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But we always kept kosher. I went to a Hebrew school, to the synagogue, so I knew about those things. I spoke Hebrew, I’ve had a bar mitzvah. It was very ceremonial but not at home. In the year following my bar mitzvah I had to regularly pray at the synagogue. Later it was not so regularly. Checkered, I’d say.
We spoke Yiddish at home so I’m not really sure how and when I’ve learned Polish. Well, it was broken Polish at first, [a mixture of] Polish and Jewish [Yiddish] with the Ukrainian lilt. [My command of the language] has developed gradually but I can’t precisely describe [how and when]. Besides, we had various [of various ethnicities] neighbors. For example our closest neighbor was the school’s principal. A Pole. He often invited us [the children] over. We helped him out, raked over his garden a little, right. Well, I have somehow learned Polish. I do speak it.
We spoke Yiddish at home so I’m not really sure how and when I’ve learned Polish. Well, it was broken Polish at first, [a mixture of] Polish and Jewish [Yiddish] with the Ukrainian lilt. [My command of the language] has developed gradually but I can’t precisely describe [how and when]. Besides, we had various [of various ethnicities] neighbors. For example our closest neighbor was the school’s principal. A Pole. He often invited us [the children] over. We helped him out, raked over his garden a little, right. Well, I have somehow learned Polish. I do speak it.
Period
Location
Poland
Interview
Samuel König