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Joseph Gringlas - January 22, 1993

Tell me about your mother. What was she like?

She was wonderful, wonderful woman. [laughs] You know thingsyou remember, little things like that. In summer, when I went to cheder, youknow and she brought me food and drink and you know like, like, like it wouldbe now. It still sticks in my mind that she was wonderful for the children,to take care of the kids. And, and I was the youngest one, it was cheder andshe brought eggs because it was quite a few hours. And cheder she broughtbetween lunch, she brought me food. So this-those things you don't forget.Sweet, wonderful woman. Uh, and that time, you know, parent, my mother usedto work hard at time, not like now. Washing and everything was very hard.You had to-even water you had to carry in, you know, from the market. Especially,wasn't, it was, life was not, it was not so easy. But they did it and theydidn't mind anything, they did it with love.

Do you remember anything else about her?

Beg your pardon?

Anything else about her?

Yeah, I remember she was a beautiful woman too. Dark hair. Beautifuldark hair. And the main, the main thing was like that, like a mother was a,how she made us feel very, very, very good at-in a family together and thefood especially was a very good cook too. And I always feel the taste of iteh, the way that the food was wonderful. And uh, and for special holidaysand comes a holiday it really takes me down because the eh, Friday night thepreparing everything, the challahs and the lighting the candles and you knowthe holidays it was wonderful. It was like, it felt like, it was looking forwardto see that holiday coming. And she made it and the parents made the familyexciting to be together.

She ran the household.

She ran the household, yeah.

You said last week you told me she baked challahs on...

Yeah, yeah and, and uh.

on Shabbos. What else did she do?

Aside that she helped out-we had uh, my father was uh, sellingshoes in, in market in Ostrowiec and, and we, the shoes were brought, my fatherbrought it from Warsaw, capital. And, and then, it was-that was twice a week,it was market. So my mother helped out too in selling the shoes. And I wasa little boy, I, I was interested too. When I came home from school beforeI went to cheder, I helped out eh, helped out father.

Do you have any other particular memories of any? She-yousaid she brought you food. You remember that clearly, she would bring youfood at cheder. Anything else that you remember? Specific events? Sticks inyour mind.

Sticks in my mind I was a kid in, in, in summertime. I, I wassitting in the front of where I was born. And sitting in the summertime Iremember I was sitting, she was covering, I was, she was cuddle, she was cuddlingme, I was the youngest little child. And we looked out and the sky was redbecause of the factory in Ostrowiec and suddenly I could see the sky fromthat, that. And I was sitting with them coming and looking outside. And thiseh, I'll never forget it, you know.