Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Abraham Mondry - June 15, 22, 29 & July 13, 1992

Family

How large was the family? How large was your family? How many brothers and sisters?

I had three brothers and three sisters...

Aunts? Uncles?

I had one brother who lived through it. He was, was in Israel but he died from a heart crash...heart attack.

Were there aunts and uncles in your family?

In Israel, I was the whole time.

In Israel? Um, how large do you think your family was if you count Aunts, Uncles?

What?

How large was the family? Aunts, uncles, cousins; about how large?

Oh big, a big family. The whole city was all Mondrys you know, there was all way back for a hundred years.

How many survived the war?

Very few. I've got one cousin. His name is Leo. Leo Mondry.

Leo Mondry, um...

He worked for Highland Appliance. They were cousins of mine, too.

What did your father do?

My father. He had a wholesale grocery.

And did the family work in the grocery store?

Yeah, everybody worked.

And uh, did you have non-Jewish customers in the store?

Mostly.

Mostly non-Jews?

Non-Jewish. Well, they used to come from the, from the small towns, you know. Park the horse, you know and leave an order, you know.

Was there ever any anti-Semitism, any trouble with the non-Jews?

Not between them, you know. Well, you always hear this word Jude, Jew, you know. You always hear. So, there was anti-Semitism, yeah.

And did you ever talk about uh, with the family about going to Israel? Palestine?

I was too young. I was too young. I was sixteen years old when the war starts.

When the war started?

Yeah, 1939, September.


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