Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Abraham Holcman - September 14, 1983

Education

You also said you went to public school. What was that like?

Public school, uh... I didn't like it much because uh, as I said, I didn't talk uh, Polish really good 'til I start school. So, until I learned the language I had tough with the grades and stuff, I couldn't read it. I could read Jewish and Hebrew, but I couldn't read the Polish, so, so I was not getting good grades. So, it was kinda bad for me so, mhm.

How did your teachers and classmates treat you in public school?

In public school really bad, so... Really bad really.

For example, what, what, what do you remember that happened to you?

Uh, specially uh, we had our, one teacher especially it was arithmetic teacher. And, and he wasn't Jewish, he was a Gentile. Somehow he, he picked on me, I guess, I don't know.

Did he, did he...

Nobody...

physically punish you or anything like that?

Yeah, they puni... yeah, they, they do uh, they did punish, you know, they slapped you with a uh, ruler on the hands and stuff like that.

Mhm. Were, were, were your classmates both Jewish and Gentiles...

No.

in public schools?

All Jewish.

They were all Jewish?

All Jewish.

Uh-huh. Did you have...

Now the teachers were Gentiles, some of them.


© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn