Ben Moche - April 24, 2009
Introduction
Okay, Mr. Ben Moche welcome. It's good to uh, how are you feeling today?
Okay.
Good, good. Alright, today is uh, April 24, 2009 and uh, we're meeting at the uh, Fleischman residence in uh, at the Blumberg Plaza, J.C.C. campus West Bloomfield, Michigan. Alright, Mr. Ben Moche your, your first name is Acher?
Acher.
A-C-H-E-R. Ben Moche, B-E-N...
That's not really my original.
Okay, what was your original name?
Well, my original name was uh, Acher, Acher...
Yeah.
But, my family name probably was Moise.
How do you spell?
Well, well just Moise...
Uh-huh.
But uh, when we came to Israel they changed it to Moche.
Mm-hm.
But, it was Moise.
Moise.
So I went and changed it to Ben Moche.
Ben Moche. So, originally Acher Moise.
Moise, yes.
Moise, okay.
Yes.
Moise, okay. Alright, and uh, when were you born?
Uh, as far as I know uh, October 13, 1940.
1940, okay. Why do you say, "as far as I know?"
Because there is a debate if it was the 12th or the 13th, you know, so.
Uh-huh, okay.
I just know what my mother told me the date is, you know.
The 13th?
Well yeah, but I, if you look it up uh, I was born on Yom Kippur.
Ah.
So if you look it up on the Yom Kippur of that year, I'm not so sure that it comes out on the 13th.
Got it, 1940, okay. Good. Alright um, now, alright and let me and where were you born?
In uh, Romania.
Romania, what uh, city?
Iaşi.
How do you spell that, Iaşi?
I don't know, Iaşi.
Iaşi, like Y-A...
Like Yash.
Yash?
Yeah, Yash.
Yash.
Popular city.
Okay, Romania, okay. Oh, and let me mention um, that uh, the interviewer is myself, Doctor Charles Silow.
Okay.
Alright, and uh, and uh, you were born in Iaşi, Romania and is that where you grew up also?
No I uh, lived there 'til um, '44 or '45.
1944, so okay.
When we got uh, liberated, or whatever.
Okay, okay, we'll talk more about your history uh, but first let me ask you what was your father's name and his occupation?
My father's name was Shimon.
Okay, and his...
In Romania they called him Simon, and uh, as far as I know, in that time or later on?
Uh, I guess at that time.
At that time, I think he was uh, selling newspapers.
Okay, [pause] and your mother's name including her maiden name?
My mother's, I don't know how to spell it, my mother's name is Pearl.
Pearl, okay.
And her last name was Uris, just like the writer, you know, from...
Uh-huh, Uris. Okay, and what was her occupation?
Um, she didn't have a profession, she...
Was like a home maker.
Home maker, business woman.
Uh-huh.
Whatever it took.
Yeah, and what kind of business was she in?
Uh, I guess it's, as far as I know, we had a, we had a, a store with a market.
Mm-hm.
You know, what's like the shuk.
Yes.
And uh, we also used to bake illegal bread.
Illegal bread?
Right, because, you know, in that time we were not allowed to bake bread out of white flour or things like that, it was illegal or wrong. In Romania they ???, you know, it's made out of corn flour.
Uh-huh.
It's like, you know, like down south.
Yeah, yeah.
Like polenta.
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
Okay so, it was illegal.
Illegal, alright. And...
My, my mother was also wounded.
Oh she was.
At that time, yes, in the war by the Russian in there.
Mm-hm.
And she lost her uh, she lost her foot.
Oh really?
Right.
Okay, and um, before the war how many were in your family? Your mother, your father, yourself, did you have any...
I was born in the war.
You were born during the war.
Right, right.
Did you have any brothers or sisters before the war started?
No, no, no, no.
Okay so, you were born during the war, 1940.
I was born during the war.
Okay. So, and how many would you say were in the whole family? You know, cousins, grandparents, uncles, aunts, what would you estimate?
I really don't know. At that time um, the immediate family in that time was um, my mother...
Yes.
My father, my grandparents, my uncle...
Mm-hm.
My aunt, and my father's sister that became an orphan because my grandfather got killed by the German.
Mm-hm, okay. So, how many would you estimate?
Oh, well so, it was my parents were 2, 4, 7, 8 with me.
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