Zwi Steiger - March 27, 1982
Education
When you said you went to cheder uh, or had your Hebrew education before and after regular school...
Yeah.
...uh, could you explain that a little bit more?
The distances uh, were, were not uh, big and uh, if you started school at eight o'clock in the morning or seven thirty....
Regular school?
Regular school.
Secular.
Yeah, but the public school. And at six o'clock you were usually in cheder doing some readings and some uh, and maybe some prayers. By seven o'clock, or seven fift...seven you went home and--or you went to shul and uh, to daven. But usually you went home and uh, you had breakfast and then back to school--to regular school. And after public school you came home, you had lunch. And uh, you went to cheder until seven o'clock in the evening. And that's day in and day out except for uh, just before Rosh Hashanah you didn't go for maybe for a week. But uh, that was the usual schedule.
And what--at what age did that schedule...
It started at the age of three, three and a half that you went uh, to cheder before public school. Public school you started at six. I, I was five when I started. But uh, and you did it through your uh, childhood.
How far along uh, did your education progress until...
I was, I was thirteen and a half when I left uh, home and I went to Ungvar to study for a year. And I went to that--to the Hebrew secondary school there. I was there a year and then I went to Munkacs for the rest of them because my brother was in Munkacs. I was dragging my feet, I think, between when I finished at home and then to--because they promised that they will have a, a ninth grade at home. And then eventually in September they cancelled it.
So in approximately 1935 or so you went to Ungvar...
Yeah, yeah.
...to the Hebrew secondary education?
In '35, yeah.
And for how long were you there?
'Til '36, 'til uh, June. And then in '36 I went to...
Munkacs.
...Munkacs. And I went there to school until the Hungarians occupied it--Munkacs--and our area was not occupied yet. I went back home...
Your area--you mean at home?
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