Latsi (Noyekh Gavril) Samadi; Sandor (Simkhe) Goronvalgy

Walking to and around the synagogue, the group talks with Kerler about the Jewish community of Debrecen. They discuss how many Jews returned after the war, how many later emigrated, and when services in the synagogue stopped. They also touch on the building's history, prewar prayer rooms, a donor from America, and the arrival of Russian soldiers after the war. Much of the talk is in Hungarian, and the details are unclear.

The transcript shows talk about emigration, a donor from America, and Russian soldiers, which the catalogue does not mention.

Synagogue footage with talk among the group about the cost of the restoration, in sums of money. They compare the beauty of this synagogue with another one, and discuss a former synagogue building and fittings. Kerler also asks about what the old building was used for. The speech is partly garbled.

The group talks about prewar visits to Debrecen to pray, about the mikveh and other synagogues in the town, and about Torah scrolls taken away and later returned. They discuss a fire at one synagogue after the war and a local history book on the Jews of Debrecen, whose author the transcript does not make clear. They also discuss a rabbi, a memorial and a grave in a cemetery. A good deal is in Hungarian, and the speakers are hard to separate.

The transcript shows talk about a local history book, a cemetery grave and a memorial, and the identity of Reti is not clear.

The team sets up for the interview. They look for a place to sit down, and one speaker describes the layout of the building, including stairs and a mikveh.

The formal interview begins with Kerler giving the date and place and Samadi giving his name, that he was born Shifman, and his Jewish name. He gives the year of his birth and says he was born in Bököny. He then recalls prewar Jewish life there, naming the rabbi, shoykhet and shames and the rabbi's four sons, who sang with Samadi in the choir. Kerler asks him to sing.

Samadi chants Sabbath songs, and mentions Purim songs, sung in the Hebrew of the Sabbath table songs. The words are mostly garbled.

Samadi recalls attending cheder from the age of three until eleven and then a talmud torah in Újfehértó (Yiddish Ratsfelt), which he places a short distance from Debrecen. He names the rebbe there and his gabbai. He says his mother wanted him to learn Yiddish well so he could talk to Jews everywhere, and a later visit to Florida shows this.

The transcript shows a later visit to Florida where he spoke Yiddish with elderly Jews.

Samadi talks about meeting elderly Yiddish speakers in Florida and how they spoke Yiddish while their children spoke English. He continues with his education, studying in a yeshiva in Tiszaeszlár for four or five terms after the talmud torah. He then trained as a baker and as a locksmith, and later worked as a merchant and in a sanatorium (?).

Samadi speaks about his family. His father kept a shop and traded in all kinds of goods. He had one brother and one sister, and only his sister came back from Auschwitz. He gives the names of his siblings and his mother's maiden name, though some of these are unclear.

Samadi describes the postwar years, when he came home half a year before his sister, who later married and had two sons, and both she and her husband have since died. He recalls a year of labor service. Kerler asks about his grandparents, whom he mostly never knew. They also discuss his home language, which was Hungarian, and how his cheder lessons were conducted. He learned German from a teacher whose name is unclear.

Samadi speaks about the war years, when he worked for German soldiers and they did not know he was a Jew. He acted as interpreter for a woman with two children and describes being asked to bake, and how he used his German and avoided showing he did not understand. He did not wear a star, and says he looked non-Jewish. He calls it a hard time.

The transcript shows that he acted as an interpreter for a woman with two children.

Samadi talks about working as a baker in Nyírkáta (Gobe) before the war, and about his call-up to labor service. He says the village notary could have exempted him but did not. Much of the passage is in Hungarian and garbled.

After a brief Hungarian aside about a film and talk of a nearby trip, Kerler asks what a 'khazer bokher' was in the yeshiva. Samadi recalls leaving the cheder and studying in a yeshiva in a village whose name is unclear (Tisa Bertsl?) with about twenty-eight boys, alongside a relative. Kerler explains the stages: khazer bokher, shiur geyer, khaver bokher, and what a boy could become afterwards.

Kerler explains the khazer bokher/shiur geyer/khaver bokher terms, and the passage opens with a Hungarian aside and a talk about a trip.

Samadi recalls a Jewish wedding at which he sang and sings a wedding song. Kerler asks whether there was a badkhn or rhymer at weddings; the answer is partly in Hungarian, and Samadi remembers a wedding at a rabbi's house with dancing. Kerler asks about the local rabbi, apparently Yehuda Fridlender (?), and then about Shavuot food.

