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Emerich Grinbaum - January 8, 2001

Wouldn't your father have said it was Austria/Hungary at onetime?

Austro-Hungary that was before the First World War.

But your father was...

Yeah, but we-so they talk, they told us to say Czech. And wesaid. And they-that was probably end of May. They took us-Czechs, Czechs-inthe trucks and they, through the, through, they took us to Czechoslovakia.The first city Pilsen, Pilsen is the beer cups. So Pilsen at that time, theywere Americans and Russians. Somehow, there was not, not uh, they did notuh, decide who it belonged, who it belonging to. I remember they were Russiantroo...the first time we saw Russians that was in, in that area. Pilsen, thatwas...and the American uh, uh, left us and they put us in the, in hotels somewherein Pilsen and they give us food. I am very thankful. The Czech people wereamazing how they treated us. Amazing. They were nice. They tried to help us.Later on they took, we uh, we did stay there a couple of days and then we,by train we went to Prague, closer. Anyplace, anyplace in Czechoslovakia.We didn't have money. Uh, in Prague they-we got some money from, they toldus there is a place uh, that they give us some money and the-some clothesadditional in Prague. But not in Pilsen. So we didn't have money. They, nobody-andwhen we were in the, in the busses or in the train, they, nobody ask. Theysaw us, they got up and they give us the place. Czech, Czech people, unbelievable.

Before the war, did you and your father or your family consideryourselves Czechs?

You know, I was eight when the Hungarian came, so I don't much-in'38.

So Masaryk...

No! No. No.

Was not a hero in your home.

No. My father speak, spoke very little Czech, he spoke Hungarianand uh, no. The majority of, of, of Jews and local population, non-Jews, theyspoke Hungarian. Despite the fact that it belonged to Czechoslovakia.

Was it um, Masaryk who...

Masaryk and Beneš.

But, but hadn't Masaryk come to visit the Munkacse Rebbe onceand...

I heard about that.

You heard about it, you didn't see it.

I heard. Masaryk was amazing. That was-he was, he was the numberone philo-Semite I might say. And he has some ancestry, I read some of hisancestry, Jewish ancestry, but is not proven, I am not sure. But he was, hewas the, the exemplary and, and Czechoslovakia was an exemplary democracy.You know, and but you know for some reason I don't know, we didn't Czech athome, my father didn't speak much Czech.

He spoke Hungarian.

No, he spoke to-we had some Czech people who came uh, mostly,mostly bu...the bureaucracy uh, in the city halls and all were Czechs. Butall the Czechs, at least uh, educated Czechs, they spoke German. And my fatherspoke fluent German, so he communicated with the Czechs in Ger...in German.But that was no problem, you know. Czech were very open to every, every uh,Hungarian Czech they didn't care. So, uh...