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Emerich Grinbaum - January 8, 2001

Okay. You're now, it's now 1945'-'46...

Right.

and you've made a decision, and your father's made a decisionto stay and you start school again.

Right. We st...we started learning Russian. We didn't speak Russian.And we went to school with my-one year we were uh, we started '46, school.And we graduated there. And then uh, I graduated high school in '49, my brotherin '50.

Did you experience any anti-Semitism when you were in school?

You know what, moderately. Not much. Not much. That was a Russianschool. And I tell you, there were very few Jewish children. They're practicallylocal Jewish children but non. But they were Jewish who came from, from Russia.Because-Munkacs became a big city, 80,000. First of all, p...people came fromvillages and a lot of people came from other part of Ukraine and Russia. Amongthem there were some Jews also. And so about two-three Jews in one class.The most we, we, they had. Uh, we didn't have any connection with the-at thefirst years with the so-called Russian Jews. We didn't trust them, you know.They looked us, uh, to all Russians and, and Russian was the consensus, wedidn't trust anybody you know, because that was danger even to talk. So we,I, mostly my friend either local Jews, but they're older than me or I hadfriends, Hungarian friends uh, uh, Christian friends. And uh, we, we couldfind much more common at that time uh, with them. And personally, most ofthe local Jews, we were very anti-uh, Russians, anti-Communists, you know.Very much so. We didn't trust from the very you know, where there was oneJew-a elderly Jew, he used to say, "These Russians are lying, even they saythe truth-still lying." You know, all the time. There was you know, we sawthat terrible thing. So the first years uh, in the school we didn't e...e,uh, experienced too much anti-Semitism. Uh, occasionally, but that was tolerable.It was uh, much, much, much less than during the Hungarian period in the forties.Much less.

And these Christian friends of yours, they're not Hungariansanymore...

Right.

they're Czechs now, right.

They were Hungarians. There were no Czechs there.

In Munkacs?

Munkacs. There were no Czechs.

What, it became part of what country? Didn't it go back tobeing Czechoslovakia?

No, Hu...uh, Russia '45.

It's...

U...Soviet Union.

It's annexed. Soviet Union, but...

Annexed, annexed. It was part of Ukraine.