Ruth Federman - February 13, 2008
Early Memories
Um, you said you have memories from when you were 4 years old. Tell, tell me one, when you were 4 years old.
I have, I have a memory that I have, I was very sick. How do you say in English? Diphtheria?
Diphtheria.
And the doctor who was a friend of my parents. My parents were in the Mason, Mason lodge.
Yeah.
Ma...you know what...
Yeah, Masons.
Yeah. Mostly Jews were in Prague, you know, academic and, and bank...bankers and so. The doctor was very friendly with my parent. He came in during the night and gave me injection, which it's--it was very dangerous then. And then we had to go--then when I was okay, my mother took me to Sloven...Yugoslavia, then to Bled. And I have the memory of this Bled like if it's today because there was a or is there castle where the king was, and the third son--his, his name was Alexander, the king--his third son was born and there was a big, uh, uh, all the people were on the street. We went in, in a--with horses, you know in a carriage, and there was fire on the, on the mountains but you don't, didn't see the mountains, you saw only fire. And I was, I was crying, I was terribly afraid with my mother to take me back to the hotel, that I remember. And I always wanted to go to Bled. It's a beautiful place. And my husband was very sick already. Uh, he was between uh, at the doctor, they made uh, ultrasound or something, yes? And it was ten days after the--after we get the answer, so my son said, "Listen, we will, we will--we are going somewhere. Where would you like to go? Not to sit at home." So I said, "You know, I would like to go to"--which is now Slovenia, Bled. It's not Yugoslavia anymore. So we went there and it was really a wonderful time for my husband because he didn't feel that he's sick. He could--he went 500 stairs to, to a place where there is a panoramic view. It was really like a last gift to, to him. We were also two months in New York, but I don't know if before or after--before this when they found something and we decided that the doctors don't know here anything and we went to the Ket...Ket...
Kettering.
How do you call it? Woman: Sloan Kettering.
Sloan Kettering, yeah. And we had also a wonderful time because we have good friends. We took an apartment there. I was cooking. Uh, he liked to go--which he never did at home--we went together to, to a supermarket, he liked it. And he said I have a French chef at home.
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