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I was born in a little town of Mielnica Podolska [town in Tarnopol region, ca. 220km south-east of Lwow, today Melnytsya Podilska in Ukraine]. Altogether there were 5,000 people living there. Apart from Jews they were Poles and Ukrainians. The town itself was Jewish, but the surrounding area was mostly Ukrainian, with the occasional Poles. Well, the Ukrainians were the majority, the Jews made up less then a half [of the population] and there were very few Poles. The Poles just ran the offices, right. If a Pole lived in the town, he was an administrator or a warehouse manager. The policeman was Polish, the postman was Polish, they worked in the courts, or as office clerks.
Most of the Jews lived in the town. The market square, [all of its] surroundings were populated by Jews. Those were all old streets, no new buildings there. They were putting up new buildings but that was in the other part of the town. The market square had a small paved section but the rest was a swamp. When it rained, you could neither walk nor drive through it. There was a well in the center, right, and a pump, and that was it. Everyone stocked up on water there. There were some shops, a few little cafés. The cafés were owned by Jews, and the patrons were of course Jewish as well. I mean, the places were not exclusively [for Jews], but the non-Jewish population wasn’t interested in such cultured ways of spending time: [to sit] over a coffee or play some chess. Anyway, I was a very young boy back then [before the war] and that’s how I recall it. The older boys hung out at the cafés to listen to the radio and drink some soda, especially on Saturdays, right. You could croon, sing a tune [there], right. You might say it was the central point of the town, a typical spot for socializing. There was no synagogue at the square. And the rabbi didn’t live by the square, either. Well, the fairs took place there, right, lots of horses, cows, pigs you could buy, and crops. It was a small town [market]. There was a mikveh in the town, but I’ve never been there. It was somewhere near the [non-Jewish] bath house.
There were two cemeteries [in the town]: the old one, where they wouldn’t later bury anyone anymore, and the new one. Both [situated] on the outskirts. At the main road I guess, leading to the Iwanie Puste train station [ca. 7km of Mielnica]. At that time [before the war] those were the outskirts. I went to the old cemetery just to see how it looked like. You know, we’ve made a trip with the rest of the boys. And the new cemetery was only partially filled with mazevot, the graves. Neither one was particularly well kept. And anyway the Jewish cemeteries have one thing in common; they have no alleys, lanes, right. It’s all saturated, one tomb right next to the other, dense.
Most of the Jews lived in the town. The market square, [all of its] surroundings were populated by Jews. Those were all old streets, no new buildings there. They were putting up new buildings but that was in the other part of the town. The market square had a small paved section but the rest was a swamp. When it rained, you could neither walk nor drive through it. There was a well in the center, right, and a pump, and that was it. Everyone stocked up on water there. There were some shops, a few little cafés. The cafés were owned by Jews, and the patrons were of course Jewish as well. I mean, the places were not exclusively [for Jews], but the non-Jewish population wasn’t interested in such cultured ways of spending time: [to sit] over a coffee or play some chess. Anyway, I was a very young boy back then [before the war] and that’s how I recall it. The older boys hung out at the cafés to listen to the radio and drink some soda, especially on Saturdays, right. You could croon, sing a tune [there], right. You might say it was the central point of the town, a typical spot for socializing. There was no synagogue at the square. And the rabbi didn’t live by the square, either. Well, the fairs took place there, right, lots of horses, cows, pigs you could buy, and crops. It was a small town [market]. There was a mikveh in the town, but I’ve never been there. It was somewhere near the [non-Jewish] bath house.
There were two cemeteries [in the town]: the old one, where they wouldn’t later bury anyone anymore, and the new one. Both [situated] on the outskirts. At the main road I guess, leading to the Iwanie Puste train station [ca. 7km of Mielnica]. At that time [before the war] those were the outskirts. I went to the old cemetery just to see how it looked like. You know, we’ve made a trip with the rest of the boys. And the new cemetery was only partially filled with mazevot, the graves. Neither one was particularly well kept. And anyway the Jewish cemeteries have one thing in common; they have no alleys, lanes, right. It’s all saturated, one tomb right next to the other, dense.
Period
Location
Mielnica Podolska
Poland
Interview
Samuel König