Childhood

Rezmovits speaks about the talmud torah and mentions a story he wrote in his book about a boy in his class and a teacher who beat pupils with a stick. He then turns to the Hungarian occupation of March 1944 and the family's being put into wagons.

Rezmovits talks about his ill brother in Debrecen, with whom he now speaks Hungarian. In the family only Yiddish was spoken, but outside Jewish children were beaten by non-Jewish boys, so he learned to speak Hungarian and to box. Debrecen is described as an antisemitic town. In the talmud torah he studied Humash, Rashi and some Gemara and learned to write Yiddish. He says he was pious as a boy and gives the reason he lost his faith.

Rezmovit recalls learning to play the harmonica at about age ten in Debrecen from a Gypsy boy of fifteen or sixteen who spoke Hungarian. He tells a joke about advice he gave the boy. He remarks that Jewish children, even under oppression, sought some joy.

Gross says his father was a carpenter and gives his name; the family also had a little land. He recalls how Sabbath afternoons were spent and the Sabbath examination, and he names the godfather at his circumcision, a prominent man in Vaja related to the rebbe by marriage. He states his birth year, 1920.

Gross names his cheder teachers and says teachers used a stick. He describes the school day: early morning cheder, then Hungarian state school, and cheder again until evening. He lists what was studied (Humash, Rashi, Gemara, Tosafot), and says he later learned to read the Torah, and he still remembers some of it.

Gross answers questions about yeshiva life: he did not find studying hard, read little in Hebrew, and does not know the word shaymes. He says he went home for holidays and spent four months at home, and gives the number of terms in each yeshiva town. He talks about the cost of yeshiva education today in America and mentions that a brother's family in New Jersey is paying for it.

The formal interview begins. Smajovics says he lived in Velyka Kopanya, ten kilometers from Vynohradiv, gives his birth year as 1922, his Hungarian and Yiddish names and the nickname Bumi, and names a man from Debrecen with Maramureş parents. He explains that his mother was an orphan, and that his father, a field worker who broke in horses, was killed by them in 1926, leaving four children.

Smajovics talks about his education. He began cheder at four, following his older brother. He learned to pray early and was taught by the dayan, then celebrated his bar mitzvah in Adar. He then attended the local yeshiva until about 1938. He also says his grandfather was not a Hasidic man.

Answering Kerler's questions, Smajovics says he went to cheder from age four and to the Czech school from four and a half until 1936, and kept to cheder until 1938. He describes learning to write and reckon, and working in the fields after the 1938 mobilization. He started his blacksmith apprenticeship at seventeen in 1939 and worked until 1942.

Smajovics says he sang with his friends on Sabbath afternoons, learned Hungarian songs from his Hungarian master without knowing the words, and remembers little of them. He describes Purim in the village: baking 'kindlekh' with honey (a dough with honey cut into pieces), Purim plays by children and older boys, and collecting money for the poor with a sack. Kerler asks about words for these customs.

Herbst recalls how at about age ten or eleven he went to cheder in Rakhiv, sleeping at the melamed's house and eating 'days' with different families, including a rich sawmill owner. He attended four classes of the school in Berlabash, then a year in Rakhiv and a year in Oyber-Vishev (Vișeu de Sus), where his sister lived and he was near a large yeshiva. He recounts a fight in which yeshiva students drove off hostile attackers.

Gotlieb recalls prewar childhood: listening to cantors in the synagogue and preparing for Passover with separate dishes, the four questions asked by the youngest, and new clothes. She describes going from house to house in a mask at Purim to deliver food gifts. At Kerler's request she recites a Purim rhyme and a verse from a Purim shpil, repeating it slowly several times so he can write it down.

Gotlieb answers questions about the baked goods her mother made, which she calls very fine, and about wine and brandy (palinka). She then speaks about healing customs. As a very sick child she was given a red ribbon from Jerusalem and prayers were said for her. She and Kerler discuss extinguishing coals in water as a remedy, and the havdalah custom of putting money in the pocket for a blessing.

Rezmovits talks about prewar Debrecen and his Jewish community, including an episode of his mother and the ritual slaughterer. He describes his mother's humor and patience, and how she managed six children while his father was in forced labor. The family lived in a long courtyard on a street in Debrecen. He and Kerler discuss the word for a snack (a Hungarian-Yiddish word, "yaznt").

