| I was aware that our town Focsani had several “hearts” : territorial, spiritual, sentimental, some of the hearts were disclosed, some were secrete. But I knew only the heart that pulsed energy in a very small territory: between the “Pastia” Theater and the Cacaina Rivulet, with a single axis: the “Tapitzeri”-Street.
Here many poor were living, especially Jews, who fought hard to survive.
Among them my parents were living since 1927: Fina and Iancu Solomovici, nicknamed “The Bucharester” (“The Bucharester Dressmakers” at Mare-St), with their three children: Adela, Jeni and Tesu. They were living in two rooms in a long, overcrowded, wagon-like house, together with another 15 families. We had Leonika as a neighbor, and not far from us lived Marcel Abramovici and Berala. And next to us was the “school” (schil) of Derbaremdiger. The street and the courtyard of the “schil” was our kingdom. It was the place where the wonderful events of our childhood happened, and the games. Among the children of Mare-Street were Hari Katz, Celu Leibu ere, then Nunia and Ira (from Transnistria) joined us. Gaita was an excellent football goalkeeper. But our happy childhood was interrupted all of a sudden in 1941, upon the beginning of the Legionaries Rebellion.
I was then seven years old. Through the windows of the house at Tapitzeri-St I watched the men clad in green shirts destroying fanatically the synagogue of Rabbi Derbaremdiger. This was to be my first encounter with the Romanian anti-Semitism. Since then I never ceased looking for its explanation. I am positive that to our parents, the years of war and anti-Semitic persecution had a different image. My father was at forced labor, digging trenches, my mother, left alone, had to feed and provide the clothing for there children.
Those were indeed hard times: the country was in war, scarcity, poverty reigned. For us, the Jews, the craziness of anti-Semitism had no borders. And nevertheless, in spite of the persecution and interdictions Jewish schools were functioning at Focsani and the Focsani Jewish Community survived.
The Romanian anti-Semitism was lacking the bloodthirstiness of the “final solution”.
But this is not the place for discussions on this theme. For the child who left the town Focsani when he was 12 and immigrated to Israel in 1964, the childhood memories are amalgamated with the images of the anti-Semitic abuse. The picture of the “schil” devastated by the legionaries followed me all over my life. An obsession …
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