Fatherly Inventiveness

Those six months till September I spent mostly in the company of my father, including lots of time outside in the fresh air. My father's occupation necessitated taking long walks in the early morning hours, when the gentile residents were ready to sell their wares - duck or geese fathers, animal skins or lamb or goat wool.

After finishing his daily rounds he went home to work on his wares. Sometimes he also worked on his invention, a machine that separated the down from the feathers. It was composed of a huge wooden box and steel parts. He had different tradesman prepare the various steel parts, so that nobody would steal his patent. He sold quite a few, but at a very low price. Each time it turned out better. He worked devotedly on this project, which was hand operated - its big wheel had to be turned constantly. But my father took into account operation via electricity. He never fulfilled that dream, though, as the Nazi era mercilessly cut short his dream, his life.

My father and fellow tradesmen would sometimes gather at the house of a larger tradesman who would buy their wares. The larger tradesman would "buy them off" - entertaining them by playing cards - and pay them very low prices. Those small tradesmen worked very hard roaming the town door-to-door in rain, snow and all kinds of weather to earn their daily living. This was a common occupation at the time. My father also went to neighboring towns by bicycle or train and would trade wares with his fellow tradesmen.

I often accompanied my father. Most of the gentiles we went to had big fenced courtyards around their houses. They earned their livelihood from livestock - cows, pigs, ducks, geese and chickens - field crops such as wheat and corn, and orchards. Some of their produce they would eat, the rest they would sell. We Jews had no rights to own land, so we had to look for other ways to earn our living.

Most of our gentile neighbors also had nice flower gardens. So when my father went to their houses, I asked for flowers. Most of them would give me, but others told me that flowers had to be in the flower garden. My begging made my father uncomfortable and he would later reprimand me. Even though I hated to be reprimanded, I could not control myself and was overcome with delight whenever I saw flowers. I simply could not control my feelings.

© David Muskal, 2001