Martin Glas

Czech Republic
Interviewed in Prague in 2004 by Lenka Koprivová

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View the family pictures here.

“Suddenly all the boys my age turned their backs on me, and refused to talk with me at all.”

After the Germans occupied Prague in March 1939, which of the restrictions made me the most miserable? Maybe for some school-age readers this may seem incredible, but the thing that had the worst impact on me was that I wasn't allowed to go to school. When I was little, I used to dream of skipping school. But once you’re not allowed to go to school—just because of your religion—now that’s something else!

But I have to say that if the children my age would have kept on playing with me—even after being expelled—it wouldn't have been so terrible. But suddenly all the boys my age turned their backs on me, and refused to talk with me at all. A few girls let me play with them for another few days after that, but then just as suddenly they started avoiding me, too. Ten years old, that’s how old I was.

Then came the name-calling and the taunting by my old pals and playmates. ‘Stinking Jew!’ they would yell at me from across the street when they saw me. I was devastated. I was completely alone. I was so lonely that I volunteered to help in a church, and helped a priest do some odd jobs around there, but then, of course, Jews couldn’t ride the tram anymore, so I couldn’t do that either. In fact, the only thing I was allowed to do was sleep, breathe, and eat our meager rations.

Glas ended up being shipped with his family to Terezin in April of 1942. He and his mother survived the war and returned home afterwards.