Selected text
Grandmother's oldest son, Vojtech Weiss, was born in 1908 in Prievidza. He
was a lawyer. Before the war he went with his brothers to Tanger, Morocco.
They were businessmen in some international trading zone.
The second son, Alexander, born in 1910, worked in Slovakia as a sales
representative of the Bata Company, and he spent the war years in Indochina
and Saigon, Vietnam. He died in Casablanca, Morocco, in the 1960s.
Edmund Weiss, the third brother, was born in 1912, and worked as a director
of the Bata Company for Moravia and Slovakia, but was also managing the
partnership with his brothers in Morocco, who stayed there when the war
broke out in Europe. You could say that their business saved their lives,
thanks to the fact they had started as Bata representatives before the war.
By working abroad, they avoided deportations and the Holocaust.
The fourth son was Tibor. He was born in 1914 in Prievidza. He worked as a
sales representative for a company in Slovakia. He was deported from Zilina
and died in Auschwitz.
The youngest son, Ladislav, was born in 1916. He was a lawyer. He studied
in Prague at the Charles University, and after graduating from the law
school he also went to Casablanca, Morocco, following his brothers, and was
lucky escape the atrocities of war and the Holocaust. After liberation, he
came back as an enthusiastic builder of Czechoslovakia. Nevertheless, he
was persecuted, fired from his work, and forced to find a job as an
unskilled worker. After some time, he was rehabilitated. Today he is 83,
lives in Prague and is married to a woman who is not Jewish. They don't
have children.
The youngest child in the family is my Aunt Josefína. She was born in 1920.
She survived the Holocaust and lives in Cologne, Germany, where she
emigrated in 1968 or 1969. She followed her children, who emigrated to
Germany some time earlier.
was a lawyer. Before the war he went with his brothers to Tanger, Morocco.
They were businessmen in some international trading zone.
The second son, Alexander, born in 1910, worked in Slovakia as a sales
representative of the Bata Company, and he spent the war years in Indochina
and Saigon, Vietnam. He died in Casablanca, Morocco, in the 1960s.
Edmund Weiss, the third brother, was born in 1912, and worked as a director
of the Bata Company for Moravia and Slovakia, but was also managing the
partnership with his brothers in Morocco, who stayed there when the war
broke out in Europe. You could say that their business saved their lives,
thanks to the fact they had started as Bata representatives before the war.
By working abroad, they avoided deportations and the Holocaust.
The fourth son was Tibor. He was born in 1914 in Prievidza. He worked as a
sales representative for a company in Slovakia. He was deported from Zilina
and died in Auschwitz.
The youngest son, Ladislav, was born in 1916. He was a lawyer. He studied
in Prague at the Charles University, and after graduating from the law
school he also went to Casablanca, Morocco, following his brothers, and was
lucky escape the atrocities of war and the Holocaust. After liberation, he
came back as an enthusiastic builder of Czechoslovakia. Nevertheless, he
was persecuted, fired from his work, and forced to find a job as an
unskilled worker. After some time, he was rehabilitated. Today he is 83,
lives in Prague and is married to a woman who is not Jewish. They don't
have children.
The youngest child in the family is my Aunt Josefína. She was born in 1920.
She survived the Holocaust and lives in Cologne, Germany, where she
emigrated in 1968 or 1969. She followed her children, who emigrated to
Germany some time earlier.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
pavol skalicky