Abraham Zborowski (born 27.10.1921) about his parents and siblings before and during war, himself during WW2, live in Italy and Israel after war
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An English resume of an interview in Hebrew that took place in Israel as a part of the Polish Roots in isarel Project. Interviewee name: Abraham Zborowski
Abraham Zborowski’s father, Zalman Zborowski came from Wollbrom. He was the owner and manager of several flour and grain mills in Czestochowa. He himself established the business. It is unknown if he had official education. After the 1st World War, in the late 1910s, the entire Zborowski family, except for Zalman and his father, all left Poland to the United States, France and Belgium.
Abraham Zborowski’s mother, Sarah Sheindelle nee Puntowitz, came from Czestochowa. Her parents had a bakery in Czestochowa. Sarah had two or three sisters; two of whom played the cello and violin and were musicians.
Abraham Zborowski grew up in a modern Jewish household. His grandparents, however, on both sides, were traditional and observant of Jewish law. The Zborowski grandparents were ultra orthodox, especially grandfather Shmuel Zborowski who tried to persuade his family to keep a religious lifestyle: go to synagogue, fast on “Yom Kippur” and celebrate the “Pessach Seder”. Abraham Zborowski’s father, Zalman Zborowski, used to pray three times daily.
At Abraham's home, the spoken language was Polish, especially between the siblings and a mixture of Yiddish and Polish with the parents.
Abraham Zborowski had four brothers and three sisters, they represented the socio-political atmosphere in Poland in the early 1930s.
The eldest brother, Hanina – Henri distanced himself from any political activity. He was objective in his opinions. Between 1934 and 1938 he studied the art of brewing beer in Belgium.
Yehuda – Jazik helped in the family mill business in Czestochowa. He was an active, enthusiastic member of the left wing Zionist movement Poaley Zion Smol. Sister Natalia was a member of Wizo and HaShomer HaZair. Another brother, Nathan, who was studying at the Czestochowa technical Jewish school to become a metal-smith, was a member of the right wing extremist movement Beitar. Gutka, Abraham's sister was a devoted HaNoar HaZioni member and Abraham, like his brother Nathan, was also a member of the Beitar revisionist movement. Abraham's parents were not Zionists, and did not officially belong to any Zionist movement, but the general atmosphere at home was Zionist. There were many disputes and arguments between the siblings regarding political issues. Hanina – Henri, the eldest, always tried to keep peace between the brothers.
Abraham and his younger sisters all attended the Jewish elementary school in Czestochowa. He completed the 6th grade before the 2nd World War broke out. It was a co-ed school for male and female students.
Abraham describes the relations between Jews and non-Jews as quite good at the time he was growing up. His father Zalman Zborowski had many contacts with non-Jews, while running his business. The Polish Christian “Salami” butchers needed his mill’s service in order to produce their sausages, so that relations were pretty close. However, very often the Polish Christians would use a specific form of anti-Semitism regarded as mere cynicism by the Jews, who were really offended, but had no other way to deal with the unpleasant situation.
Abraham experienced another form of anti-Semitism, when in front of Jewish owned businesses and shops, a representative of the “Andek” right wing Polish nationalist movement would call out against buying from Jews. There were two infamous pogroms in Czestochowa that Abraham Zborowski witnessed and remembers in 1936 and in 1937. The Jews never left their homes for several days. The fear was terrible. Almost every day a Jew was stabbed during the night. In the morning the Jews would ask around who had been stabbed that night.
At school Abraham had almost no contact with non-Jewish children. The only occasion he came across non-Jewish children was during the city schools competitions which took place in the local stadium.
Abraham learnt Hebrew as a Beitar movement activist during the group meetings. No other language was permitted to be spoken during those meetings. If someone by mistake uttered a word in another language, he was immediately fined.
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