Chava Pressburgerová

“We had a special status, an advantage that we belonged to two cultures, to the Jewish culture and the Christian culture. We were thus able to draw from both sides. In the Jewish grandmother’s home there were books left behind by my grandpa, collection of some old prints, and various interesting things that she had in her household. In the Christian half of the family, where we would go for Christmas, it was totally different. We were getting presents under a Christmas tree, and we liked that, too. The atmosphere was full of love, and we were thus drawing from both sides. I have very fond memories of our stays in Hradec.”

“The fact that my parents were faithful, idealistic Esperantists made our life much more interesting. We often had guests from abroad, of various nationalities, who were sleeping in our apartment. Negroes, too. I remember when I saw a Negro for the first time, his name was Kola Jai. It was some time before Christmas, when there was the custom to put on a costume and mask of devil and St Nicholas. Dad went on the street with that Negro man, his Esperanto friend. One lady got terribly scared and she began screaming: ´Devil, there is a Devil! It was the first time she saw a Negro. The guests spoke Esperanto to us, and with the little Esperanto we knew, it was very interesting.”

“My name is now Chava Pressburger, and my original name was Eva Ginzová. I got the name Pressburger from my husband. I was born in Prague, and so was my brother Petr. We are an old Czech family, part of whom was of Jewish faith like my father. We, the two children, were sent to a Jewish elementary school in Prague as well. Mom was not Jewish, she came from the Hradec Králové region, from a little village called Čibuc. Her father, my grandpa from the mother’s side, was a country teacher. That kind of person the writer Božena Němcová describes in her book Mr. Teacher.”

“We were growing up in Prague in the Petrská Quarter. Our household was Czech-Jewish; Jewish since my mom had learnt from our Jewish grandmother all the regulations and prohibitions regarding Kosher eating. Our household was kosher. Meat was not cooked together with milk products, and so on. I also remember where we used to buy meat, it was in Dlouhá Street and the shop there was selling only kosher meat. I am saying this just to show how my mom adapted to Jewish customs although she had been raised as a Catholic. But she and her sister Božena, who later married the well-known actor Ota Sklenčka, were two revolutionaries in this way, so to speak.”