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Up until I was six, I was raised by Aunt Irenka in the Hungarian village of Heves. After my sixth birthday, I returned to be with my parents in Lucenec. There was a very large Jewish community in Lucenec before the war. I’d estimate that there were more than two thousand Jews living in the town. [Editor’s note: the number of Jews in Lucenec in 1939 exceeded 2000, of which up to 90% died during the Holocaust.] Most Jews belonged amongst the Neologs [5], despite that, the Orthodox [6] minority dominated almost all important Jewish institutions and associations in the town. The Orthodox group had Rabbi Salamon Undorfer. They murdered him in Auschwitz in 1944. The Neolog rabbi was Dr. Artur Reschovsky. The Neolog rabbi was married to a Christian woman, and his brother-in-law was a catholic priest. They were childless. His brother-in-law, the priest, wanted to save him during the war. Reschovsky told him: ‘My sheep are going away, so the shepherd has to go, too!’ He didn’t survive the war. Only a little over a hundred Jews returned to Lucenec after the war.
The Jews in the town were wealthy; after all, we had a beautiful Neolog synagogue. They built it in 1925 according to plans by the architect Baumhorn. Jews in the town kept together, but were separated into castes. That means that the wealthier ones didn’t worry too much about the poorer ones. Most of the Jews weren’t poor, but of course there were poorer ones to be found as well. There were in fact three synagogues in Lucenec: two Neolog ones and one Orthodox one.
There was also a Sephardic [7] community in the town, who’d arrived there mainly from Poland, after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. They didn’t have a separate synagogue, just a prayer hall. We didn’t associate much with them, because they were mostly dirty and lice-ridden. No one concerned themselves with them. They differed from the rest of the Jewish population in that they wore large hats and also large payes [8]. They were different, and then the rest of us were judged according to them, too. We belonged among the Neologs. My mother observed the holidays, but not a kosher [9] diet. We didn’t have separate dishes, and even ate pork.
The Jews in the town were wealthy; after all, we had a beautiful Neolog synagogue. They built it in 1925 according to plans by the architect Baumhorn. Jews in the town kept together, but were separated into castes. That means that the wealthier ones didn’t worry too much about the poorer ones. Most of the Jews weren’t poor, but of course there were poorer ones to be found as well. There were in fact three synagogues in Lucenec: two Neolog ones and one Orthodox one.
There was also a Sephardic [7] community in the town, who’d arrived there mainly from Poland, after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. They didn’t have a separate synagogue, just a prayer hall. We didn’t associate much with them, because they were mostly dirty and lice-ridden. No one concerned themselves with them. They differed from the rest of the Jewish population in that they wore large hats and also large payes [8]. They were different, and then the rest of us were judged according to them, too. We belonged among the Neologs. My mother observed the holidays, but not a kosher [9] diet. We didn’t have separate dishes, and even ate pork.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Viola Rozalia Fischerova
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