Herman Opatowski - November 2, 1981
Pre-War Anti-Semitism
Before the war, did you encounter any anti-Semitism in the town?
Oh, no question about this. Uh, all the time we had uh, uh, especially in my hometown it was...They, the, more than in other. Yes, it was uh, strict Catholic city with uh, they had a lot, a lot of anti-Semites. They had a big uh, a big saying. We, we experienced a lot of time certain things, but.
Uh, before the war, what were your plans when you were going to get older? Were you going to stay with your father's business, or?
Oh it was a business for, for more than, than uh, for all our families, of course, yes. My father, let's put it this way, he was more because he, as I mentioned, had a good business. And he was uh, more, like uh, he dedicate himself more. He was the councilman and uh, down there, it was in, it was in the city, in the, the municipal uh, government. Then he was uh, like uh, it was under a different scale there like we have here, let's say the Jewish Feder...Federation. But there it was a little different. More stronger and more power. They used to call the, the Kehilla. So he was there. Uh, uh, and, uh... He was a member of this uh, of the leaders, of the Jewish leaders of the Jewish population. So he uh, dedicated uh, himself to the cause of the Jewish uh, cause. And uh, so he didn't put as much time in the business because, as I mentioned, he could rely on the people worked for him and myself as I was there like next to my father. So. This was uh, eventually I was a Revisionist, more extreme Zionist. My father was a, a religious Zio...Zionist. Anyway you... As I understand you have other, but uh, to spend the time with questions more than, than uh, this side of things don't have too much to do with uh, what you want to know more.
Well, uh...
Let me hear.
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn