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My family observed the high holidays. On Rosh Hashanah we went to Temple. On Chanukah we lit candles. Every Friday my mother would light candles. We did not observe Shabbat because the shop was opened. For Pesach we had a Seder not just for our immediate family but also for my father’s brother’s family. Our two families lived together. The Hagadah was read, dinner was eaten and wine was drunk. I had a bar mitzvah. My father read from the Torah that day and gave a contribution to charity, shnodern. The holidays were connected to the family and were celebrated at home.
My father’s family and his brother were always together and the two brothers ended up marrying two sisters. Both of our families were always very close and my father and his brother were partners in the shop. We lived together in the same house and socialized together. My younger cousin, my uncle’s son, became a rich industrialist. He and his wife’s family were in Hashomer Hatzair. We gathered every day around the nest and went on camping trips, mahane, together. My father’s brother had two children, a son Dura and a daughter Piroska, who is still living and has a house in Dubrovnik. She is also a pianist and finished the Zagreb Music Academy. She was a piano professor. We always played together and shared the same piano. When we divided up the house she got the piano, so that I practiced at her place. Piroska did not give public concerts she was exclusively a professor. My sister was born when I was already 13 years old. The war began, we lost our father and I was her father in his place. At the age of 18 she went to Italy and there she married. In general she was with my mother and aunt.
My father’s family and his brother were always together and the two brothers ended up marrying two sisters. Both of our families were always very close and my father and his brother were partners in the shop. We lived together in the same house and socialized together. My younger cousin, my uncle’s son, became a rich industrialist. He and his wife’s family were in Hashomer Hatzair. We gathered every day around the nest and went on camping trips, mahane, together. My father’s brother had two children, a son Dura and a daughter Piroska, who is still living and has a house in Dubrovnik. She is also a pianist and finished the Zagreb Music Academy. She was a piano professor. We always played together and shared the same piano. When we divided up the house she got the piano, so that I practiced at her place. Piroska did not give public concerts she was exclusively a professor. My sister was born when I was already 13 years old. The war began, we lost our father and I was her father in his place. At the age of 18 she went to Italy and there she married. In general she was with my mother and aunt.
Location
Serbia
Interview
Andreja Preger
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