We kept in touch, we got engaged in March 1956, and we got married on 19thMay. By the way, our wedding took place on 19thMay and my brother died on that date, three years ago. We had a civil marriage. There weren’t any misunderstandings between our parents, none of them tried to force his religion on the other, and we closed this matter.We went to the city hall in Kolozsvar, formerly the city hall was where the prefecture is now, we had to have two witnesses then, and I remember that a man called Roman was the registrar.And after that, one of my mother-in-law’s neighbors handed her apartment to us, to organize the dinner there, our family, one of my friends and one of my wife’s friends were there.We were approximately 35 people; we didn’t have this custom with the envelopes and everything that goes.[Editor’s note: Joszef Farkas referred here to the regional custom, according to which the guests give presents and envelopes with money to the young couple.
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Displaying 45091 - 45120 of 50826 results
Jozsef Farkas
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My wife’s maiden name was Lili Balogh, she is Lili Farkas now, and was born in 1935. They were genuine Kolozsvar inhabitants [originally from there], they lived on Emil Zola Street No. 9. I was in a delegation in Kolozsvar, I visited my sister there, and when I started to come back to Bucharest, she said, ‘Wait, I’d like you to meet a nice girl.’ Lili worked as an accountant at the former Metropol, there was the ICRTI – Intreprinderea Comertului cu Ridicata Pentru Textile si Incaltaminte [Textile and Shoes Wholesale Company]. My sister was the accountant of some similar wholesale company; they met each other this way. We went on Horea Street, because my sister worked on Dacia Street, before the Urania, and this girl, my future wife, went to buy bread right then. My sister stopped her, and we were introduced.
In 1989, when the revolution [16] took place, nobody hurt or mocked me because I was the manager of the factory, but there were others [leaders] who had problems. I had no problems at all, they automatically extended my retirement age to 62 when I was 60.
I remember these things, what happened to me, and what I went through. There were some measures then, which demanded that we had to remain in the factory and work overtime. I complied without further ado and stayed there even for three days and two nights, and I was alright. This wasn’t a problem when I was 19, 20, 21, because I was young and full of energy. On the other hand, at the end of 1989, a theory I heard shocked me. But later I realized it was a rule. Among others, we exported things. I had to report this on behalf of the factory, and I had to submit these reports. Every time I took these reports to Bucharest, they always shouted at me, ‘Change it, and add something to it!’ And I said calmly, ‘Do it yourself, if you want it! I won’t say anything if you…’ ‘No’ He said, ‘You have to write it.’ ‘I won’t write anything.’ And they changed the reports as they wanted. Once a counselor visited me and I said, ‘Hey, how is it possible that you order us to lie?’ ‘Calm down,’ he said, ‘We have been to the big boss, Ceausescu [14], and he gave this order: write as much as you want, because what you write will be done, if not on that day, than after a month.’ So I started thinking, ‘Hey, listen, how did we come to this that we have to do in 13 months what we have reported in 13 months?’ ‘If Ceausescu wants it this way, what can we do?’ We had to report a larger quantity than we produced, and had to comply because there was one instruction, and this came from above.
When I was the manager of the Bobilna factory in Des, Ceausescu came there on his name-day [Editor’s note: on Nicolae’s, St. Nicholas day, in December], and they made us prepare for it with all kinds of stuff. We tried to do our best, and they checked our results first in Des, and then they sent them to Kolozsvar, where a local committee analyzed them. And there were a few occasions when our report passed through a second verification, the analysis from Kolozsvar, and then it was sent to Ceausescu. But welcoming Ceausescu and all the things were so forced. They took the whole factory two or three times to Kolozsvar, and we went by a special train at 3.30am, and at 6am we had to march to the Clujana [a shoe factory], and from there we marched to the Romanian Opera, and only came back in the afternoon.We were puppets.At Ceausescu’s last visit in Des at the Irta, I was appointed, as manager, to lay out the carpet he stepped on when he got down from the helicopter.I had to direct the operation of laying down the carpet, I had to take there twelve carpenters to nail down the carpet to prevent it from being lifted off by the turbulence made by the propeller of the helicopter.And the members of the securitate stood near us, each of them had a microphone on his arm, which looked like a watch, but they recorded everything with that.
I met Ceausescu personally in Des in 1970, during the flood, when the Szamos River flowed over its banks.He stopped at the company and spoke to me.He was very, very scared then, his face was white, he was very frightened.Because the flood was huge, there’s an inscription at the railway station, stating that the Szamos was 963cm there.He spoke briefly and very normally. He asked me about the consequences, if we had any victims or damages.I told him we had no victims at the company and he told us if there were any victims, we first had to save them and only after the properties.He said this, and I felt he was concerned about his orkerss.The flood claimed seven lives in Des then.As he went on, one of his men began to shout,‘Luati masuri imediat, incepeti productia!’[Take measures immediately and start the production!]This was despite the fact that 70 percent of the factory was under water.I said, ‘Da, am inteles.’[Yes, Sir.]I wouldn’t argue with such a person.
I had no problems with anyone during my career, due to my origins, or anything else.
When I was the manager of the Bobilna factory in Des, Ceausescu came there on his name-day [Editor’s note: on Nicolae’s, St. Nicholas day, in December], and they made us prepare for it with all kinds of stuff. We tried to do our best, and they checked our results first in Des, and then they sent them to Kolozsvar, where a local committee analyzed them. And there were a few occasions when our report passed through a second verification, the analysis from Kolozsvar, and then it was sent to Ceausescu. But welcoming Ceausescu and all the things were so forced. They took the whole factory two or three times to Kolozsvar, and we went by a special train at 3.30am, and at 6am we had to march to the Clujana [a shoe factory], and from there we marched to the Romanian Opera, and only came back in the afternoon.We were puppets.At Ceausescu’s last visit in Des at the Irta, I was appointed, as manager, to lay out the carpet he stepped on when he got down from the helicopter.I had to direct the operation of laying down the carpet, I had to take there twelve carpenters to nail down the carpet to prevent it from being lifted off by the turbulence made by the propeller of the helicopter.And the members of the securitate stood near us, each of them had a microphone on his arm, which looked like a watch, but they recorded everything with that.
I met Ceausescu personally in Des in 1970, during the flood, when the Szamos River flowed over its banks.He stopped at the company and spoke to me.He was very, very scared then, his face was white, he was very frightened.Because the flood was huge, there’s an inscription at the railway station, stating that the Szamos was 963cm there.He spoke briefly and very normally. He asked me about the consequences, if we had any victims or damages.I told him we had no victims at the company and he told us if there were any victims, we first had to save them and only after the properties.He said this, and I felt he was concerned about his orkerss.The flood claimed seven lives in Des then.As he went on, one of his men began to shout,‘Luati masuri imediat, incepeti productia!’[Take measures immediately and start the production!]This was despite the fact that 70 percent of the factory was under water.I said, ‘Da, am inteles.’[Yes, Sir.]I wouldn’t argue with such a person.
I had no problems with anyone during my career, due to my origins, or anything else.
