Tag #151768 - Interview #84041 (Yacob Hollander)

There was no anti-Semitism in Subcarpathia and in Kamyanske in particular, during the Austro-Hungarian and the Czechoslovakian rule. [First Czechoslovak Republic] [5] Generations of people of different nationalities were living side by side learning to be tolerant and respect each other’s faith and religion. Jews were treated with special respect. People believed them to be smart and close to God. Occasionally Ukrainians addressed a rabbi to solve their disputes. The rabbi never refused to provide assistance, and his advice was valued and followed. Once our neighbors addressed the rabbi to advise them on a balk between their fields that they kept arguing about. Another time four brothers asked the rabbi to teach them to share their father’s heritage. They had argued for months before they turned to the rabbi for advice. I don’t know what the rabbi decided, but the brothers never lived peacefully from then on. They lived in our street and so I know about this case. Of course, there were other cases, but I only remember these two cases after so many years.