Jakub Bromberg with his wife Frymeta

This is me with my wife Frymeta Kalisz. The photo was taken in Lodz in 1946 by the famous photographer Mirecki. 

First I met her brother Mietek Kalisz in Lublin. Then we met each other for a second time in Lodz, he invited me to his place and there I got accquainted with her. 

My wife was born in 1922. She came from Brzeziny near Lodz. She wasn't educated; she had just finished two grades of public school. According to the Jewish custom we were married on Tuesday, 14th August 1945. We married in Lodz. I didn't want to get married, but she blew me away. We had only known each other for a few months, but I loved her. And I was no carefree fellow. We lived in that apartment on 21 Prochnika Street. My son was born one year after we got married. But she didn't want to have a baby. She had come back from the camp and she said she didn't want to have children. 

That's how it was with my wife. She didn't want to know what the next day would bring. And I said that we should think about the future, that I didn't know if I'd have a job, if I'd be healthy. No, she only lived for today, because tomorrow the world might collapse. And there were conflicts already. When I wanted to buy her some present, she didn't need it. I wanted her to have two pairs of shoes, winter shoes and summer shoes, but she didn't want those either. Nothing. But later, when she started needing things, I'd get headaches from that. She had different advisors. I could fend for myself very well, I made money, I worked in Zalcberg's textile workshop on 13 Zeromskiego Street. When people went on holiday, I worked. On Sundays, when they went to the park, I was sitting and working. And that was the story. I had different problems with her, I avoid talking about it, because it still hurts. Anyway, I got divorced in 1952. I didn't care where she went. She met some Jew who was married to a Pole. She later had two more daughters. She lived near the Czech border, and later she left for Israel. The court gave me full custody of our son and I raised him myself. I didn't even take child support from her. 

Photos from this interviewee