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In 1957 my first son, Ivan Schvalb, was born. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, specializing in allergology. He has a private practice here in Presov. His wife Ludmila is a high school teacher. They have two sons. Michal is 21 and is a student of political science at the local university. The younger, Martin, is 14 and is currently attending high school in Presov. Our younger son, Peter Schvalb, was born in 1960. He graduated from the Faculty of Food Hygiene at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Kosice. For many years now, he has been working for a company named Imuna in Sarisske Michalany as director of sales. His wife Maria graduated from medicine, and has a private allergology practice. She’s half Jewish. Her father is Jewish. According to halakhah she’s not Jewish, but otherwise she takes after her father. My grandchildren say that they’re three-quarters Jewish. They also have two sons, both of them are in high school. The older, Tomas, is 15, and the younger, who’s named Alexander after my husband’s father, is 13.
My sons weren’t circumcised. After the war circumcisions weren’t performed very often, and we weren’t that religious of a family to consider it to be absolutely necessary. In fact, my husband’s father also refused to have him circumcised, because during the war many people lost their lives when it was discovered that they were circumcised. We brought our sons up so that they knew that they were Jews. We didn’t emphasize the religious aspects. They used to observe seder with my husband’s mother, but when she died it all departed along with her. My husband and I only symbolically observe holidays. Once I took my sons and grandsons to a Chanukkah supper in Kosice. I thought that they’d like it, but as luck would have it, the rabbi in Kosice, who didn’t yet speak Slovak very well, led an endlessly long sermon. He didn’t give them what I wanted, I would almost say that he put them off with that endless sermon.
My sons weren’t circumcised. After the war circumcisions weren’t performed very often, and we weren’t that religious of a family to consider it to be absolutely necessary. In fact, my husband’s father also refused to have him circumcised, because during the war many people lost their lives when it was discovered that they were circumcised. We brought our sons up so that they knew that they were Jews. We didn’t emphasize the religious aspects. They used to observe seder with my husband’s mother, but when she died it all departed along with her. My husband and I only symbolically observe holidays. Once I took my sons and grandsons to a Chanukkah supper in Kosice. I thought that they’d like it, but as luck would have it, the rabbi in Kosice, who didn’t yet speak Slovak very well, led an endlessly long sermon. He didn’t give them what I wanted, I would almost say that he put them off with that endless sermon.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Judita Schvalbova