Jozef W. as a teacher in Levoca

That's me as a teacher at a Jewish primary school in Levoca. The photo was taken in 1938.

After my studies at the teacher's institute I became a teacher. I began looking for work. I found out that the Kosice Jewish community had a Jewish primary school. So I submitted at application for this school. My competition was someone by the name of Kraus. Because he knew Hebrew better than me, I didn't succeed in the competition. Finally I passed exams for Levoca, where there was a one-room school [meaning children from multiple grades studied in one classroom, and the teacher had to devote himself to each grade separately during class - Editor's note]. I taught there during the 1937/38 school year.

Originally I had inclined to Communism. I was influenced greatly by Professor Lon at the teachers' institute in Presov. The Professor was from Moravia, and was a Communist. He never concealed his convictions. During strikes he liked to discuss this theme with us. Gradually I began getting to Communist literature in Czech, and later also in German. When I became a social democrat, because also the Minister of Education at the time was a social democrat. But later I went to teach at the Jewish school in Levoca, where a member of the Zionist organization Hashomer Hatzair [7] was working, so I became a 'shomer'.