This is my mother’s identity card, issued by the Population Bureau, Kingdom of Romania - Population Bureau Iasi on 12th July 1937. Here’s what it reads: Family name Zuckerman, first name Minta, nickname, nee Moise, profession housewife, place of birth Iasi , birth date 6th October 1889, domicile in Sarariei Street no. 191, registered on 16th May 1921, age 48 years, middle height, brown hair. Signed Minta Zuckerman. Deceased on 30th April 1939.
My mother would not let a Friday evening go by without her lighting the candles. I can see her right before my eyes: she put her little shawl on her head, she lit the candles. ‘I pray for our welfare, your welfare, let us all be healthy and safe from evil!’ She would utter these words in Yiddish although my parents spoke Romanian flawlessly. Like in any Jewish house, both they and my maternal grandmother would talk in Yiddish every time they did not want us children to understand what they were talking about. My mother played the most important part in our education.
When my youngest sister was born, the birth was very difficult. They did not use the forceps to help her, and as a result she had heart problems ever since, for 15 years. She had an embolism and that was the cause of her death. She used to say: ‘Iosif, dear, my children, don’t leave me!’ I can still hear the words she said when she was aware that she had to leave us. She died in 1939.
