New Home, New Enemy

Before I turned ten we moved again. Our landlord sold our residence to Mr. [Panti], whose family renovated the house and opened a [smithery]. My father gave him business occasionally. They were kind gentiles who became Seventh Day Adventists. This was a new religion were gentiles celebrated the Jewish Sabbath instead of Sunday. A next-door neighbor of ours, Mrs. [Srasz], also took up this new religion. But her husband did not. He was so angered that he never again spoke to his wife. Both of them more than sixty years old, they continued to live together in the same house, staying faithful and devoted to each other for the next twenty-five years until Mr. Srasz passed away. They had three daughters and lived as a close-knit family. Marriage was sacred to them - nothing could break it up except for death.

Our new abode on [Bern-Tabornok] Street was also near a well where water flowed continuously from four pipes. I do not know why, but it was called the well of the "Roses". Our new place, with a very small courtyard, was closer to the Er River, and to the Synagogue/Jewish School. We had some nice new neighbors who did business with us.

As usual, though, I also found an "enemy" here, on the corner opposite our house, a child of the [Szabor] family. There was an unrelated Szabor family at the other corner, a childless, friendly couple. The "enemy" Szabors were quite poor and had about three children. An older son of theirs once threw stones at my brother Sanyi, and my father complained to this boy's parents. This boy never bothered any of us again. But they had a younger boy about my age, with a short, thin body and an ugly face. Walking home one day, this "cockroach" (he does not deserve a better nickname) called me a "stinky Jew", and I yelled back at him, "stinky parasite". He threw a rock at me, and I responded in kind. Over the years, we would engage in fistfights. He would pull my beautiful blond hair, and I would scratch his face with my fingernails as hard as possible. When he hurt enough he would let go, and we both ran home in opposite directions. There was no point in my complaining to my parents about this, as they would not go to the boy's parents to protest. I had to learn at an early age how to defend myself and not depend on others.

Quite a few years later, I encountered this "cockroach" again. The cursed Amalekites - the German SS soldiers - had occupied the town of Puspokladany, and I saw him walking on the main street, now a short and ugly sixteen-year old. Swallowing all my fear and holding my head up high, I marched in front of him and an SS soldier who was with him. The little beast pointed his finger at me, hoping that the Nazi would harm me, and cried out "Juda, Juda" - Jew, Jew. The soldier just looked at him and ignored his plea, and I thanked the Almighty that I passed them peacefully.

© David Muskal, 2001