Eva Jerochim

“For one thing we had lunches there and we liked we were eating kosher foods even though we could not abide by it except for those lunches. The food there was good, high-quality, and cheap. We met with other people, both younger and older who I was interested in even more, who had fates like ours. There did not go a lot of young people. They would come when Hanukkah and Purim were celebrated, which are more important holidays which were celebrated even during Communism even though it was not according to the Torah, there was always a celebration. There was for example a party for Hanukkah, we had an entertaining programme, music, young people met, were dancing, and talking.”

“I had this experience when children would… As my grandmother worked in an after-school club, I went to school with her in the morning and sometimes went to play there. Once children shouted at me: 'Jew, Jew!' I can remember that I asked her later at home what it (Jew) was and why they shouted it at me. Is it an insult or is it something good? Why do they say it? At that time, she told me that… I do not know if she emphasized that we were Jews. Still, she said that Jews are an intelligent nation and that Hitler envied them and that is why he wanted to kill them – that is how she explained it to me as a child – and that those children were stupid and did not know what they were saying and that they did not mean it for sure.”