On the other hand, when I was seven years old, I fully experienced anti-Semitism. It was the first year after the war, and anti-Semitism was not yet curbed by legal measures. While many Jewish children were sent to Jewish schools, my father sent me to a Romanian school. He believed it was for my good, as he explained to me later, that I should understand from an early age what it means to be a Jew. He thought that in this way he would somehow harden me. (Laugher) One thing is for certain: back then, no one felt ashamed to say anti-Semitic things, and I found myself the only Jewish student at the “Spiru Haret” primary school.
Just imagine! It was only then that I realised I was Jewish! We never talked about this at home. I didn't know that there were Jews and non-Jews. I only knew that some children spoke Hungarian and others spoke Romanian. My parents did not at all prepare me, not even in terms of the Romanian language, which I hardly had knowledge of. [...] So, when I got to school, I still didn’t know much Romanian and, on top of that, I was also Jewish. I found it out through the others. They asked me: “What are you?” I didn't know what to answer. I told my parents after the first day of school. My parents said: “Tell them you're Jewish.” I had no idea what that meant, but very soon I realised that being Jewish was not a very good thing. I couldn't understand why I deserved this punishment; why I, of all the children, had to be Jewish; why I couldn’t be like the rest of the children.
In the first two primary grades, I did suffer from the children's anti-Semitism, although I also had friends. However, there were situations when I realised that even they ... Once, for instance, the class spontaneously started singing an anti-Semitic song, something like “Jidala Maxi goes by taxi”, and, as I was the only Jidala Maxi there, the whole class looked at me while singing. (He laughs) I don't recall the sequel. But I remember that my friends, Năstase Alexandru and Meterez Viorel, my best friends, started singing as well, looking at me and smiling. No one beat me up for being Jewish, but it was quite unpleasant.
The education reform took place in 1948, when I was in third grade, and then the atmosphere completely changed through the implementation of anti-racist laws.
