Alexander Ehrmann - May 13, 1983
Increased Persecution
Tell me a little bit about the events that just preceded the deportation.
Well uh, maybe briefly I'll, I'll describe the progression of uh, persecution that we were subjected to. Like I said, the first experience of uh, persecution was in that paramilitary training, as well as in school. I was attending high school already at that time and uh, I was given non-deserved bad grades. I was told, next year I can't come back because there's only a limited amount, amount of Jewish students who will be admitted to uh, high school and I was told in no uncertain terms that I am expected to uh, register in grade school for next year. In the interim uh, teachers as well as the other students were doing their best to make my life intolerable in classroom. Uh, everybody was required to wear a uniform cap, a sort of a military type cap. Jews were not allowed to wear it. So, there was automatically a separation already. Jews who were recognizable as such. Uh, in the winter we were required to wear a certain type of overcoat with particular type of buttons, boutonniere type of uh, um, coat, and uh, Jews were not, not allowed to wear that. Uh, when we attended the para...paramilitary training we had regular khaki colored uh, military type caps. Jews were not allowed to wear that. Uh, ultimately, we had to wear a yellow band, an armband, in that training. We were sent for about a year after the Hungarians came in we attended these para-military trainings. It was really, on my level at least, it was first uh, exercises, gymnastics, but then the Jews were segregated and we were not allowed to, to partake in their exercises, we were sent into the quarry to, to uh, uh, quarry stones, for public buildings, whatever. And we had to produce, if I remember well uh, two boys had to produce a cubic meter of, of uh, slab, of uh, uh, stone. Uh, I was thirteen years old and...
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