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After my finals I tried to earn a living, because we had no money. First I spent 6 months doing a commercial course on Florianska Street, because it looked as though I was going to have to go out to work instead of to university. I only went to university a year later. I don’t even know that I took an exam… I don’t think there was an exam, just your school-leaving certificate.
I went for Polish, out of curiosity, out of interest, because I liked Mr. Felzhorn [Feldhorn], who’d taught us Polish at gymnasium. I have pleasant memories of my time at university, though I didn’t really take too much interest in my studies. We had Greek in the first year. Just the first year. And because you had to have a minor, and I’d learnt German at gymnasium, I enrolled for German. I already had the basics.
I only came into contact with anti-Semitism acutely at the university. There were these riots, Jewish pogroms – this one Jewish guy was even killed in Cracow, that was in 1932. They even closed the University down. That happened in the spring sometime, because it was a bit warmer. This funeral, terrible. I went – all of Cracow went, not just the Jewish youth. 2,000 people, apparently.
All the socialist youth, communist – you didn’t say ‘communist’ out loud at that stage. I don’t remember his name. What he studied? I don’t remember, law probably, because the Jews mostly did law – Jews weren’t accepted onto medicine.
I went for Polish, out of curiosity, out of interest, because I liked Mr. Felzhorn [Feldhorn], who’d taught us Polish at gymnasium. I have pleasant memories of my time at university, though I didn’t really take too much interest in my studies. We had Greek in the first year. Just the first year. And because you had to have a minor, and I’d learnt German at gymnasium, I enrolled for German. I already had the basics.
I only came into contact with anti-Semitism acutely at the university. There were these riots, Jewish pogroms – this one Jewish guy was even killed in Cracow, that was in 1932. They even closed the University down. That happened in the spring sometime, because it was a bit warmer. This funeral, terrible. I went – all of Cracow went, not just the Jewish youth. 2,000 people, apparently.
All the socialist youth, communist – you didn’t say ‘communist’ out loud at that stage. I don’t remember his name. What he studied? I don’t remember, law probably, because the Jews mostly did law – Jews weren’t accepted onto medicine.
Period
Interview
Emilia Leibel