Joseph Klaiman - May 4, 1982
Politics and Religion at Home
Let me ask you this. When you--at home, before the war, was your family Socialist...
Yes.
...Zionist, or were they religious? What type of background did you come from?
Eh, my father came from very, very religious people. Yeah, my uh, my grandfather was a rabbi. Uh, my father was not so religious.
No.
He was going to yeshiva and when--before he got married he went out from the yeshiva. He was, he was having a kosher home. I mean, it was very...
Do you remember Shabbat at home? Shabbos?
Every Shabbos we was--I had to go, my father was not so religious and we went every Saturday. We went to daven to, to the shul. And after the daven we went with--to the--to grandparents and we had to read the Jewish book every Saturday. I lost my whole fami...my whole family in the ghetto. I mean the--my grandparents on my, on my mother's side and from my father's side.
So they weren't um, Zionistic, so to speak. They were more religious, would you say? Is that how you would categorize it?
Yeah, it was more reli...my father was not so religious.
No.
He was going to Saturday--every Saturday and every holiday he looked more like in Zionism, more....
As that of the future?
The future for my father?
No, I mean for your future. Were you in a youth group when you were growing up? Or were you--Łódź had a lot of Zionist youth movements. Were you involved in anything like that?
I was involved in Zionism--more socialism than Zionism. I knew if I am a Jew I will fight for my cause because I knew when I was in the Łódź ghetto that you have to--the first thing that you are Jew, so.
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