Rudi Katz's graduation diploma from the apprentice school in Brasov

This is my graduation diploma from the apprentice school I finished in Brasov in 1954, which qualified me as a technician. From 1946 until 1950, about four years, I was active in a Zionist organization, the Hashomer Hatzair. I prepared Jews for aliyah, and a lot of people I knew then left. I had two good friends when I came back from deportation, Zuckermann and Becker. Becker left for Israel and became an actor. I don't know what happened to Zuckermann. I also had another good friend here, in Brasov, whose name was also Katz, Misi Katz! But we weren't related in any way, he came from Maramures and had been deported to Auschwitz. He was alone, just like I was. He also left for Israel, and we kept in touch for a while. I wanted to go to Israel too, but the Zionists were always asking me to stay a bit more, because they needed me. So I ended up in Satu-Mare, and that's where I got sick with my lungs, in 1949. I was admitted into the hospital in Satu-Mare for a year, and I was also in a sanatorium in Savadisla near Cluj. When I came back to Cernauti, I studied for two years in an apprentice school under the Russian government. When we moved to Brasov, I worked as a technician at the Consumers' Co-operatives Union for a year and a half, and then at Uzina 2, a factory with military profile. While working, I finished the apprentice school here, in Brasov, in 1954, because I was allowed to take exams from two previous years in one year. In 1955 I went to the Polytechnic University in Bucharest. I did one year in Bucharest and the rest through distance learning while I worked in Brasov. I took all my exams in 1960. During this period life was hard for me; I had some acquaintances, but I had no social life. I was either working or studying for college, so until 1960 I didn't have one day off, not even Saturdays or Sundays. In the factory there was a lack of personnel; so first I worked in the tool-making department, then I was in charge of planning. I never had a day off.