The first part of the tape is a continuation of a formal interview with Genrykh Kalmanovich Zinger in Uzhhorod. Zinger talks about life before the war and about antisemitism. He states that the relationship between Jews and non-Jews was mostly peaceful. He then talks about life today and the food assistance from Switzerland.
Zinger says he never smoked or drank. He answers Katz's questions about prewar antisemitism: Jews were blamed for things, but he says nothing very terrible happened. Kerler asks about blood libel and about Yiddish words for non-Jews (goyim, orelim). Zinger then speaks of Swiss visitors who bring food aid and help Jews emigrate to Israel, and mentions a visit to his son there.
Includes Kerler's questions on blood libel and Yiddish terms for non-Jews, and Zinger's remarks on losing his Yiddish.
Zinger continues to talk about life today and his family. His daughter lives in Uzhhorod. He visited his son in Israel once, supported by a Swiss organization.
Zinger talks about his trip to Israel with the Swiss group, flying from Budapest about six years earlier, and his two-month stay with his son near Tel Aviv. He describes his son's work at a bank, their contact and his grandchildren. He speaks of his late wife and his daughter, who cares for him in Uzhhorod. He recalls the Mukacheve rebbe's food assistance, funded by the Joint and since ended.
Includes the Mukacheve rebbe's food distribution funded by the Joint.
Zinger is asked what he remembers of prayer; he gives a few opening words of the Sabbath service and recites part of kaddish, which he said for a year for his wife. He then answers Kerler's questions about Purim, saying everyone including the rabbi is drunk nowadays. He recalls children going from house to house with a Purim play and gives a fragment of its rhyme. The passage ends with a short exchange on how "a bissl" was said and a question about Hasidim.
Adds kaddish recitation, a fragment of the Purim play and a short exchange on Yiddish word forms.
Zinger talks about Hasidism and Zionist organizations before the war. He remembers the rebbe of Mukacheve visiting Velykyi Bereznyi. Zinger remembers Zionist organizations who would prepare children for aliyah. Before Zinger was drafted into the Czech army in 1936, he spent two years in Hachshara (a preparatory camp for emigration to Palestine) in Czechoslovakia, where he learned Hebrew and worked in a textile factory.
Zinger remembers a rebbe who visited the town, possibly from Mukacheve; he is not sure. He recalls Zionist organizing of children for aliyah, where they learned dance, song and Hebrew. He did two years of Hachshara in Czechoslovakia in a tailoring factory, learning Hebrew there and serving in the Czech army. He names songs such as hora and Hatikvah. Kerler then asks about cheder.
The year of the draft is not clearly stated in the transcript; adds songs learned and Zinger's recent help with Hebrew words for a teacher.
Zinger talks about his religious school (cheder) education and life today. He talks about Jewish political organizations before the war, such as Hashomer hatzair.
Zinger answers questions about cheder, recalling that the rebbe hit pupils with a small stick, and about the dozen-odd Jewish organizations. He mentions a payment from the rabbi for early prayer that he cannot take up because of illness. Kerler asks about the Bund and Jewish Communists; Zinger says many were communists and that a nephew went to Spain. He recalls Hashomer Hatzair and girls, cannot recall a song about the attic, and speaks briefly in Russian-flavoured chat. Katz asks about Sabbath songs and Zinger starts on a shoykhet.
Adds the Bund and communists, a nephew going to Spain, and the aid payment for attending prayer.
Zinger discusses Jewish life before the war, in particular Jewish occupations. He recites blessings. He remembers the praying of the local shoykhet (kosher butcher).
Zinger recalls the local shoykhet's prayer and recites the Shema and blessings. He tells how he was called to the haftarah and gives details of his bar mitzvah. He remembers a tailor and his parents, who perished. He speaks of Velykyi Bereznyi's trades and professions, naming a tailor, shoemaker, tinsmith and the Jewish doctor Munk. Kerler asks about a folk remedy, "quenching coals", and Zinger explains it. He mentions Hungarian interviewers and the cassettes he received from America. He tells of visiting his wife's grave and the Yiddish headstone designed by a rabbi.
Adds the bar-mitzvah details, folk remedy, trades of Velykyi Bereznyi, earlier Hungarian interviewers and his wife's gravestone.
Zinger describes his father's work as a stonecutter of simple tombstones at the cemetery of his hometown. He says some of the stones still stand, as he saw three years ago, and speaks of black marble stones made in Uzhhorod, including his wife's. Katz and Kerler close the interview with good wishes and thanks. Zinger says his daughter tells him not to tire himself and that the questions reminded him of Yiddishkayt and Yiddish words.
Adds the end-of-interview thanks, his wife's marble headstone and his reflection on Yiddish.
The second part of the tape is a formal interview with Malke Leybovna Snook in Khust. The team enters Snook’s house in order to set up the interview. She talks about life today.
The team enters Snook's house in Khust and is greeted. Kerler and Snook exchange greetings and talk about her health and refreshments. She mentions the Yiddish newspaper, which another woman reads for her, and Kerler comments on the small print. Snook says she will sing a song.
Snook sings a Yiddish song about the bride and marriage. Snook then talks about life after the war. In particular, she addresses life during the drought in 1946 and the famine in 1947. Snook then talks about her family, in particular her husband. After the war, she and her husband worked with horses and sold different materials. Her children live in Israel.
Snook sings a humorous Yiddish song about a bride and marriage. Kerler asks when it was told; he suggests Purim. She then tells of postwar hardship: neighbours bringing milk and cheese, her husband trading a wagon of wood for flour, the drought of 1946 and the hunger of 1947. She gives the word for potatoes, her husband's piety, and the trades she and her husband followed with horses and goods. Katz asks for another song.
Adds neighbours' help, the potato terminology exchange and her late husband's religious observance.
Snook sings a Yiddish song about the longings of love. She then remembers her return with her husband home after World War II. Her husband slowly rebuilt life. She discusses family and life today.
Snook sings a Yiddish song of longing and lovers' letters from America. She recalls returning home from the war naked and barefoot and how her husband slowly rebuilt their life. She speaks of her children and her daughter-in-law, a teacher from Svaliava (?). Her family is abroad. She describes the life of children abroad, and says a Christian neighbour helped her with pills.
Adds the daughter-in-law, a teacher, her children abroad and the neighbour who gave her pills.
