My father Usher Katz. This photo was taken in Khust in 1932. By some miracle, this photo was not lost during World War II and we found it in our ruined house.
My father was born in 1905 in Korolevo, Khust district, in Subcarpathia. My grandfather Itzyk taught his sons his profession of a wagon driver. My father and his brothers became wagon drivers. They owned wagons and horses.
Some 30 kilometers from Korolevo was the village of Nizhniy Bystryy. There was a big power saw bench in this village owned by Polish masters. They had a license for woodcutting and delivered their product to the railway station in Khust. In Khust wood was loaded on freight trains and transported to Danzig in Poland. Grandfather Itzyk, my father and his brothers worked at this facility. It was hard work, but they were glad they had it.
My father worked at the power saw bench as a wagon driver. My father made three trips per week to Khust. One day he loaded wood onto his wagon in Nizhniy Bystryy and unloaded it in Khust on the following day. He spent the payment for the first trip to buy oats for his horses. They worked for the family and my father watched it strictly that they got enough food. My father spent the payment for the second trip to buy hay for the horses and the third payment was for the family needs.