I was a manager for 13 years while ‘exclus din partid’ [excluded from the Party]. I had no problems at all, because I did my work, and also traveled abroad. In 1971 I was in Belgium at an exhibition called ‘Salon International de Arta Menajera’ [International Household Arts Fair]. I was in Brussels, in Anvers [Antwerp] and in a city called Izegem, where we had some customers. From there we went across to the Netherlands. We stayed in The Hague, but also visited Amsterdam, Utrecht and Nijmegen. We had commercial relations there, we manufactured and sold small furniture. I was with one of the heads of departments of the Foreign Trade Company from Bucharest [Ilexim, Industria Locala Export-Import], called Strungaru, and one of my colleagues, who were originally from Szekelykeresztur.I was in East-Germany, as well, in 1972, with the General Manager of Napochim in Kolozsvar, Corneliu Crihalneanu, his son is the current Greek-Catholic bishop of Kolozsvar, and with a man called Strungaru, who worked at the Foreign Trade Company in Bucharest. There was a time, during the dictatorship, when we were at the International Exhibition in Leipzig in 1972, and we had to report at the exhibition every morning at 9am, which ended at 6pm, and at 7pm we had to report at the embassy for a meeting. This was a way to check whether we were still there. This took place every evening. And when the meeting ended, we went for dinner, but we didn’t get anything, because the other people had eaten already, while we were at the meeting. This is how things were then.
So I’ve lived in Des since 1957. First they appointed me manager of the cement factory in Des, and I worked there until 1958, when they threw me out from the Party [14]. I had no problems because of my Jewish origin, because I didn’t give them the opportunity to catch me on a mistake. The problem was that I mentioned in my resume that I was a member of the Gordonia. I had some trouble because of that, it all started in Bucharest, and when I got to Des, my General Manager got a document stating that I had been thrown out of the Party.
They made a big fuss, and discussed this case in a party meeting, and excluded me from the Party. The General Manager fired me immediately, because I wasn’t a member of the Party anymore, but I remained the head of the production department, with the same salary. When Vajda, the Party secretary-general in Kolozsvar then, later he became Secretary for Agriculture, found out after a few weeks that I had been fired and excluded from the Party, he raised a big issue and ordered them to put me back in my position immediately. So they found me this local industrial company, called Bobilna, and I became its manager.
I didn’t complain at all because of my exclusion from the Party. They admitted me when I was 18, and excluded me in 1958, and they accepted me back in 1971. They apologized and said it was a mistake and they took me back. What wrong did I do by joining at the age of 15?
They made a big fuss, and discussed this case in a party meeting, and excluded me from the Party. The General Manager fired me immediately, because I wasn’t a member of the Party anymore, but I remained the head of the production department, with the same salary. When Vajda, the Party secretary-general in Kolozsvar then, later he became Secretary for Agriculture, found out after a few weeks that I had been fired and excluded from the Party, he raised a big issue and ordered them to put me back in my position immediately. So they found me this local industrial company, called Bobilna, and I became its manager.
I didn’t complain at all because of my exclusion from the Party. They admitted me when I was 18, and excluded me in 1958, and they accepted me back in 1971. They apologized and said it was a mistake and they took me back. What wrong did I do by joining at the age of 15?
But in the meantime I got married, and we needed another apartment. My superiors, the Secretary and Deputy Minister promised me everything. In that building a one-room apartment became vacant, it was a bit larger than the former one, and we had our separate apartment. They allocated it for me and my wife, and when they gave the allocation, in accordance with the situation then, they allocated it for a cocotte.
Tibor Engel
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My name is Tibor Engel, and I was born on 19th August 1936 in the village of Utekac, part of the municipality of Kokava nad Rimavicou.
I don’t remember my great-grandparents at all, and as I’m a quite late-born child, I’ve also got problems with my grandparents. My maternal grandfather, Markus Polak, was from Hungary, from Balassagyarmat I think. He died in 1936, and was around 80 years old. My grandma, Anna Polakova, was from Namestovo, from Orava [region]. She died at about the age of 80 in 1940, which means that she was born around 1860.
My paternal grandfather, Eduard Engel, was born in Zavadka nad Hronom in 1874, but then settled in Muranska Lehota, and that’s also where he died in 1944. I don’t know where my real grandmother was from. Her name was Berta Grünfeldova. She died in 1914 at the age of 34. Her birth year is likely 1880. Then my grandfather remarried, so that was my second grandmother.
Both my grandfathers were merchants. Muranska Lehota is a very small village, so Grandpa Engel was a universal merchant, a pub owner and a butcher. My grandfather in Kokava had a store with various goods, mixed goods as it was called back then. Their standard of living was relatively bearable, decent for the times. They didn’t have problems making a living. Sometimes it may have been necessary to struggle through life, especially for my grandfather in Muranska Lhota, but he managed to make a living. If we were to judge my grandparents according to the times they lived in, you could classify them as Neolog Jews [2]. Basically, they were raised in an on the whole liberal fashion, no Orthodoxy [3]. That carried over to my parents as well, and for all practical purposes to us, too.
My grandfather from Muranska Lehota [Engel] spoke Polish, Hungarian, German and of course Slovak. My grandfather from Kokava [Polak] spoke Slovak, but very badly, Hungarian even less, despite being from Hungary, and basically communicated in German. The language of communication in the Polak family was very interesting. Grandma Polakova belonged to Matica [a national Slovak cultural establishment with its headquarters in Martin], and also spoke Slovak with her children. Grandma spoke in very beautiful Slovak. Of course, when she and my grandfather spoke, it was in Hungarian.
Grandpa Engel died in 1944, so I more or less remember him. He wore normal, civilian clothing, and a large mustache, which I apparently used to pull on. Absolutely no one in our family ever wore traditional Jewish outfits [4].
I don’t remember my great-grandparents at all, and as I’m a quite late-born child, I’ve also got problems with my grandparents. My maternal grandfather, Markus Polak, was from Hungary, from Balassagyarmat I think. He died in 1936, and was around 80 years old. My grandma, Anna Polakova, was from Namestovo, from Orava [region]. She died at about the age of 80 in 1940, which means that she was born around 1860.
My paternal grandfather, Eduard Engel, was born in Zavadka nad Hronom in 1874, but then settled in Muranska Lehota, and that’s also where he died in 1944. I don’t know where my real grandmother was from. Her name was Berta Grünfeldova. She died in 1914 at the age of 34. Her birth year is likely 1880. Then my grandfather remarried, so that was my second grandmother.
Both my grandfathers were merchants. Muranska Lehota is a very small village, so Grandpa Engel was a universal merchant, a pub owner and a butcher. My grandfather in Kokava had a store with various goods, mixed goods as it was called back then. Their standard of living was relatively bearable, decent for the times. They didn’t have problems making a living. Sometimes it may have been necessary to struggle through life, especially for my grandfather in Muranska Lhota, but he managed to make a living. If we were to judge my grandparents according to the times they lived in, you could classify them as Neolog Jews [2]. Basically, they were raised in an on the whole liberal fashion, no Orthodoxy [3]. That carried over to my parents as well, and for all practical purposes to us, too.