Kerler's questions about a badkhn/rhymer and a rabbi's identity, and the lead-in to Shavuot food.

The speakers describe Shavuot food, namely cheese kreplach, and mention Purim food. Kerler asks about Purim plays, and a woman sings a Purim 'gutn purim' greeting that others take up. A play about a chimney sweep is recalled, along with who prepared the wedding meal, since there was no Jewish restaurant. The passage ends as Samadi begins a Hungarian remark about his father and grandmother, leading into the potato song.

Purim greeting song, discussion of a chimney-sweep play, and wedding catering.

Samadi sings a Yiddish potato song he knows from his father, with Sunday-to-Friday potatoes and a potato kugel for Sabbath. Kerler asks him to repeat it slowly to learn the words, and they discuss the Yiddish word for potatoes and a word in the song that Kerler explains. Samadi then tells and sings the song of two brothers, one rich and one poor, and the angel who comes for each of them. Kerler finally asks about a song on the Messiah, and Samadi says he sang that one in Hungarian.

Discussion of the Yiddish word for potatoes and other terms, and the question about a Messiah song sung in Hungarian.

Samadi starts a Hungarian song, and then several people sing a Yiddish song about not wanting to be a yeshiva student any more. Gurshteyn chants Shoshanat Yaakov at length. Samadi then sings a humorous Yiddish song about a woman out with a veil in a Budapest newspaper story, which he learned from his father. Kerler asks whether it was a theater song and whether his mother sang too.

Gurshteyn's chanting of Shoshanat Yaakov and the question about Samadi's mother's singing.

Samadi speaks of his mother, who read the Tsene-rene on Sabbath. A second speaker recalls in Hungarian Friday-evening customs at home, including the father singing at the table before the family could leave. The group then chants Shir haMa'alot with the singing around the table. The recording is badly garbled here.

Recollections of Friday-evening table customs, partly in Hungarian, and the Tsene-rene detail.

Gurshteyn chants a second version of Shir haMa'alot, which he learned in cheder from a rabbi in a place whose name is unclear (Hoydl?). Samadi recalls his mother's uncle, who sang on Purim and loved singing a nigun. Kerler then asks about Kaliver Hasidic songs.

Samadi's mother's uncle and Kerler's question about Kaliver songs.

Samadi recalls visiting Kaliv in 1944, shortly before the Jews were taken away. The head gendarme there was friendly to Jews and helped a young Hasidic man; Samadi also names a Sholem Leyzer. They discuss the Kaliver rebbe's grave and the new ohel built over it. Kerler closes by asking about a song.

A friendly gendarme, the Kaliver rebbe's grave with its new ohel, and Sholem Leyzer.

Samadi and Gurshteyn sing a Hungarian folk song about a bird, in Hungarian with a Jewish text about when the Temple will be rebuilt. Gurshteyn explains the Jewish text in Hungarian. Kerler remarks on the similarity to other songs.

Gurshteyn's Hungarian explanation of the Jewish text about rebuilding the Temple.

Gurshteyn, now the interviewee, gives personal information: born in 1921, now in Debrecen, and in Budapest he spoke mostly Hungarian. He grew up in Shamshon, near Debrecen, and his first name is Simkhe. His father's name is given as Zalmen (?). Until fourteen he lived in Shamshon, then learned tailoring in Hajdúbagos. In Budapest he was drafted into the army for about two years, and he returned to Shamshon and worked. In 1948 he was in Israel as a soldier building roads for about a year. He also says he knows a little Hebrew.

Kerler's questions about name, birth year and languages; the army service and the Israel period.

Gurshteyn says there were six Jews in his family home, and that he alone returned after the war. He then worked in Shamshon. Asked when he married, he gives the forties (1940?). Kerler asks about a Purim play, and Gurshteyn says he knows one in Hungarian.

Marriage date and the lead-in to the Hungarian Purim play.

Gurshteyn recites a Hungarian Purim play from memory, a comic monologue about an assimilated Jew who is not a good Jew, and then a scene with a cholent pot and friends. He says it was performed in his shtetl, the Hajdúbagos area (?), by three players including himself at twelve. Kerler asks about the date and about his Hungarian name and its Yiddish equivalent. Kerler ends by asking for a short Yiddish song and arranges to continue.

The play's content, his role at twelve, and Kerler's questions about his Hungarian name and about the date.