Rezmovits discusses cheder and prewar religious education in Debrecen, especially his teacher Reb Falkovitsh (?). He recalls being caught reading a novel under the table and the teacher's reaction, and describes his harsh but respected melamed, who taught Humash, Rashi and some Gemara. He mentions other melamed names, and says the last year brought the worst beatings. The Germans occupied Hungary on March 19, 1944.

Deutsch is asked about a Hungarian Hasidic melody but says he cannot recall it. He explains that he knew little German, that his grandmother knew it, and that his parents spoke it to keep things from the children. He describes four years of cheder, where prayers were learned without translation and Bible stories about Saul, David and Goliath were told, and a children's illustrated book.

Gotlieb names the dreidel as the Hanukkah game of her childhood (in the form 'trendele'). Kerler looks at a booklet about the Yismach Moshe, and Gotlieb mentions her son, who died at forty-eight. The name of her hometown is garbled, and Kerler asks what she remembers of it and its childhood years.

Gotlieb recalls childhood years and a song about her little town (rendered as Belz?). She says she visits the grave of the Yismach Moshe every few months to pray for health. She describes keeping Sabbath with kiddush and havdalah as she learned it from her mother, and says her sisters stayed behind.

Gotlieb recalls Sukkot at home: she says she built the family sukkah with decorations while her father slept in it. She then answers questions about the sukkah roof, Hoshana Rabbah and Passover, including the seder, the four questions and the song about the kid goat, which she remembers only in part.

Gotlieb recites the Purim shpiel verses that children sang in her home town, and answers questions about when and how it was performed, with children going from house to house. She and S2 also describe prewar Passover and Purim customs of charitable collections, such as for a poor bride's dowry, and getting new clothes for Passover.

Blobshteyn recalls prewar Jewish streets in Mukacheve, where Jews outnumbered non-Jews, and non-Jewish boys who attended cheder and whose mothers spoke Yiddish. He tells of summer lessons outdoors, the melamed napping, and boys bathing in the river Latorica. Kerler asks why non-Jewish children were in cheder, and the answer has to do with friendship. A non-Jewish neighbor and the tobacco factory are mentioned. Kerler starts a question about the father's shop.

Blobshteyn says he rarely left Mukacheve as a young man, but went by train or bus for football matches, to Uzhhorod and Berehove (Beregszász). Kerler and he discuss bus fares, kreuzers and the Czech crown, and Kerler asks about the Yiddish of Jews from smaller places who came to Mukacheve.

Blobshteyn describes remedies against the evil eye, including a red ribbon on children's wrists and sprinkling a child with water and charcoal. He discusses the 'bad year' and 'good year' and the nights of non-Jewish holidays, when Jews did not fear going out. He tells of a drunken non-Jew who made a disturbance in the klayzl (prayer house) one Friday night, was beaten and thrown out, and came on Monday to ask forgiveness. He ends by contrasting the hard-working boys of that time with those today.

Blobshteyn describes taking a live turkey with his brother to the rabbi to be blessed at Purim, and how his mother sold the turkeys after the holiday to buy shirts for the children. His mother sewed all the children's clothes on an old Singer machine. He describes Sabbath afternoons, when old women sat on benches in the street and talked, and says that girls also went to a special cheder taught by pious women. He recalls the decorative papercut (mizrekh) on the wall.

Blobshteyn describes Purim in his town: wealthier Jews went around with two Roma musicians and Purim players to collect money for matzo for the poor, while children went around with Purim plays and received small coins and sweets. He tells a story from his childhood about his mother hiding honey cakes and his taking the key. Kerler also asks about Purim plays, and Blobshteyn recalls the sung greetings and rewards.

Smajovics recalls conflict in the cheder over Ashkenazi versus Sephardic ways, and starting cheder at four. His father, a carter, was killed by his own horses, leaving the mother with small children. He names his brother, who later emigrated to Israel. He speaks about his grandparents, including his grandfather who had been an officer in the Hungarian army, and his grandmother, who gave overnight lodging to poor travelers. He also tells a story about a bearded man. The family had eight children.

Smajovics describes his early schooling: cheder from age four, Czech primary school from six, and a long day of prayer and study starting before dawn. After his bar mitzvah his grandfather placed him in a higher cheder, which he calls a small yeshiva, until the age of sixteen. He distinguishes the talmud torah as a school for children who could not pay.

