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The Jewish bathhouse, the Community bathhouse was located across the street from where we lived, from my aunt’s place. It was customary for Jewish people to go to the Community bathhouse on Friday. We, the boys, went to the bathhouse on Friday as well. The bathhouse is gone, they built a block of flats where it used to be. There was a room with bathtubs, there was a room with steam – a separate one for men, a separate one for women. I mostly went to the room with steam, I didn’t go to the one with bathtubs.
They poured water so that it dripped, so that there was more steam. And those water drops burned you. You couldn’t stand the steam for long. But it was healthy, the steam was very healthy. And after you were exposed to the steam for a little while, your body burned a bit as a result of being exposed to the steam; if you wanted you could go into the other room and take a bath. There were no bathtubs in the steam room, but there were showers. That’s where I bathed, that’s where I lathered myself.
They poured water so that it dripped, so that there was more steam. And those water drops burned you. You couldn’t stand the steam for long. But it was healthy, the steam was very healthy. And after you were exposed to the steam for a little while, your body burned a bit as a result of being exposed to the steam; if you wanted you could go into the other room and take a bath. There were no bathtubs in the steam room, but there were showers. That’s where I bathed, that’s where I lathered myself.
Period
Location
Dorohoi
Romania
Interview
Simon Meer