My grandfather from Muranska Lehota [Engel] spoke Polish, Hungarian, German and of course Slovak. My grandfather from Kokava [Polak] spoke Slovak, but very badly, Hungarian even less, despite being from Hungary, and basically communicated in German. The language of communication in the Polak family was very interesting. Grandma Polakova belonged to Matica [a national Slovak cultural establishment with its headquarters in Martin], and also spoke Slovak with her children. Grandma spoke in very beautiful Slovak. Of course, when she and my grandfather spoke, it was in Hungarian.
Grandpa Engel died in 1944, so I more or less remember him. He wore normal, civilian clothing, and a large mustache, which I apparently used to pull on. Absolutely no one in our family ever wore traditional Jewish outfits [4].
Slovakia
My parents went through a lot during the Holocaust. They survived an unbelievable amount of mental anguish. My brother and I ended up in the ghetto in Rimavska Sobota. Our father got us out of there. We had huge luck. Two months later they sent the whole ghetto to Auschwitz.
In 1941, my father got an Aryanizer for the store; he found him himself. [Aryanization: the transfer of Jewish stores, businesses, companies, etc. to the ownership of another, non-Jewish person – the Aryanizer.] His name was Jozef Valach, and he was a businessman in Valkov, by Ceske Brezovo. He was a very decent man. Thanks to him, my father could stay in Utekac and survive the war there. The friendly relations between him and my parents lasted after the war as well.
In 1941, my father got an Aryanizer for the store; he found him himself. [Aryanization: the transfer of Jewish stores, businesses, companies, etc. to the ownership of another, non-Jewish person – the Aryanizer.] His name was Jozef Valach, and he was a businessman in Valkov, by Ceske Brezovo. He was a very decent man. Thanks to him, my father could stay in Utekac and survive the war there. The friendly relations between him and my parents lasted after the war as well.
Slovakia
The first time I drove a car was involuntarily, against my will. I was in tech school, first year, and was doing brigade work at one farm machinery repair company where they also did cars. I sat down in a Tatra car, and as I was sitting there, some guys came and turned the ignition key. The car started, and I started and panicked. I was twisting and turning everything I could, but that didn’t help me any, and I and the car ended up in a tree. I demolished the front nicely. That was in about 1952. I got a driver’s license for small motorcycles at the age of 17. But I didn’t begin driving a car until 1970, when my wife and I bought a Trabant. The first time I rode in a train was likely still when we lived in Utekac, but I remember a train ride in Hungary in 1942, on the route from Rimavska Sobota to Budapest.
My and my brother’s [Pavel Spitzer] childhood, as is described here, was very turbulent. There’s a four year age difference between my older brother and I, and in childhood that was a big difference. In a certain sense we lived side by side, but each his own life. We didn’t begin to have a normal childhood until after the war, but there was a large age difference there, and so we had different interests. My brother’s name is Pavel, and my mother had him from her first marriage. He was born in 1932. We see each other, and the older we are, the more we like each other.
Another thing that’s necessary to mention is that in order to save us, our parents converted to the Protestant faith in 1942. After that I also attended Protestant religion for some time, until I closed the door on any sort of religion. We learned some Hungarian and German from our parents, but it wasn’t any sort of purposeful teaching. The older I am, the better I remember my knowledge of Hungarian from my two-year stay in Hungary. Apparently I’m already under the influence of ‘old-age memory.
My and my brother’s [Pavel Spitzer] childhood, as is described here, was very turbulent. There’s a four year age difference between my older brother and I, and in childhood that was a big difference. In a certain sense we lived side by side, but each his own life. We didn’t begin to have a normal childhood until after the war, but there was a large age difference there, and so we had different interests. My brother’s name is Pavel, and my mother had him from her first marriage. He was born in 1932. We see each other, and the older we are, the more we like each other.
Another thing that’s necessary to mention is that in order to save us, our parents converted to the Protestant faith in 1942. After that I also attended Protestant religion for some time, until I closed the door on any sort of religion. We learned some Hungarian and German from our parents, but it wasn’t any sort of purposeful teaching. The older I am, the better I remember my knowledge of Hungarian from my two-year stay in Hungary. Apparently I’m already under the influence of ‘old-age memory.
Slovakia
As far as my childhood goes, I’d separate it into the prewar and the postwar part. During the prewar part, I mainly played near the store in Utekac. I had one friend there, who was born on exactly same day, month and year as I. When in 1945 we moved to Kokava nad Rimavicou, I was starting Grade 4. I grew up as a village boy: fights, wandering around the area, getting into mischief. My elementary schooling is pretty weak, because I didn’t start attending school regularly until 1945. Until then all I had was a few months of Jewish school in Rimavska Sobota, which back then belonged to Hungary [16]. I did Grade 1, 2 and 3 through a tutor and exams.
So it wasn’t until 1945 that I began normally attending school. I finished elementary school in Kokava nad Rimavou in 1951. From 1951 to 1955 I attended the Engineering Tech School in Zvolen, where I graduated. I studied at the Institute of Pedagogy, mathematics and physics, from 1959 to 1963, and graduated that year. From 1964 to 1972 I studied at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Technology in Bratislava. Then on top of that, in 1990 I did post-graduate studies at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at CTU in Prague.
In high school I used to hate studying, my interest in school didn’t develop until later. After graduating from high school, I decided that no more school, ever, and despite that, things changed. From what I remember, I probably liked history the best. In elementary school, I liked our history and biology teacher the best. That teacher’s name was Maria Sedmikova. Her husband taught Slovak and Music, and he used to beat us with a bow. In elementary school they used to beat us regularly; they'd bend us over a desk and whip us. I was rather afraid of that Mr. Sedmik. We were also very afraid of the geography teacher, Mr. Roman. I didn’t have a private tutor. In elementary school, there were various after-school activities. I wasn’t bad at ping pong, and began to play chess quite decently. I even played a musical instrument, the double bass. I attended piano lessons for three years.
My friends at school were non-Jews. No one in the class was a Jew except for me. There were about two or three that I got along well with. My friends outside of school were basically the same ones as in school. My friends and I used to get into mischief. We used to wander around the village, and out of naughtiness would grab some fruit from trees here or there. We used to go swimming and biking, and played soldiers.
As a child I didn’t have any special hobbies. Later, from the first year of tech school, I was into motorbikes. You could say that I like technology. As far as membership in clubs went, the Pioneer organization was more or less compulsory. Voluntarily compulsory. In tech school I was in the CSM [17], that was voluntarily compulsory as well. I attended high school in Zvolen, where I lived in private accommodations as well as at a dorm. When I was attending tech school, there was still school on Saturdays, so in Zvolen I’d always run from the school to the train at 1:30pm, and at around 4:30pm I’d be in Kokava. On Sunday it’d be back again at 4:30pm from Kokava to Zvolen. That lasted for four years, every week.
So it wasn’t until 1945 that I began normally attending school. I finished elementary school in Kokava nad Rimavou in 1951. From 1951 to 1955 I attended the Engineering Tech School in Zvolen, where I graduated. I studied at the Institute of Pedagogy, mathematics and physics, from 1959 to 1963, and graduated that year. From 1964 to 1972 I studied at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Technology in Bratislava. Then on top of that, in 1990 I did post-graduate studies at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at CTU in Prague.