Herbst answers Kerler's question about who taught him in prewar days. He describes going to a cheder in Rakhiv, nine kilometres away, and eating at different homes, then attending the yeshiva in Oyber-Visheve, where he studied Chumash, Rashi and Talmud. He recalls visiting rabbis and the Friday-night meals.

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.

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.

Kerler asks about life in Munkács before the war; David says it was good, and S2 notes that things changed after the camp. She recalls her mother forbidding the children to go to the Latorca river, with talk of whirlpools and swimming. They discuss the languages she knows: Hungarian above all, a little Russian and Czech, with Munkács a multilingual town. She speaks of trips to America (twice), Israel (four times) and Canada, and of relatives there, including cousins' children and twins, a young man who spent months on a kibbutz, and a woman named Elke (?). The last part is a Hungarian exchange about offering food.

Galambos continues describing his schedule as a child, with school and cheder every day from age six, and says he had little real childhood. He also describes Sabbath afternoons at cheder. Kerler asks whether certain texts were said with a melody, and Galambos has not heard that.

Galambos answers questions about which prayers and Sabbath rituals were sung with a melody, such as Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Friday night and kiddush. He sings a song about the town of Belz and childhood there. They then mention a brother who has died, and Kerler asks about his years in yeshiva.

Bukshpun answers dialect questions on words for ill and weak, flee, converts, rose, people and 'the four of us'. He reflects that life was good before the war, with bread and milk, and that after losing his parents at fourteen he suffered hardship. He talks about butter, cheese and goose fat, stuffed ducks and onions, no mamaliga, a Romanian school director, bees and sheep, songs, and his brother's bar mitzvah at the uncle's house, not his own.

Mester recalls Passover: her father stayed up praying after the seder, and she stole the afikoman and was paid for it. She talks about the village's Jewish families, saying there were seven in all, and about the shops, mill and fields. She says there was no Yiddish library, and Kerler asks about Jews in the tavern.

Asked by Kerler for a tale about his grandfather, Abelsky describes a childhood episode near their Moscow home and a tram accident. He then tells how his grandfather was reputed for learning, how Mitnagdim feared him and how he sent emissaries to Ukrainian yeshivas. He also tells an anecdote about a melamed and sour cream, and recalls growing up in a Hasidic atmosphere.

Lipovetskiy talks about his family and the street in Chișinău where they lived before the war. His father had horses and a wagon and then worked at a factory (name unclear). He names his mother and her father, a rabbi, and recalls a great-uncle who went to Eretz Yisrael in the 1880s (?) and died there, and his grandmother, who sent him to talmud torah.

Answering questions about Purim and Simchat Torah, Kishlyansky recites the opening lines of a Purim play. He recalls Simchat Torah children's flags with an apple and costumed Purim players going door to door. Kerler asks him to repeat the lines on camera. He says people neither prayed nor sang in the camp, only wept.

Gordin recalls holiday customs: Passover preparations and the removal of bread, and delivering Purim gifts for which he received money. He describes the postwar Purim after his father's death, making Simchat Torah lanterns from pumpkins, and a Purim rhyme children recited. He also mentions Rosh Hashanah and Hanukkah money. He closes by noting that the war began when he was five.

Gordin recites a short Yiddish poem he knows from childhood, about a grandmother and her grandchildren with apples and berries, and repeats it at Katz's request. He then recites a Hebrew poem built on repeated word pairs. He offers a school piece in Romanian or French but says he did not study Yiddish formally.

Kerler asks what games Sherman played as a child; he does not remember. He confirms that the Soviets set the road and the town on fire in 1941 to deny it to the Germans. He then describes the cheder: a poor rebbe, a plain table and the children learning Yiddish, Torah and blessings. He can no longer recall the prayers but says he reads Yiddish and Hebrew.

Sherman says his mother did not sing to the children, because life was hard and earning a living the main worry. His parents were born near Telenești, and his grandparents are said to have come from Poland. He met his future wife while studying in Orhei, through friends; they married before the war in a civil ceremony without a chuppah.

Diner talks about her childhood in Fălești. Her maternal grandfather Yosef Moldover took in her mother from Edineț as a child, and she names her grandmothers and says whom she was named after. She describes her father as a respected man whom people consulted to settle disputes instead of going to court. She says she attended a Romanian primary school and then a Romanian gymnasium, four years each.

