Herman Marczak - May 12, 1982
Jewish Culture
Oh you did.
...to the Germans.
You didn't feel any anti-Semitism.
You feel, Polacks were always anti-Semitic.
The Polacks, not the Germans.
Not the--not, not, not the local Germans. They were very commercial and private and, and all kind. It was very normal relations like different people two different groups always in a, in a country.
Um, what about theater? Was there much theater in your town? Was there Yiddishe theater?
They came, there was local--people try to entertain themselves, you know. There was no television. It was a different time, you know. People tried to entertain themselves. Organizations had groups who tried to put up, put up a show you know. We have sport clubs, we have soccer uh, things. We have uh, uh, marching bands, you know, all kinds of things, all kind of things. And then they came from the bigger cites once in awhile, they would travel from all the sides. They would have the personal knowledge how it worked, you know. So you buy a ticket ??? a few times a year, something like that, you know.
You do remember some theater coming to your town.
Yeah, it came, I remember it came a couple...
Was there Yiddishe theater?
Yiddish theater.
A Yiddish theater.
I--what I'm talking about--because when it comes to cultural activities, it comes to religious activities, it comes to national activities, we were practically--we walked the same streets but we were completely segregated.
Oh.
Except there was higher class Jewish people were very, very fluent in Polish and they--the Polish they have a, a, a rich culture and they enjoyed it, they read books. Always the problem with sometimes came up, always the age and they went. But I'm talking about the, the masses of the Jewish people, you know. When we talk about this thing we talk strictly about...
I see.
...about Jewish theater, about...
Mm-hm, okay.
...Jewish organization, about all...
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn