Dobre Rozenbergene with her daughter Brocha Mere and son Motle

This is me, Dobre Rozenbergene, with my children - daughter Brocha Mere and son Motle - by our house in the late 1950s in the town of Shakiai, where we were living at that time.

I got married in 1946. My husband worked as a deputy chairman of the district administration of the Consumer’s Council. He was a very honest, decent and literate man, so the leaders appreciated him. When anti-Semitic campaigns commenced in the country, we were also affected by them. It turned out that my uncle Iosif from the USA was looking for me at that time. He was happy to find me alive. He wrote me a letter, saying that he was old and couldn’t come for a visit, but he was willing to help us. Iosif started sending us parcels. At that time any relationship with capitalist counties was unacceptable, especially for Party members. My husband was called in front of the municipal committee, where he was reminded that his wife came from a rich family. Sholom got away with a stringent reprimand, but he was fired. He was unemployed for one year and only a year after Stalin’s death [1953] he was offered a job in another town.

He was transferred to the small town of Sakiai, not far from Kaunas. I sold the second half of the house and we moved to a new place. Sholom became the chairman of the district administration of the Consumer’s Council in that town. We were provided with lodging right away: a half of a good house. The children went to school and I had a chance to start working. I went to work for a small bakery as a baker. I worked there for six years.

We spoke Yiddish at home so it was the mother tongue of my children. My children were raised as true Jews. They were proud of their purely Jewish names and even didn’t try changing them for any comfortable European ones. At school they were called Mere and Motle. My children didn’t feel even an iota of the anti-Semitism that we had to feel. Both of them went to school, where there were a lot of Jews. There was a very friendly and warm relationship between the Jews and other nationalities. My daughter was very active. She took part in all possible extra-curricular activities. Upon graduation both of them entered a university – my son went to Kaunas Polytechnic Institute, construction department, and my daughter to Vilnius University.