In high school I used to hate studying, my interest in school didn’t develop until later. After graduating from high school, I decided that no more school, ever, and despite that, things changed. From what I remember, I probably liked history the best. In elementary school, I liked our history and biology teacher the best. That teacher’s name was Maria Sedmikova. Her husband taught Slovak and Music, and he used to beat us with a bow. In elementary school they used to beat us regularly; they'd bend us over a desk and whip us. I was rather afraid of that Mr. Sedmik. We were also very afraid of the geography teacher, Mr. Roman. I didn’t have a private tutor. In elementary school, there were various after-school activities. I wasn’t bad at ping pong, and began to play chess quite decently. I even played a musical instrument, the double bass. I attended piano lessons for three years.
My friends at school were non-Jews. No one in the class was a Jew except for me. There were about two or three that I got along well with. My friends outside of school were basically the same ones as in school. My friends and I used to get into mischief. We used to wander around the village, and out of naughtiness would grab some fruit from trees here or there. We used to go swimming and biking, and played soldiers.
As a child I didn’t have any special hobbies. Later, from the first year of tech school, I was into motorbikes. You could say that I like technology. As far as membership in clubs went, the Pioneer organization was more or less compulsory. Voluntarily compulsory. In tech school I was in the CSM [17], that was voluntarily compulsory as well. I attended high school in Zvolen, where I lived in private accommodations as well as at a dorm. When I was attending tech school, there was still school on Saturdays, so in Zvolen I’d always run from the school to the train at 1:30pm, and at around 4:30pm I’d be in Kokava. On Sunday it’d be back again at 4:30pm from Kokava to Zvolen. That lasted for four years, every week.
Slovakia
In the Polak family, the oldest of my mother’s siblings was Eugen, who was probably born in 1894. He died right after World War I, in 1922, of bone tuberculosis. He was a more or less active writer; a poetry collection of his has been found. The next in line was Melania, who was born in 1896; they killed her in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944. Next was Ernest, who was born in 1902. He was a pharmacist, and died in a concentration camp. In 1904 my mother was born, then there was another brother of hers, Pavel, who was probably born in 1906, and was a businessman. He died in 1935 I think, of quick pneumonia. The youngest was Edita. Born in 1910, she perished in a concentration camp.
After the war, my parents were mainly in touch with my mother’s brother who’d survived the concentration camp. He lived in Lucenec. We mainly very often saw my father’s second cousin who lived in Muran. We saw Rozalia’s family relatively often. After the war they lived in Revuca.
After the war, my parents were mainly in touch with my mother’s brother who’d survived the concentration camp. He lived in Lucenec. We mainly very often saw my father’s second cousin who lived in Muran. We saw Rozalia’s family relatively often. After the war they lived in Revuca.
Slovakia
My father was the oldest of the Engel siblings. Jozef, who was two years younger, worked as a salesman and died in Israel in 1983. He had two sons. Their names are Pavel and Ondrej. Both of them live in Israel. Vojtech, who was also a businessman, was another two years younger. He most likely perished in the Sobibor concentration camp [15]. In 1906 Rozalia was born, who had one son. His name was Robert Glück. Robert died in Kosice in 2005, and his mother in Revuca, in 1956.
In January 1914 Mikulas came into the world, who worked as a civil servant, and also perished in a concentration camp. The year when he was born, in the summer, my grandmother died. So five children were orphaned, and he was only a few months old. My grandfather couldn’t remain like that without a woman’s helping hand, and so found himself another wife. Her name was Gizela, and she came to Muranska Lehota with two children. They then had one last child together, Elena, who was born in 1915. I’ve got the impression that she died in 1986 or 1988. She had a daughter and a son.
In January 1914 Mikulas came into the world, who worked as a civil servant, and also perished in a concentration camp. The year when he was born, in the summer, my grandmother died. So five children were orphaned, and he was only a few months old. My grandfather couldn’t remain like that without a woman’s helping hand, and so found himself another wife. Her name was Gizela, and she came to Muranska Lehota with two children. They then had one last child together, Elena, who was born in 1915. I’ve got the impression that she died in 1986 or 1988. She had a daughter and a son.
Slovakia
As far as vacations and traveling go, in 1936 my father sent my mother to Grado, Italy. That was her only vacation. Business can’t take a break, and if my father would have taken a break from the store for a week, he’d have lost customers. The store had to be open. That was the basic idea of our whole existence. Aside from that, my mother went to a spa a couple of times.
Slovakia
My mother was completely apolitical, and my father was a socialist, a leftist. Right after the war, he joined the Communist Party [13] convinced that all bad things were now at an end. In 1949, when the nationalizations began [14] and the anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist wave began, he definitely changed his attitude. My parents basically got along well with their neighbors. Our neighbors weren’t Jews. My father was communicative, and was able to get along with people very well, and you could say that on the whole he was well-liked. Our best friends were one Jewish family that lived in Kokava, Dr. Steiner’s family. My parents were friends mainly with them. They used to visit each other regularly. But they also had non-Jewish friends, and had very good relations with them.
Slovakia
My parents were almost completely non-religious. We observed only some traditions. We weren’t kosher. To this day I remember that one of my greatest joys at Passover was when we got matzot in coffee with milk. We also used to light a candle on the anniversary of someone’s death. We observed the basic traditions, but didn’t really cling to them much. I even remember, mainly from Kokava, that we used to have Christmas with all the trimmings: a tree, cabbage soup and so on. Currently my favorite holiday is Christmas, because our whole family gets together.
Slovakia
The house in Utekac where we lived was a two-story council house. We rented it. There was a store on the ground floor, and up above it lived two families. The apartment had two rooms and a kitchen. The larder was out in the hallway. The toilet was outside the apartment as well. The furniture we had was fairly modern. It was actually furniture that my mother had gotten from my grandparents as part of her dowry. It was custom-made furniture, which then traveled along with us. I don’t know if there was running water in Utekac. There was electricity, because the glass factory had its own 110 V generator. The entire village was electrified. Our source of light was light bulbs, like normal. When we lived in Kokava nad Rimavicou, my brother and I had a German shepherd for a time.
For the whole time that my parents had their own store, we had a household helper working for us, who lived with us as well. They both had to be in the store, and we were little, so she actually took care of us children. We had several helpers. In the beginning it was one lady from Utekac. She was very nice. I got to know her after the war as well; we liked each other very much. Her name was Mrs. Migasova. The one that was with us the longest was Mrs. Pavla Vojtekova from Klenovec. She wasn’t Jewish. She was unmarried, and worked for us before the war. During the time of the Slovak State [12], she wasn’t allowed to be with us, that was unthinkable. She worked for us again from right after the war until 1950. She ran the household. I didn’t like her. While I was a good kid, she liked me and I her as well. But then I started misbehaving, so she behaved badly towards me, and then the relationship soured for some time. When she left us I was an adolescent, and it’s not easy to get along with an adolescent. Later, when we met up, it was good again.
