This is a photo of my certificate from the Jewish primary school in Zilina, dated 1929.
Hungarian was my mother tongue, because my father had graduated from the University in Budapest and my mother went to a Hungarian school during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I had a governess who taught me German. I only began to learn Slovakian when I started attending the first grade of primary school. After elementary school I enrolled in a secondary school. I didn't have any problems with Slovakian. I graduated on May 25, 1937.
As a young boy I was a member of the Makabi, where we practiced gymnastics and athletics, and which was part of the Zionist society Makabi Hazair . The members of the organization went on picnics, and camping trips where we were taught dances, songs, Hebrew language and history. In 1937 I participated in the Makabiada in Zilina and every year I went to the Makabi Hazair camp. After 1940 this was interrupted because of the German occupation of Slovakia.
Pavel Sendrei's certificate from the Jewish primary school
The Centropa Collection at USHMM
The Centropa archive has been acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. USHMM will soon offer a Special Collections page for Centropa.
Academics please note: USHMM can provide you with original language word-for-word transcripts and high resolution photographs. All publications should be credited: "From the Centropa Collection at the United States Memorial Museum in Washington, DC".
Please contact collection [at] centropa.org (collection[at]centropa[dot]org).