Tag #116156 - Interview #100368 (Dobre Rozenbergene )

Soon our lives changed. The worst fears of my father were proven right. There was mass nationalization. Our shed was sequestrated and Father remained without his business. Good thing that my parents had stashed some lump sum of money, and the whole basement and our coop was full of food, so we weren’t so harshly affected by the changes. Uncle Max’s houses were taken away. My mother was wise to let her cousin Mere, her husband Daniel and their daughter Raya live in the second half of our house. She was the daughter of Grandmother’s sister Braina. She was much older than my mother. My mother asked for Mere’s advice regarding many things. Part of our house was given to Mere and Daniel, so the authorities had no claims on our property. At that time Grandmother lived with Fayvel’s family in Kaunas. In 1939 they sold their house and moved to Kaunas, where Grandmother Chaya Riva and uncle’s wife kept a small store. Grandmother’s store was nationalized but she wasn’t included on the deportation lists [8] as she was considered to be a petty entrepreneur.