My mother was a voracious reader. Our family used to buy decent and high-quality literature. My mother used to give me a lot of books to read, too, so we read at home. My brother and I were encouraged to read. My father read mainly the papers, and not so much literature.
For the whole time that my parents had their own store, we had a household helper working for us, who lived with us as well. They both had to be in the store, and we were little, so she actually took care of us children. We had several helpers. In the beginning it was one lady from Utekac. She was very nice. I got to know her after the war as well; we liked each other very much. Her name was Mrs. Migasova. The one that was with us the longest was Mrs. Pavla Vojtekova from Klenovec. She wasn’t Jewish. She was unmarried, and worked for us before the war. During the time of the Slovak State [12], she wasn’t allowed to be with us, that was unthinkable. She worked for us again from right after the war until 1950. She ran the household. I didn’t like her. While I was a good kid, she liked me and I her as well. But then I started misbehaving, so she behaved badly towards me, and then the relationship soured for some time. When she left us I was an adolescent, and it’s not easy to get along with an adolescent. Later, when we met up, it was good again.
My mother was a voracious reader. Our family used to buy decent and high-quality literature. My mother used to give me a lot of books to read, too, so we read at home. My brother and I were encouraged to read. My father read mainly the papers, and not so much literature.
Slovakia
My father, Julius Engel, was born on 21st November 1900 in Muranska Lehota, and died in 1976. My mother, Klara, née Polakova, was born on 3rd December 1904 in Kokava nad Rimavicou and died on 27th July 2005. My father was relatively authoritarian, and quite dynamic. More of an extrovert than an introvert. With a very friendly nature. Communicative, good-hearted, but it took me a while before I realized that. He was 166 cm tall [about 5' 5"], and relatively fair-haired, which many times helped him, that he looked quite Aryan. He loved us immensely. But the times we lived in were hard. I’d say that in this regard he crossed a certain line of tolerable parenting methods, but I can understand it. Taking into account the time that he lived in, and taking into account the worries that he had to deal with.
My mother was more of an introvert. She was my father’s ‘inferior,’ though not in a bad sense. Basically just an obedient wife. That’s how my mother was raised. I consider her to be a very good-hearted person. She was a typical woman. Not everything was the way I’d have liked it, later I said to myself many times that it would definitely not have done any harm for her to also defend me from my father, when my father ‘overdid’ it with disciplining me. She wasn’t capable of that.
My father had three years of council school and then was a merchant by trade. My mother had a primary education. My father’s mother tongue was definitely Slovak, and my mother’s tended more towards Hungarian due to my grandfather. Both of them spoke Slovak, Hungarian and German, and normally spoke to each other in three languages. They spoke Slovak with us children, and amongst themselves as well. My mother sometimes had a tendency to go off into Hungarian, but because of where we lived, my father insisted on Slovak.
My parents met in typical Jewish fashion. My father was already a relatively old bachelor, and my mother was a widow. One good aunt came along, I get the impression from Lucenec, who arranged a meeting. At that time my father was already an independent wood merchant, and it was known that my mother was a widow. So they met in 1934, and based on mutual sympathies, a wedding took place. They were married on 6th January 1935 in Rimavska Sobota. My parents dressed in a contemporary, civilian fashion. Their financial situation was acceptable, we didn’t throw money around, but neither did we want for anything.
My mother was more of an introvert. She was my father’s ‘inferior,’ though not in a bad sense. Basically just an obedient wife. That’s how my mother was raised. I consider her to be a very good-hearted person. She was a typical woman. Not everything was the way I’d have liked it, later I said to myself many times that it would definitely not have done any harm for her to also defend me from my father, when my father ‘overdid’ it with disciplining me. She wasn’t capable of that.
My father had three years of council school and then was a merchant by trade. My mother had a primary education. My father’s mother tongue was definitely Slovak, and my mother’s tended more towards Hungarian due to my grandfather. Both of them spoke Slovak, Hungarian and German, and normally spoke to each other in three languages. They spoke Slovak with us children, and amongst themselves as well. My mother sometimes had a tendency to go off into Hungarian, but because of where we lived, my father insisted on Slovak.
My parents met in typical Jewish fashion. My father was already a relatively old bachelor, and my mother was a widow. One good aunt came along, I get the impression from Lucenec, who arranged a meeting. At that time my father was already an independent wood merchant, and it was known that my mother was a widow. So they met in 1934, and based on mutual sympathies, a wedding took place. They were married on 6th January 1935 in Rimavska Sobota. My parents dressed in a contemporary, civilian fashion. Their financial situation was acceptable, we didn’t throw money around, but neither did we want for anything.
Slovakia
The first time I noticed anti-Semitism was in the form of minor slights from my elementary school classmates in Kokava. The conditions for this were present in many families. After 1945, it was very risky to publicly express hatred for Jews in our area. Despite this, it took place in various ways. They’d call me a Yid, for example. There was an ice cream vendor in Kokava, from the Balkans, from Montenegro, and whenever I went to buy ice cream, he’d call me ‘chifut’ [from the Turkish word Cühut, or Jew]. I never knew with it meant. Later I found out that it’s a Muslim swear-word for Jew. I was aware of these things, but they didn’t worry me much. Of course, a person realizes these things after the fact.
The first time I felt anti-Semitism in a more serious fashion wasn’t until after 1968 [9], when they threw me out of school because I’d expressed my opinion regarding the arrival of the Russians [10] and of Husak [11]. I was an employee by then, a teacher at the Faculty of Education in Nitra, and there the purges that took place in the schools had a clear anti-Semitic side to them as well.
The first time I felt anti-Semitism in a more serious fashion wasn’t until after 1968 [9], when they threw me out of school because I’d expressed my opinion regarding the arrival of the Russians [10] and of Husak [11]. I was an employee by then, a teacher at the Faculty of Education in Nitra, and there the purges that took place in the schools had a clear anti-Semitic side to them as well.
Slovakia
Before the war, there used to be markets in Kokava, and my mother used to go there from Utekac to sell things. She sold mixed goods. Back then, people we used to call ‘highlanders’ used to come there from far and wide, from the mountains. I remember the later, postwar markets. Some of them had stalls, and some of them sold things without a stall. They were arranged side by side. For example a counter, let’s say three meters long, a pole, covered with canvas, and then all sorts of goods spread out on it. Usually the merchants would spread themselves out on one side of the town square, or sometimes also on the other.
As for the political climate in Utekac, as far as I remember it was primarily a workers’ community. So that basically means that social democracy and communism dominated. Especially social democracy had grassroots support there. This also showed itself in the fact that most of the villagers actively participated in the Slovak National Uprising. It was a very active resistance. During the last days of August 1944, shooting was heard quite often from all sides. My parents’ store stood on this semi-square. There was always something going on there. Someone arrived, someone left. One set of partisans arrived, another left. It would also happen that people that were claiming to be partisans would arrive, and take something from everyone. Then a second set came, and arrested them for being thieves. I even remember very well, this was probably at the end of August 1944, when Allied planes were going to bomb the town of Dubova. They were flying over Utekac. They were heavy bombers with that monotonous droning, and there were many of them.
