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My friends were mostly of Jewish origin. To tend towards Jewish friends, that was in my case given by my living conditions. I was more or less dependent on them. Mainly on my friend Richard Heumann, who was the son of practically the richest Jewish businessman in Prievidza. The owner of the company Karpatia.
Besides this, I was a member of that Jewish scout movement, Hashomer Hatzair [8]. As an illustration, I'd like to say that on 20th October 2005 there was a reunion of former Slovak Hashomer members in Israel. And I was the only non-resident of Israel to get an invitation to this meeting. And I also participated in it, and met there a bunch of my former friends. Otherwise I was also quite friendly with non-Jewish boys. With my classmates, that is. Mainly with Jozef Hagar, later a teacher and principal of the Prievidza high school. But also with German boys like Silvester Schwezichter, up to 1938 they were basically leftists. So some nationalist tendencies didn't crop up. But as I've already said, I spent a lot of my free time at my rich friend Heumann's place. And what did we do? He had a very large record collection for those days, so we listened to music. We did a lot of sports. I concentrated on medium-distance running, 2000 and 5000 meters. But I wasn't a particularly big athlete. I was more into reading, culture and cultural affairs.
During summer holidays I usually went to Hashomer summer camp, or wandered about Slovakia. Two of us would pick up and go. We'd hike about Slovakia with one crown in our pockets and a spare pair of socks. We slept in haylofts. Sometimes people would offer us bread, butter or potatoes. In this fashion we'd sometimes wander around Slovakia for a whole month. When we weren't in that camp.
Now that I've mentioned those travels, the first time I went by car was very early on. This was because my brother Leo was a taxi driver. So quite often I would go by car. My brother drove some sort of Pragovka, in which he still had to use his arm for a turn signal. I traveled by train very early on as well. This was because every morning in 1929 I traveled from Topolcany to school in Nitra. My train left at 7 in the morning. I remember that I traveled every morning, and for a month it cost six crowns. How many times my father had to go to synagogue at 5:00 a.m., and borrow six crowns from some richer Jew, so I could buy a ticket at the train station at 6am. How many times did it happen that we had a baked potato and black coffee for breakfast. And for lunch I got fifty halers from my father. Fifty halers, I was supposed to buy my lunch with that, and I usually bought one nut croissant, which cost fifty halers. Really. That was during the worst times. Then it got a little better, when I was in Prievidza and was going to high school there.
Besides this, I was a member of that Jewish scout movement, Hashomer Hatzair [8]. As an illustration, I'd like to say that on 20th October 2005 there was a reunion of former Slovak Hashomer members in Israel. And I was the only non-resident of Israel to get an invitation to this meeting. And I also participated in it, and met there a bunch of my former friends. Otherwise I was also quite friendly with non-Jewish boys. With my classmates, that is. Mainly with Jozef Hagar, later a teacher and principal of the Prievidza high school. But also with German boys like Silvester Schwezichter, up to 1938 they were basically leftists. So some nationalist tendencies didn't crop up. But as I've already said, I spent a lot of my free time at my rich friend Heumann's place. And what did we do? He had a very large record collection for those days, so we listened to music. We did a lot of sports. I concentrated on medium-distance running, 2000 and 5000 meters. But I wasn't a particularly big athlete. I was more into reading, culture and cultural affairs.
During summer holidays I usually went to Hashomer summer camp, or wandered about Slovakia. Two of us would pick up and go. We'd hike about Slovakia with one crown in our pockets and a spare pair of socks. We slept in haylofts. Sometimes people would offer us bread, butter or potatoes. In this fashion we'd sometimes wander around Slovakia for a whole month. When we weren't in that camp.
Now that I've mentioned those travels, the first time I went by car was very early on. This was because my brother Leo was a taxi driver. So quite often I would go by car. My brother drove some sort of Pragovka, in which he still had to use his arm for a turn signal. I traveled by train very early on as well. This was because every morning in 1929 I traveled from Topolcany to school in Nitra. My train left at 7 in the morning. I remember that I traveled every morning, and for a month it cost six crowns. How many times my father had to go to synagogue at 5:00 a.m., and borrow six crowns from some richer Jew, so I could buy a ticket at the train station at 6am. How many times did it happen that we had a baked potato and black coffee for breakfast. And for lunch I got fifty halers from my father. Fifty halers, I was supposed to buy my lunch with that, and I usually bought one nut croissant, which cost fifty halers. Really. That was during the worst times. Then it got a little better, when I was in Prievidza and was going to high school there.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Alexander Bachnar