The first part of the tape includes the conclusion of a formal interview with Froim Kalmanovich Bukshtein. The camera records footage of the courtyard from Bukshtein’s apartment, while he describes the inhabitants of this building before the war.
Conclusion of the Bukshtein interview, mostly in garbled transcript. The talk concerns the courtyard and building where he lived: prewar residents, a rich Jewish lawyer, and Jews, Poles and Ukrainians living in different parts of town. Little else can be made out.
The transcript is largely garbled, with the lawyer and the town's mixed population the only clear content.
The second part of the tape includes a formal interview with Genrikh (Hersh bereb Moyshe akoyen, Hesye) Moiseevich Katz, born 1912 in Tlumach. Katz provides personal information and talks about prewar Jewish life in Tlumach with a population of 9000. In particular, Katz recalls cattle trading and two kosher butchers. His grandfather traded in cattle. He then recites a prayer.
Kerler begins the Katz interview. Katz gives his name, address, postal index and telephone number. Kerler locates Tlumach on a map; Katz says it is about 25 km from Ivano-Frankivsk. Katz describes prewar Tlumach, with 9000 Jews among a larger non-Jewish population, and its tailors, shoemakers and carpenters. He recalls the big fair and cattle trading, a butchers' cooperative, kosher and non-kosher meat, and two or three ritual slaughterers. He was born in 1912, was called Hersh (Tsvi in Hebrew) and is a kohen; Kerler asks him to show the priestly blessing gesture. He says he says Kaddish and prays at home with a prayer book.
Also includes the address and telephone details, the map search for Tlumach, and the priestly blessing gesture.
Katz talks about his family. He was the first-born and grew up with two brothers and four sisters. His parents and siblings were murdered during the war. His father worked in a distillery and was born in Horodenka. His mother was born in Tlumach. Katz then describes how he built sukkot with his grandfather.
Katz talks about his family. Both parents and most siblings were killed in the war. His father Moyshe, a distillery worker, came from Horodenka; his mother Gitl was a housewife from Tlumach, and her father was Gershon. He was named after his grandfather Hersh. He recalls his cattle-trading grandfather Gershon, helping him build the sukkah, and his grandmother's pet name for him. Kerler goes through his siblings' names (Rozia/Reyzl, Leyb, Klara, Mina/Menia, Kuba/Yankl, Nusia) and establishes that there were seven children, with Katz the eldest.
Adds the full list of siblings' names and the grandmother's nickname for him.
Katz talks about his life and education before the war. Katz attended a Polish school. He worked as a locksmith in Tlumach, after graduating from a handicraft school in Lviv for three years. Katz then discusses his childhood memories. His father was a Hasid of the Stanislav rebbe’s court and Katz talks about his father would visit the rebbe.
Katz says he was a locksmith before the war, after finishing seven classes of Polish school and a vocational school. Asked about his childhood, he says his father was a Hasid of the Stanislav rebbe. His father worked for a landowner, sent him with messages to the rebbe, and travelled to the rebbe about every two months to unburden himself.
Adds the father's work for a landowner and his visits to the rebbe.
Katz talks about his traditional wedding in 1940 with a wedding canopy set up in the rebbe’s court. He then discusses his education at the religious school (cheder) with two teachers and discusses his childhood memories, including swimming in the river and going to the bathhouse. At the Polish school, Katz also received Hebrew-language instruction.
Katz says his wedding canopy was set up at the rebbe's in Stanislav in 1940, because Soviet rule had arrived. He recalls cheder, where he learned to pray, and says some of his teachers used a whip. He then recites a prayer (Kaddish) and speaks of the four-class Polish school of Baron Hirsch, which had a Hebrew teacher. After that he describes his vocational training in Lviv and work for a private employer in Tlumach. He recalls a pond where children swam, the ritual bath and bathhouse, and its use before festivals and on Fridays; he also mentions his grandfather's death.
Adds the recited prayer, the pond, the mikveh and the grandfather's death.
Katz talks about Sabbath celebrations at home, including food customs, and shares childhood memories. His father would work in the distillery on Sabbath, taking care of the animals. Katz would help out his father. He then talks about holiday celebrations and food customs. Katz explains how the owner of the distillery owned a lake and would fish it dry once a year, providing his family with fish. When Katz discusses Purim celebrations, he recites a Purim shpiel.
Katz describes Sabbath and holidays at home. His father worked at the landowner's distillery on Sabbath, supervising the animals, and Katz sometimes helped with the production figures. His father prayed with tefillin and did not eat before praying. Katz names Sabbath and holiday foods: bread, challah, cholent and potato dishes. Kerler questions him about the potato dish called mandeburchenik, and about fish, which was expensive. The owner's lake was fished out once a year, giving a festive occasion and gefilte fish. Katz also mentions Hanukkah money, the dreidel and latkes. For Purim he describes beggars going from house to house and recites their begging rhyme twice.
Adds the potato-dish terminology, Hanukkah customs and the tefillin discussion.
Katz mentions his membership in a youth organization, Hashomer Hatzair, but cannot recall Hebrew songs. Asked about Passover at home, he says his father, a Hasid, took little interest in the Four Questions. His father worked for a Polish landowner whose name is only partly clear in the transcript.
Adds the father's attitude to the seder and the landowner's name.