As for the political climate in Utekac, as far as I remember it was primarily a workers’ community. So that basically means that social democracy and communism dominated. Especially social democracy had grassroots support there. This also showed itself in the fact that most of the villagers actively participated in the Slovak National Uprising. It was a very active resistance. During the last days of August 1944, shooting was heard quite often from all sides. My parents’ store stood on this semi-square. There was always something going on there. Someone arrived, someone left. One set of partisans arrived, another left. It would also happen that people that were claiming to be partisans would arrive, and take something from everyone. Then a second set came, and arrested them for being thieves. I even remember very well, this was probably at the end of August 1944, when Allied planes were going to bomb the town of Dubova. They were flying over Utekac. They were heavy bombers with that monotonous droning, and there were many of them.
Slovakia
I grew up in Utekac, which was a glassmaking community. In the center of the community was a glass factory, which actually supported everyone. The descendants of German colonists living in Utekac worked there. It was all German colonists, who’d come there as glassmakers. Along the street there were typical workers’ houses, colonies. It was a continuous row of one-story houses, with let’s say five or six apartments inside. The roads weren’t asphalt, but paved with stone. There were three cars in Utekac, if I’m correct. The manager of the glass factory had a car, my father had a truck, and I think there was one factory car there.
I know absolutely precisely how many Jewish inhabitants lived in Utekac back then. Our family had four members. Then there were the Grauners, who were five. There was Mr. Krivacek’s family, which was mixed. His wife was a Christian. According to Jewish laws, his three daughters couldn’t be considered Jewish [Editor’s note: Jewishness is inherited from the mother.] It’s quite hard to talk about the Jewish community in Utekac. We knew each other for many years. My parents ran a store that they rented from the glass factory. They also had good relations with the non-Jewish population. Not that they somehow considered us to be completely one of them. But on the other hand, we didn’t have any problems, like the Engels, we never had any real problems with making a living, with getting along with the rest of the community.
There was no synagogue or prayer hall in Utekac. The nearest synagogue was in Kokava nad Rimavicou, which was six kilometers away. There the Jewish community was already a bigger one. They had a rabbi and a shachter [or shochet: a ritual butcher]. Kokava also had a Jewish school. Especially after 1940, it was the only school that Jews were allowed to attend [8].
I know absolutely precisely how many Jewish inhabitants lived in Utekac back then. Our family had four members. Then there were the Grauners, who were five. There was Mr. Krivacek’s family, which was mixed. His wife was a Christian. According to Jewish laws, his three daughters couldn’t be considered Jewish [Editor’s note: Jewishness is inherited from the mother.] It’s quite hard to talk about the Jewish community in Utekac. We knew each other for many years. My parents ran a store that they rented from the glass factory. They also had good relations with the non-Jewish population. Not that they somehow considered us to be completely one of them. But on the other hand, we didn’t have any problems, like the Engels, we never had any real problems with making a living, with getting along with the rest of the community.
There was no synagogue or prayer hall in Utekac. The nearest synagogue was in Kokava nad Rimavicou, which was six kilometers away. There the Jewish community was already a bigger one. They had a rabbi and a shachter [or shochet: a ritual butcher]. Kokava also had a Jewish school. Especially after 1940, it was the only school that Jews were allowed to attend [8].
Slovakia
My ancestors on the Engel side were leftists. One of my father’s brothers [Jozef Engel] even fought for a certain time, though out of spite, for Kun’s army [6]. When the Czechs arrived in 1918 [7], they beat him up. But because he was still very young – 16 – they didn’t shoot him, but just gave him a beating. The Engel family was quite liberal. Another uncle [Vojtech Engel], who alas also died in a concentration camp, was a socialist, you could say. They were like this because they were relatively poor. So this elicited a social conscience and way of thinking in them.
As I’ve already mentioned, my grandparents had normal to good relations with their neighbors. There weren’t any conflicts with their neighbors. All their neighbors were non-Jews. They didn’t have any special friendships with their neighbors. I’d call them proper and good relations. Simply put, they had no quarrel with each other. My grandmother from Kokava also had a strong social conscience and also helped many people. Materially as well as financially. They were merchants, and sometimes gave people things without being paid. They’d pay when they could. My grandfather from Muranska Lehota was the same.
I know of one of Grandpa Polak’s brothers who worked his way up to a relatively high position in the Hungarian civil service working for the railway. He lived in Budapest. As far as the Engel side goes, I know my grandfather had a brother. His name was Jozef and also lived in Muranska Lehota, and there was also a sister.
This is a good place for the following story. The Engels had this quality, you could call it an impatient soul. My father mentioned it once, when my grandfather was supposed to travel somewhere. There was no railway in Muranska Lehota, so he used to go catch the train in Muran, which was three kilometers away. Half an hour was plenty of time to walk from Lehota to Muran. When he was supposed to go catch the train at 5am, at 2am he was already banging on his brother Jozef’s door in Muran, for him to come to the station. As far as Grandpa Polak goes, there were stories about his poor Slovak causing many comical situations.
As I’ve already mentioned, my grandparents had normal to good relations with their neighbors. There weren’t any conflicts with their neighbors. All their neighbors were non-Jews. They didn’t have any special friendships with their neighbors. I’d call them proper and good relations. Simply put, they had no quarrel with each other. My grandmother from Kokava also had a strong social conscience and also helped many people. Materially as well as financially. They were merchants, and sometimes gave people things without being paid. They’d pay when they could. My grandfather from Muranska Lehota was the same.
I know of one of Grandpa Polak’s brothers who worked his way up to a relatively high position in the Hungarian civil service working for the railway. He lived in Budapest. As far as the Engel side goes, I know my grandfather had a brother. His name was Jozef and also lived in Muranska Lehota, and there was also a sister.
This is a good place for the following story. The Engels had this quality, you could call it an impatient soul. My father mentioned it once, when my grandfather was supposed to travel somewhere. There was no railway in Muranska Lehota, so he used to go catch the train in Muran, which was three kilometers away. Half an hour was plenty of time to walk from Lehota to Muran. When he was supposed to go catch the train at 5am, at 2am he was already banging on his brother Jozef’s door in Muran, for him to come to the station. As far as Grandpa Polak goes, there were stories about his poor Slovak causing many comical situations.
Slovakia
My grandparents’ house in Kokava was one-story, and relatively large. It had a quite large commercial area. I’d say that it was around 15 by 10 meters, and of that 60 percent was a store and storage space. My grandparents’ house had four rooms. We lived in it after the war. It was their second house, because in 1911 Kokava burned down, and so my grandparents built this house between the years 1918 and 1920.
The Engels’ house in Muranska Lehota was smaller. It was more of a farmhouse, with about three rooms. I know that my grandfather had a cow, and also some sheep. There was electricity in Kokava. On the whole it was a civilized town. On both sides of the town were villages with glassmaking factories Zlatno and Utekac. The railway ran through there as well. Muranska Lehota is only a small village even now, and back then it was real backcountry. Even today, it’s only got 40 to 50 houses. Petroleum lights were used for lighting. Up in my grandparents’ attic I found a beautiful brass petroleum lamp with a tall cylinder. They used to have it in the store.