Diner talks about her mother's cooking, including gefilte fish on Sabbath, kugel, tarts and bagels, and says she moved to Chișinău in 1965. She recalls her sister and brother coming home in the summers from the conservatory in Bucharest with their friends to play and sing operetta and opera. Her father wanted her to become a doctor, which is why she later could not study in Siberia.

Mitlaeva describes her early schooling. Her mother taught her the Yiddish alphabet, and at seven she went to a Yiddish school with a woman director, named Rezhnik (?). The school shared a building with a Romanian one, and she attended the afternoon Yiddish classes for about half a year until the school was made Romanian by decree. She names her Yiddish and Romanian teachers. She also recalls a ceremony with three priests who came to bless the school.

Mitlaeva talks about another non-Jewish neighbour, a Romanian woman of Jewish origin, and about a vocational Yiddish school where Yiddish and world literature were taught. She lists the languages she knew, attended a French lycée and describes taking the baccalaureate in 1936 with several hundred candidates. A Karaite friend paid the fee, and she was rewarded with gifts and a dress. She describes the written and oral exams.

Muchnik speaks about the underground Zionist group Gordonia in the gymnasium years, which had the Hebrew name Kvutsa (?) and was visited by a representative from Chișinău. She recalls a blessing said to be given by a rebbe, and the start of the war. She and her sister left on foot while her parents stayed. Asked by Lemster and Kerler about Sabbath songs, she returns to the seder and her childhood effort to see Elijah the Prophet.

Muchnik describes the family sukkah built by her mother, with her father busy in his workshop, and her brother killed at about twenty. Meals were eaten there. She recalls Passover preparations, the special dishes brought down from the attic, the hungry day of Passover eve and her aunt feeding her. Asked about Hanukkah, she says her mother made various pastries and she describes receiving small sums of money for ice cream.

Muchnik talks about her family and her older brother Haim, a Zionist who prepared to go to Palestine as a chalutz. She tells of an evening walk with him to the river, a key he made so he could come home late, and a police episode. She also mentions a sister who studied in Bucharest and another brother who later studied in Palestine. At the end she begins to speak of the Romanian fascists in the years before the war.

Muchnik tells how, after a school year when she received no prize book, a parcel slip from Bucharest led to a post-office package of books from the royal publishers. This became the start of her own library. She says she now reads mainly Russian, never read Yiddish, and studied French and German at the gymnasium.

Asked about his childhood, Goldman says he worked in a textile shop before the war. He attended Gordonia meetings in Ialoveni and was due to leave for Eretz Yisrael in 1939, but his parents asked him to stay another year, and then the war began. He studied with a private Jewish teacher in the teacher's home for four years, learning Yiddish, Hebrew and prayer, with perhaps fifteen or twenty other children.

Goldman recalls her childhood schooling: four years in a Romanian primary school from age seven, then a Yiddish professional school where she learned reading and writing in Yiddish and trained as a tailor. She describes the school, its building later turned into a museum, and staying with an uncle named Yisroel and his family, with Sabbath candle-blessing there.

Benderskaia recounts her schooling in the 1930s, a broken arm, and her father's Romanian citizenship hearing, then flight on foot with the Russians' arrival. Benderskij describes cheder, where the pupils played tricks on the old rebbe, and his grandfather. Kerler asks about corporal punishment, and Benderskij starts on children carrying food at the holidays.

Answering Lemster, Dajch describes Jewish life in Nisporeni: the old and new synagogues, one for the poorer and one for the wealthier, and her mother's synagogue attendance. She recalls Rosh Hashanah customs and lanterns, a brother's disapproval of a boy's bicycle, and the Jewish population with its shops, taverns and a few craftsmen. She tells of a Greek baker who was friendly to Jews and who taught her mother to trade grain for flour.

Dajch answers terminology questions, with Kerler asking for the Yiddish word for a Romanian term. She says she was in Iași from 1931 to 1936 and describes going to the national theatre there to hear Joseph Schmidt. She recalls Purim, with gypsy musicians going from house to house, children in masks and a Purim rhyme, and Sukkot customs, including the shoykhet's rounds, Hoshana Rabba and the shofar.

Rotner talks about her schooling in Chiperceni, a Romanian school plus a cheder that she and her sister attended with a small group of Jewish children. She says she played with Christian neighbours, with whom relations were good. She also remembers Jewish life in the village as good, with weddings and synagogue attendance.