Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Henry Konstam - October 25, 1991

Political Parties

So what was your attitude, say, towards the Bund?

Well, we uh, they were not highly regarded, you know, because they were more communistic uh...

Socialist.

So yeah, very highly socialist. And, and the uh, they also, another thing in uh, in Poland, they were very class conscious over there. Anyway, you understand that?

Yes.

If you were in a better class you did not associate with the...

The Bundists.

the communists, you understand.

Yeah. And the Bundists were all working...

In the meantime I kinda looked uh, kinda looked down at them, you know.

So which political party would your family have...

As I say, we were in a Aguda.

Aguda was...

The more right... uh, right-wing, you know.

Did anyone from your family venture out into non-Jewish politics?

Well, the non-Jewish politics were just as important because the uh, when came election time, they had to consider the non-Jewish uh, uh, parties.

There was a fascist party wasn't there, in Poland?

Yeah, there was.

Did people talk about it? Were you worried about it?

Oh, not worried about it. We just uh, knew they were there and they uh, let us know they're there.

How did they let you know?

Uh, well uh, uh, just like uh, uh, like here it is with the, with the um, uh, with all the shaven heads, what do you call those...

Skinhead.

Yeah, skinheads, you know. You see over there, there's another thing over there. Here they have to come in the front put, see the faces see that they're Jewish. Over there they didn't have to 'cause our garb that we have worn would longa kapotas, Jewish hitten you know on the... So we could see from the back, you know.


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