Both sets of grandparents had a garden. The garden in Kokava had around ten or twelve fruit trees of all types. When there was gardening to be done, my grandparents as a rule found someone to take care of it. They usually grew vegetables there.
I mentioned that my grandparents the Polaks had a household helper. I think that my grandparents were able to adapt to Slovak conditions quite well. They were quite well-liked. So they had a decent relationship with the help as well. In fact, when I was in Muranska Lehota a few times, people reminisced about my grandfather. After all, they wouldn’t have elected him to the town council if he wouldn’t have been able to communicate with the local community. My grandparents definitely observed only some Jewish traditions. To be specific, they observed Passover, where rituals and traditions were preserved. As far as I know, they weren’t kosher [5]. It was impossible to observe the Sabbath, they were merchants, and so worked on Saturday. I’d say that they attended the synagogue in Kokava during the High Holidays.
The Engels’ house in Muranska Lehota was smaller. It was more of a farmhouse, with about three rooms. I know that my grandfather had a cow, and also some sheep. There was electricity in Kokava. On the whole it was a civilized town. On both sides of the town were villages with glassmaking factories Zlatno and Utekac. The railway ran through there as well. Muranska Lehota is only a small village even now, and back then it was real backcountry. Even today, it’s only got 40 to 50 houses. Petroleum lights were used for lighting. Up in my grandparents’ attic I found a beautiful brass petroleum lamp with a tall cylinder. They used to have it in the store.
Both sets of grandparents had a garden. The garden in Kokava had around ten or twelve fruit trees of all types. When there was gardening to be done, my grandparents as a rule found someone to take care of it. They usually grew vegetables there.
I mentioned that my grandparents the Polaks had a household helper. I think that my grandparents were able to adapt to Slovak conditions quite well. They were quite well-liked. So they had a decent relationship with the help as well. In fact, when I was in Muranska Lehota a few times, people reminisced about my grandfather. After all, they wouldn’t have elected him to the town council if he wouldn’t have been able to communicate with the local community. My grandparents definitely observed only some Jewish traditions. To be specific, they observed Passover, where rituals and traditions were preserved. As far as I know, they weren’t kosher [5]. It was impossible to observe the Sabbath, they were merchants, and so worked on Saturday. I’d say that they attended the synagogue in Kokava during the High Holidays.
Slovakia
My memories of the first half of the 1950s are very unpleasant. It was another stage in the persecution of Jews, under the guise of anti-Zionism. My father was even jailed for a week in connection with Slansky [26]. In 1951 my mother was preparing to take me to Prague. My health wasn’t completely in order. In the store that my father managed worked the wife of the Kokava police chief. They were probably the informers who construed a supposed contact with Slansky out of my mother’s planned departure for Prague. One Saturday, when I was a tech school student, the secret police [27] came, searched our house, and took my father with them. The next Saturday, when I came home from school, my father came home. He never wanted to tell me what he’d experienced. But apparently it wasn’t easy, all I know is that they wouldn’t allow him to lie down. They forced him to stand on one leg. They didn’t shut off the light in the cell and so on. After a week they released him.
In 1965 I joined the Party. A political thaw was beginning, and I believed that one could survive there. In a certain fashion I joined out of belief, not to mention there being also a bit of careerism in it. But it didn’t last long for me. By 1969 I was already thrown out; I was disobedient, rebellious.
I perceived the arrival of democracy in Czechoslovakia after 1989 as a very positive thing. The most important thing for me was that the barrier between Israel and Slovakia completely disappeared, and at last I could communicate normally with my relatives. The border with the West also opened up. After the fall of Communism, I felt and also feel much freer. Currently I’m a member of the Jewish religious community in Nitra. My old friends are there, whom I get along with very well.
In 1965 I joined the Party. A political thaw was beginning, and I believed that one could survive there. In a certain fashion I joined out of belief, not to mention there being also a bit of careerism in it. But it didn’t last long for me. By 1969 I was already thrown out; I was disobedient, rebellious.
I perceived the arrival of democracy in Czechoslovakia after 1989 as a very positive thing. The most important thing for me was that the barrier between Israel and Slovakia completely disappeared, and at last I could communicate normally with my relatives. The border with the West also opened up. After the fall of Communism, I felt and also feel much freer. Currently I’m a member of the Jewish religious community in Nitra. My old friends are there, whom I get along with very well.
Slovakia
I currently observe the same holidays as most people living in Slovakia. During totalitarian times, Christian holidays adapted to the times, and were presented to the public as holidays of the people. That means that for us Christmas serves mainly for us to gather with our entire Nitra family. We make utterly traditional Slovak Christmas foods, cabbage soup with sausage and mushrooms. Then we serve fried carp and potato salad.
Slovakia
Overall, I like books on history best. I’m very interested in the history of World War II. I read a lot of literature on the Holocaust. I basically read everything that I get my hands on. My wife and I try to live in a cultural fashion. We attend exhibitions, concerts, the theater and other cultural events. The last thing we were at was Chagall [25] in Vienna. We of course watch television. The Internet is also an excellent source of culture.
I get together with my brother, naturally. We’re in touch very often through the Internet with our second cousin who lives in Switzerland. We also use the Internet to communicate with one cousin in Israel, and correspond by mail with the other one. I’ve got a very good friend with whom I garden in [the town of] Lapas. Then there are various get-togethers, depending on whether I’m playing chess or tennis. I of course meet with my Jewish friends that live in Nitra, too. I never discuss Judaism and Jewishness with my non-Jewish friends. Quite often I discuss this subject with Mr. Alexander Potok. We’ve got quite a few themes like this of immediate concern to both of us. I don’t regard being Jewish as a religion. I perceive it and identify myself with it as an ethnicity.
I get together with my brother, naturally. We’re in touch very often through the Internet with our second cousin who lives in Switzerland. We also use the Internet to communicate with one cousin in Israel, and correspond by mail with the other one. I’ve got a very good friend with whom I garden in [the town of] Lapas. Then there are various get-togethers, depending on whether I’m playing chess or tennis. I of course meet with my Jewish friends that live in Nitra, too. I never discuss Judaism and Jewishness with my non-Jewish friends. Quite often I discuss this subject with Mr. Alexander Potok. We’ve got quite a few themes like this of immediate concern to both of us. I don’t regard being Jewish as a religion. I perceive it and identify myself with it as an ethnicity.
Slovakia
I’ve got two sons; both of them were born in Nitra, in 1963 and 1965. Neither of them attended nursery school; their grandmother took care of them. Both of them attended elementary school in Nitra. The older one did high school and two years of economics. The younger one is a mechanical engineer. I tried to raise them to be proper and educated people. My sons were friends with everyone in their class. I didn’t raise them according to Jewish traditions; for starters, ours is a mixed marriage. They know what sort of family I come from. They know my roots very well. One could say that my wife and I are atheists, and that’s also how we raised our children.
I told them about what I lived through during the war, and even now we sometimes revisit various episodes from what my wife and I lived through. I summarized that period of my and my brother’s Holocaust from August 1942 to February 1945 into seven pages as a reminiscence of that time. They’re my memoirs, as well as a record of what I heard from my parents and relatives.
