Helen Lang - February 23, 1982
Politics
Was anyone in your family uh, uh, interested in politics at all? Any of your brothers?
Oh, we were--they were all talking about politics. You know, everybody was interested in everything--what's going on in this world--but we just didn't know it, especially when we were Hungarians. You know, they, they didn't tell us the truth. They, they, they wrote in the paper whatever they wanted us to know.
Be...before the Hungarians came, was, was there anybody active in the uh, in the Bund or in the Zionist party?
Oh yes. I had an uncle--he should rest in peace, he would died uh, seven years ago--he was very religious, he was a big Mizrachi person. Oh he belonged--and I as a little girl, you know, we had many, many uh, uh, things going on, like there was the, the Betar, there was the, the, the Zionist, there was--there were so many. I always went to all of 'em, like a little girl, you know, my friends, "Come on to this meeting, come on to this meeting, come on." I went to all of them, you know. So I actually didn't belong to them, but I liked the idea, you know.
Now um, did, do you remember Benes at all?
Of course. He was our president.
Your family liked him?
Yes, everybody liked him. Masaryk was better yet.
Yeah. So you remember Masaryk too.
I remember well, sure, Masaryk. Oh he was, he was the top man. Of course Benes and uh, sure, he was our president.
What did uh, what was the reaction in your family when uh, uh, the Germans came...
We were scared.
...into the Sudetenland?
We knew that something will happen, but we just didn't now exactly what's going to happen. Everybody was scared. But we couldn't help it. We didn't know what to do, you know.
What had you heard about Germany, that, that they were, uh...
We heard about Germany that they take away the Jews. But we didn't know--that's as far as we heard--they're taking them away. Where? What? We didn't know.
Did you speak German at home, was it?
No, Jewish.
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