Stories The GHETTO

My mother Paula, born 1926 In Czechoslovakia, lived in Podhorjany, a small village near Munkacs with a loving family, and friendly neighbors. There was 1 Synagogue, 50-60 families (8- 10 children each). The language was Ukraine, my mother’s school was Czech, after school she studied Hebrew and at home they spoke Yiddish.  My Mother told me: “when the Germans invaded, the regime changed from Czech to Hungarian. The cruel Zaandam & Iron Arrow Hungarians pulled and cut Jews’ beards.  We were not allowed to go out in the evenings & had to wear a Yellow Star. In 1941 they wanted to send us to Poland; fortunately our neighbors’ family paid for us to stay; we had 3 more years together. Those who left never came back… In April 1944, after Passover, all Jews of our town were gathered in the Synagogue and moved to Ghetto “Mukachevo” (Munkacs)-a brick factory building. We all lived, ate & slept together with no privacy in a large room for a month. With no cooking kitchen, we only got portions of food.  I remember a mentally ill man shouting, not understanding why all the people were there.  I was asked to work in the hospital, agreeing I was out of the room during the day taking care of a paralyzed man, sometimes he gave me food (I brought it to my family, telling them I’ve eaten). He asked me to come with him on the hospital train, but my mother wouldn’t let me, she wanted the family to stay together”. The sick, along with the nurses and doctors all went directly to the crematorium…