Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Simon Goldman - June 6, 2003

As well as public school.

Yeah, and public school.

What do you remember about public school?

Public school, I really don't remember. I remember about we when to, to that school, but uh, it's really. Some of the time we had to fight our way through to go to school because the, the Polish pe...uh, kids would stop us going because we were Jews, you know.

And so you...

But we did, I did go to a public school, yes.

Did you speak Polish at home?

Yes, spoke Polish and Jewish.

Oh.

Of course, we played around with--where I lived in that neighborhood there, there wasn't--had too many Jews, they're just mostly Polish people.

So you had non-Jewish friends.

No, I had Jewish friends too, but they're non-Jewish friends.

Both.

Yeah, both. Mixed.

Did you play soccer?

Well, that, we only played some uh, different games, but not, really not soccer.

Do you remember any changes in the last couple years before the war started and did things get worse for Jews in Łódź?

Oh, it's always getting worse. Well, we moved from that uh, number 135 from Pomorska we moved back to number--I believe 70, 70 which closer to, to uh, that circle.

Why?

Uh, because I guess my father must have found a, a place there where there's more room, you know...

Oh.

...to live in.

But it wasn't because the neighborhood or...

No, no. Neighborhood hadn't really changed much. It was almost the same. But that's when I really started going to school. In the old address I never went to school because I was still a youngster.

How old were you when the war started?

When the war started? Well, I was uh, what, eleven--twelve years old.

So you had some.

Yeah I had it before, yeah.