Both of them survived war, but none of them had a long life. Brothers, like father, suffered from heart trouble. Aria died in 1959 and Eliahu in 1963.
One of my distant relatives, who lives in Israel, had a goal to make our family tree. It took him many years and efforts. The maternal lineage made by him and sent to me does not say much. I knew just my grandparents, so many of the names mentioned in the lineage are not known to me. My paternal and maternal ancestors are from Latvian Jonava [about 80 km from Vilnius]. In late 19th century Jonava was a picturesque town being on the junction of two rivers-Nevis and Villia. It was a small town, inhabited mostly by Jews. My maternal grandfather Aba (he was called Avel in the family, so I used to hear that name oftener) Pagirskiy was born in 1866. Judging by the family tree, grandfather had a lot of siblings. But all of them most likely had died long before I was born. At any rate there is nothing I know about them.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
Sarah and Avel Pagirskiys had ten children. All of them got an excellent for those times education in lyceum. They were literate and cultured people. When children grew up, they were not religious, like their parents merely sticking to the traditions and marking Jewish holidays. I did not know two daughters –Hava and another one, whose name was unknown to me. They died infants. There were five daughters out of the eight who reached adulthood. The eldest was Masha, born in 1887. Masha married a Jew Reuben Leib Granevich. I do not know what he did for a living, but he was rather well-off. Reuben Leib died several years before the outbreak of Great Patriotic War [4]. Masha, being single by that time, remained in the occupation. She had lived in Kaunas ghetto for three years and only in 1944 she was sent to Nazi concentration camp Stutthof [5] along with the group of Jewish women. My aunt died there not having lived for only couple of weeks to see the liberation. Masha had three daughters. The eldest Ester, born in 1908 left for Vienna to study. There she married Italian Jew Gulyemo and had lived with him happily ever after in Paris. They had several children. Ester died several years ago in Paris. She was almost one hundred years old. Masha’s younger daughters- Nadya (Jewish name Nehama) and Anna (Hanna) being unmarried left for Palestine in the 1930s. Both of them got married there – Nadya’s husband name was Blat, аnd Anna’s – Zimrani. Nadya died in 1978. Her son Ilan, a doctor and a musician, is living in Israel. Anna is still alive. After her husband’s death she did not want to be a burden for her children. She is not living in kibbutz on her own.
After grandpa’s death grandmother Sarah did not live in Jonava for a long time. She moved to Kaunas with her daughter’s family. Here she bought a house for lease and lived on the rent fee paid by the tenants. She helped children and pampered her grandchildren. In 1941 grandmother did not manage to get evacuated and was imprisoned in Kaunas ghetto [3]. During assortment within a big action in September 1941 she happened to be among the Jews, whose lives were spared. She probably was not willing to go through ordeal having anticipated inevitable death or for the reason of being very proud, she just waved her hand and went to the group of the people to be executed. She was taken to the forest along with other people and shot there. The house of Sarah and Avel and their store burnt down during the bombing in Jonava. It was a huge fire, after which only a cathedral and dilapidated synagogue were spared by miracle.
Avel’s wife, my grandmother Sarah Pagirskaya, nee Krasko was born in 1865. Sarah had sisters. I just know their names from family tree. I had not known them. Sarah was a rather educated woman. She could read and write in Yiddish and Russian. She spoke Polish. Her Lithuanian was not good though. Sarah ran the house as grandparents had servants. Grandmother was a tall, buxom, stately woman- a true beauty. She and grandfather had their own honored seats in the synagogue. Avel and Sarah were rather religious, trying to keep Jewish traditions. Neither grandmother nor grandpa covered their heads all the time. When they went to the synagogue, grandpa put a kippah on and grandmother wore a hat or a nicely tied kerchief. Grandpa had a modern beard- short and neat. Avel and Sarah often went abroad on vacation. As a rule they went to Karlovy Vary (at that time that resort was called Karlsbad) [1]. Grandpa had problems with stomach. He was recommended by doctors to drink healing water every year. In 1935 Avel was operated on in Konigsberg [2] –he had a carcinoma behind his ear, which looked like a big plum. It was a malignant tumor, so grandpa lived only for a year after operation. In 1936 he passed away.
Grandpa Avel owned a rather large house on one of the central Jonava streets. It was a solid log house, which could stand for centuries. Avel was a well-to-do merchant. He owned a large hardware store as hardware goods were in demand. Nails, horseshoes, fastenings, buckets and other inventory were mostly purchased by peasants. The store was in a five-minute walk from the river. There was a warehouse in the yard of the store as well as big scales, on which peasants used to weigh cattle. It was also income-bearing for grandfather. Elderly Jew Avrumke worked with the scales. He also was slightly mistaken saying that the weight was less than the scales showed. Then perturbed peasants went to complain of him to grandpa and he tried to find out, who was right. Avrumke used to say that the cow had much to eat, so there was a lot of food in its stomach. The food would be released soon, therefore he considered that factor in the weighting. No matter how grandpa scolded Avrumke, he always did what he wanted. Apart from Avrumke other people worked for my father-some in the store and several in the warehouse.
Jiri Franek
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Then I got a special permit to leave and be at home, because of my mother being very ill, and since no one was allowed to care for her, at least no Aryan, they allowed me to go home and take care of her. Because we had farm animals, I fed the geese and chickens, which surprisingly they hadn’t confiscated. They didn’t think of that, that jews could have geese, so as I said, we had never had it so good as far as food goes, up to our departure to the concentration camp.