The Blum family in Fizesul Gherlei
In this photo I am together with my family: my wife Rozalia and my only child, Berta. the photo was taken when Berta was 2 years 6 months old. We are in yard of the house were I was born in.
Here's how I met my wife. I had come back from the army to Fizesul Gherlei, but there were no Jewish girls in the village anymore.
As you can imagine, back then, it was considered a shame for a Jew to marry someone who wasn't Jewish. There were cases of Jews marrying Christian girls, but they were very rare. Nevertheless, I didn't find the thought of spending my entire life alone appealing at all.
So I found me a Christian girl. Her name was Rozalia, nee Hideg. She was born on 16 September 1933 in Fizesul Gherlei. Hungarian was her native tongue.
One of her uncles was a neighbor of ours and that's how I met her. After courting her properly, I asked her if she wanted to marry me. She said yes. She had no income.
As for me, thanks to my trade, I did have nice clothes, but that was it - I had no fortune. So I told her:
'Take a good look at me and think it over. I have nothing except the house where I grew up.' She was poor too, but that didn't matter.
We went to the mayor's office and got married. We didn't have a religious ceremony because it's not allowed for a Jew [in case of a mixed marriage]. We got married in 1952. We've been together for 53 years now.
Berta, was born in 9 December 1955. She went to college in Bucharest and got a degree in economic cybernetics. She is not 'officially' Jewish - according to the Jewish tradition, you are a Jew only if your mother is Jewish.
However, we registered her as Jewish in school. She now lives and works in Oradea. She's married to Francisc, a man who has both Romanian and Hungarian origins. Her surname as a married woman is Marian.
They both have decent jobs, but they're not rich or anything… My daughter thinks of herself as Jewish. She has a son, Petrisor, who has just graduated from college.
He's into commerce, just like his mother. She raised him as a Jew.