My older son was an extremely spirited child. At the age of 13, he took my Trabant and a classmate and they decided to go to Poland. Luckily my Trabant had more sense. The car stopped in Cetin [Maly Cetin: a town in the Nitra region]. Then one colleague of mine called me to tell me what had happened, and I had to come for the car and for my son. There were more such episodes...
I wasn’t sad when our children began leaving home. It didn’t happen all at once. We have them at home regularly, so we don’t have a feeling that our children are absent. Our older son’s university entrance interviews were stressful for us. Due to my political sanctions, he wasn’t accepted at the university where he wanted to study. Our younger one also had a very hard time getting into the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, but that was his only chance of getting into university. He also didn’t go in the direction he would have liked. Our younger son is single. The older one has a family of his own. Both of our sons are employed. The younger one is in Bratislava during the week, and at the end of the week he comes to our place to visit.
I told them about what I lived through during the war, and even now we sometimes revisit various episodes from what my wife and I lived through. I summarized that period of my and my brother’s Holocaust from August 1942 to February 1945 into seven pages as a reminiscence of that time. They’re my memoirs, as well as a record of what I heard from my parents and relatives.
My older son was an extremely spirited child. At the age of 13, he took my Trabant and a classmate and they decided to go to Poland. Luckily my Trabant had more sense. The car stopped in Cetin [Maly Cetin: a town in the Nitra region]. Then one colleague of mine called me to tell me what had happened, and I had to come for the car and for my son. There were more such episodes...
I wasn’t sad when our children began leaving home. It didn’t happen all at once. We have them at home regularly, so we don’t have a feeling that our children are absent. Our older son’s university entrance interviews were stressful for us. Due to my political sanctions, he wasn’t accepted at the university where he wanted to study. Our younger one also had a very hard time getting into the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, but that was his only chance of getting into university. He also didn’t go in the direction he would have liked. Our younger son is single. The older one has a family of his own. Both of our sons are employed. The younger one is in Bratislava during the week, and at the end of the week he comes to our place to visit.
Slovakia
I think that I got along well with my students, and with my colleagues, too. When I sometime come to the department, my former colleagues are friendly. They invite me to many events put on by the department where I worked. I didn’t like going into retirement. I’m 67, but wasn’t a docent, so it was completely natural that I had to make way for someone younger. But on the other hand, it wasn’t some sort of tragedy, because I still taught for another year on contract. To this day, they still invite me to give lectures at the Methodical Education Center in Bratislava, so I survived my retirement without any sort of big trauma. Even now, I’m still not bored. I go to play tennis with my friends. I’ve got a garden where I feel very good, and go skiing with my son. I’ve got an Internet connection, which is excellent entertainment. I’ve got a little workshop in the basement, where I can work on my hobbies.
During the years 1965-1970, my colleagues and I used to go on one-day ski trips. Often we’d even have week-long ski trips with the faculty. Lately my wife and I have been going on vacation to Croatia for a week each year. We were on vacation in Hungary. In 1992 I was in Israel for 20 days visiting my cousin. We also went on vacation to Poland, to Krakow, and now, after 1990 [24], I finally got to the West as well. Until then I’d never been in the West. I go on vacations only with my family and now with my wife.
During the years 1965-1970, my colleagues and I used to go on one-day ski trips. Often we’d even have week-long ski trips with the faculty. Lately my wife and I have been going on vacation to Croatia for a week each year. We were on vacation in Hungary. In 1992 I was in Israel for 20 days visiting my cousin. We also went on vacation to Poland, to Krakow, and now, after 1990 [24], I finally got to the West as well. Until then I’d never been in the West. I go on vacations only with my family and now with my wife.
Slovakia
My first job after graduating from high school was in the former Skoda Works in Dubnice nad Vahom. At that time they were named the K. J. Voroshilov Works. It was an arms factory. I worked there until February 1957. From February 1957 to January 1958 I worked for the Vitkovice Steel Works, at first in Vitkovice, and then in a subsidiary in Bratislava, as a designer. From January 1958 to August 1959 I worked as a miner, a brigade worker in the Novaky coal mines, in the Youth Mine in Novaky. From there I then left to go study at the Faculty of Education in Nitra.
In 1966 I began working at the Faculty of Education in Nitra as a teacher. That was my Alma Mater. In 1970 they threw me out of there for political reasons. In the meantime I’d begun distance studies at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. In 1971 to August 1972 I taught at elementary school around Nitra. From August 1972, after ending at STU, I got a job at a construction company in Nitra, where I worked in various positions until 1st May 1986.
In 1986 I was accepted, after winning a competition, at a branch of the Technical Standards Research Institute here in Nitra. It was the Czechoslovak Technical Standards and Quality Institute here in Nitra. The institute was named the Czechoslovak Technical Standards and Quality Institute in Bratislava, and was run directly by the Federal Technical Standards Measurement Office. The federal office was at the level of a ministry, and we were its research facility. I worked there until 1990. That year I was politically rehabilitated. I returned to the faculty and I worked there until 2003. For a certain time I was also the assistant dean of the school. I still have certain activities, I still go teach.
In 1966 I began working at the Faculty of Education in Nitra as a teacher. That was my Alma Mater. In 1970 they threw me out of there for political reasons. In the meantime I’d begun distance studies at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. In 1971 to August 1972 I taught at elementary school around Nitra. From August 1972, after ending at STU, I got a job at a construction company in Nitra, where I worked in various positions until 1st May 1986.
In 1986 I was accepted, after winning a competition, at a branch of the Technical Standards Research Institute here in Nitra. It was the Czechoslovak Technical Standards and Quality Institute here in Nitra. The institute was named the Czechoslovak Technical Standards and Quality Institute in Bratislava, and was run directly by the Federal Technical Standards Measurement Office. The federal office was at the level of a ministry, and we were its research facility. I worked there until 1990. That year I was politically rehabilitated. I returned to the faculty and I worked there until 2003. For a certain time I was also the assistant dean of the school. I still have certain activities, I still go teach.
Slovakia
I met my wife during my university studies. I was attending her lectures. I was this elderly student, because I didn’t continue my studies until four years after my high school graduation. After finishing high school I worked as a miner, and this occupation was greatly valued. In 1959 I applied to university, and after being accepted I also got a regional stipend, precisely because of my previous employment. In 1960 I met my wife through Russian which is what she used to lecture me in.
My wife isn’t Jewish. This was absolutely not a decisive factor for me. What decided it were human, personal qualities. This type of thing had already taken place in our family, so we didn’t surprise my parents in any way. We were married on 5th August 1961 at the Nitra Town Office. My wife’s name is Olga, née Stasova. She was born on 20th January 1935. Her mother tongue is Slovak. She’s a university lecturer in Russian literature.
My wife isn’t Jewish. This was absolutely not a decisive factor for me. What decided it were human, personal qualities. This type of thing had already taken place in our family, so we didn’t surprise my parents in any way. We were married on 5th August 1961 at the Nitra Town Office. My wife’s name is Olga, née Stasova. She was born on 20th January 1935. Her mother tongue is Slovak. She’s a university lecturer in Russian literature.
Slovakia