Jerzy Pikielny and his cousin Henryk Pikielny in Poniatowski Park in Lodz

This picture was taken in Poniatowski Park in Lodz. I don?t know who took it. It shows me and my cousin Henryk or Henio Pikielny, sometime in the 1930s. Henio was the grandson of Mojzesz, my paternal grandfather's brother. His father, Maks, was my father's cousin. Maks, was born on 22nd January 1899 in Lodz. His wife, Fryda - I don't remember her surname - came from Riga. Maks and Fryda had two sons, Henio and Serge. Before the war we lived in the same house, at 8 Nawrot Street, us on the third floor and them on the fourth. I was very good friends with Henio. Henio is a citizen of Brazil now, and recently filed a lawsuit against the Polish state to reclaim his grandfather's factory. We are still in touch. I was born in 1926. I didn't go to school until third grade because I was always ill, I often had bronchitis. At first I went to a private co-educational school called 'Our School.' Most of the students were Jewish. Two Jewish women ran it. We had teas with our class tutor in her apartment. We spoke with her about almost everything. I don't remember her name, unfortunately. At 'Our School' we spoke freely with the teachers about the opposite sex, something unthinkable at the all-male school I later attended. Naturally, the classes at 'Our School' were given in Polish. There were religion classes, which dealt mainly with Jewish history. I don't remember the names of the teachers. From sixth grade on I attended an elementary school which was part of a boys' gymnasium. It was known as 'The Communal Gymnasium.' The school was located at 105 Pomorska Street. Boys of different denominations attended it. I was already aware of the differences between that and my former school. The main one was the relationship between teachers and students, which was not as casual at the gymnasium.

Photos from this interviewee