Interview with Samuel Lakritz, January 12,1975, Madison, Wisconsin

Partial Transcript: Sam was born in a town of ten thousand people about one hundred miles from Warsaw. His parents had nine children. His family dispersed when his father died. Sam's mother owned a small grocery store in Russia.

Partial Transcript: His mother did not receive any pensions or money from the state to support her family after her husband passed away. She had to run her grocery store to support the family. Sam says that 75% of the towns population was Jewish. They rented a house. The town was very close to the Austrian border.

Partial Transcript: Sam discusses how people would rent out part of their houses in Russian cities. He talks about how most of the Jewish people from his hometown were very poor aside from a few merchants who could afford houses with servants. Women also worked long hours.

Partial Transcript: Wealthier Jews often had the opportunity to become scholars and businessmen, but poor Jews rarely had those opportunities. Sam also discusses the poor conditions in Jewish hospitals and nursing homes, because there were not enough doctors for the patients. Jews were never treated by gentile doctors.

Partial Transcript: The age when most Jews married in Russia often depended on a woman's dowry and a number of other factors. It was difficult for a woman to get married without a dowry. People got married as young as sixteen or seventeen. Sam is unsure of whether or not his parents had an arranged marriage. His father worked in a mill.

Partial Transcript: Sam says he ate whatever he could get. His mother often made noodles for her large family. The rich were the only ones who were able to afford good meat and chicken. There were fifteen to twenty Jewish butchers in the town.

Partial Transcript: The floors of Sam's childhood house was earth. He discusses the furnishings and condition of the house.

Partial Transcript: Sam's parents were both very religious. Children in the town started cheder as young as three years old, but Sam does not remember how old he was when he first attended cheder. He remembers going to higher cheder for about ten hours a day.

Partial Transcript: Conversion was uncommon among Russian Jews. College was very expensive and only the rich could afford to attend.

Partial Transcript: After he was finished with his schooling, Sam would teach Russian and Yiddish a few times a week. He also worked as an errand boy in a store.

Partial Transcript: Sam was born in 1899 and received a birth certificate from the city rabbi, which he lost. He needed a passport to live in the city and travel to other villages. The rabbi was a national official and able to act on behalf of the government. The town where he was born was seventy-five miles away from the Austrian border. His mother had thirteen children, but four of them died.

Partial Transcript: Sam was the youngest of his family. His mother was in her forties when she gave birth to him.

Partial Transcript: Since the city was close to the Austrian border, the city had a military of three divisions, infantry, calvary, and cossacks. The cossacks were from the Crimea. The Jews did not get along with the Cossacks, because they were antisemitic. The cossacks would often break up conflicts between Jews and peasants and hurt the Jews.

Partial Transcript: His mother's store sold goods like kerosine, peat, cooking oil, and flour. In poor families, both the parents had to work. Sometimes, just the wife worked and the husband stayed home and studied the Torah. Women were able to own a small store or a stand.

Partial Transcript: Sam's sister had trouble getting married because she did not have a dowry. In 1905, an enlightenment movement hit Russia and people formed organizations that enabled poor Jews to attend a regular school supported by the government. As a result, people became less religious.

Partial Transcript: Jews started studying Russian and German literature that made them less religious.

Partial Transcript: The mass migration from eastern Europe started in the 1880s. It was expensive to leave Russia because those who wished to come to the United States had to have money for travel and serve in the Russian army.

Partial Transcript: Sam does not remember if any Jews that he knew were active in the revolutionary movement in Russia. Many young people went to Palestine, and some older people with money went there to spend the last years of their life.

Partial Transcript: To leave Russia, men had to serve in the Russian army. Sam's brother avoided being drafted into the army by ruining his perfect eye sight with glasses. Since he could not be drafted, he was able to go to the United States without serving in the military. Sam discusses how his other brothers were in the military. He also talks about the practice of conscripting young kids into the army.

Partial Transcript: Sam discusses how Jews could only live in certain areas in Russia. They were not allowed in Kiev and other large cities unless they were a first guild merchant. Jews who traveled to certain areas without authorization risked being sent to Siberia or jail time if caught.

Partial Transcript: Sam celebrated all the Jewish holidays in Russia. He discusses preparing food for the holidays. Sam talks about Jewish organizations in Russia that helped give food to the poor on Jewish holidays.

Partial Transcript: Everyone in the town celebrated shabbat on Friday. Sam discusses how people in the town typically spent the day. The shabbat feast would often go on until late at night, when the candles went out.

Partial Transcript: On Saturdays, Sam would read and spend time with friends. He talks about the games he would play as a kid. He did not attend regular school during the summer, but spent more time in cheder.

Partial Transcript: Sam wore a uniform to attend school.