Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Natalie Zamczyk - January 30, 1984

Pre-War Life

Yeah. Yeah. Huh. Was there an active Yiddish theater?

Yes, yes. My mother loved the Jewish theater. And whenever a Jewish theater came, I had to go with her, yeah. I didn't understand everything, but my mother translated it to me. He, she loved it. Oh, she just loved it. Yeah. My father sometimes went also, yeah.

Can you remember any of the things that you saw or any of the, the plays?

I, I know that I went to see "Der Book," "Der Book," you know, this. And I went to see some comedies, you know, Jewish uh, Jewish this, I don't remember plays, but comedy, you know, we were laughing. Was once a year at least. It came maybe more often, but my mother didn't go to everything. But we went, yeah. Molly Picon we saw on the stage, yes, yes, I remember, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I remember. It was beautiful. Krakow was a beautiful city. And uh, the Jewish people, they, you know. Listen you can't say like, now the people are saying, rich, rich. They were--I wasn't rich, my father wasn't rich, but he wasn't poor.

Yeah.

He was, his business, we never were hungry. We were always dressed properly. Uh, we uh, went for vacation to my grandmother in the, in the outside Krakow, in a village she was living, a summer or two. My father sister in a village, in another part of country. But they were very poor people there. They were poor people what they haven't got one dollar, two dollars for Saturday even, you know. I know it, yeah. Yeah.

When was your son born?

My son? In 19...uh, in 1933, in December 193... Whole year, not the, not before. I was married in January, and he was born in December, yeah. He just was fifty years old, I can't believe.

[interruption in interview]


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