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There was a hallway next to the entrance and two apartments with entrances from the hall. Our apartment was maybe a bit bigger than this room of mine [approx. 20 sqm] and so many people – nine of us – living there. Us, that is parents and seven children, we lived in the room downstairs.
There was a stove for cooking and for heating. And you’d use wood for heating, not coal. On Mondays peasants used to bring wood from the forest and sell it. Only rich Jews could afford it, the poor ones would have to buy branches. We were those poor ones. We later had saws, so we had to saw this wood ourselves. I remember, because I helped Father and my brothers. There was no electricity and you’d have to bring water from the well. The well was on Dolny Rynek. I had a so-called ‘kuromyslo’ [archaic Polish word], a kind of wooden harness with wire hooks and I had to carry the water in that. And when you did the laundry, you’d carry it to the river for rinsing. There were machines that Father worked on, a table where you had to get everything ready. There wasn’t much furniture – a cupboard, a table, three beds – because we didn’t have room for anything more. Three, four people slept in one bed and I always slept with Father. And there was a cradle; I had to rock my dear sister.
There was a stove for cooking and for heating. And you’d use wood for heating, not coal. On Mondays peasants used to bring wood from the forest and sell it. Only rich Jews could afford it, the poor ones would have to buy branches. We were those poor ones. We later had saws, so we had to saw this wood ourselves. I remember, because I helped Father and my brothers. There was no electricity and you’d have to bring water from the well. The well was on Dolny Rynek. I had a so-called ‘kuromyslo’ [archaic Polish word], a kind of wooden harness with wire hooks and I had to carry the water in that. And when you did the laundry, you’d carry it to the river for rinsing. There were machines that Father worked on, a table where you had to get everything ready. There wasn’t much furniture – a cupboard, a table, three beds – because we didn’t have room for anything more. Three, four people slept in one bed and I always slept with Father. And there was a cradle; I had to rock my dear sister.
Period
Interview
Jakub Bromberg