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143 First Name: Miriam Also Known As: Maria Sudnika or Marya Last Name: Webster Maiden Name: Studniberg Date of Birth: October 1, 1926 or 1927 City of Birth: Radomsko As told to Haim Levendel From Radomsko to Chicago Miriam Studniberg Webster The Radomsko I Knew I was born Miriam Studniberg, but at home, they called me Marisha, as it was customary for Jews to have both a Hebrew and a Polish name. I was born on either October 1, 1926, or 1927. I am not sure, because the Łódź Hospital where I was born made a mistake on my birth certificate. The question of my exact age did not come up until later, when I could not ask my parents anymore. We lived in Radomsko, a large town in central Poland. It had a Jewish population of ten thousand out of twenty-five thousand people. I grew up in the “Park Avenue” section of the town, a predominantly non-Jewish area, but we had a few Jewish neighbors. It was a tree-lined boulevard with wooden benches lining the street and fancy residences with beautiful windows and doors facing the street. Our home, an apartment building, was nothing spectacular, but we owned it and lived in one of the units while renting the rest. There were a few stores scattered in the building and in the neighborhood. We had electricity, but no water or plumbing. My mother always had help in the house. Our live-in maid brought water in buckets to our house. She started the fire in the morning, brought wood, prepared food for breakfast, cleaned the house, and washed the clothes. When I was not feeling well, she walked me to school. She was a nice person who was eager to convert me to Catholicism when my parents 144 Out of Chaos were away, but I was not interested. I loved being Jewish. All my girlfriends were Jewish, and I went to a Jewish school. My parents observed all the Jewish holidays. The holidays were beautiful. We prepared for weeks cleaning the house for Passover . Even as a child I understood the meaning of the holidays. I remember the house was filled with geraniums and white tablecloths. My father was dressed up in his white kittle (a cotton smock) for the seder. I understood what Catholicism was and had been inside a church, but it did not give me the same warm and loving feelings as my family’s observance of Judaism. Over the years, we had a number of maids who came from a small rural village close by. They were trying to improve their lot. The girls came from homes that did not have electricity, and they had never even heard a radio. They were looking for exposure to a modern lifestyle and the opportunity to find a husband to go with it. We enjoyed a comfortable life. When I was young, I spent a considerable amount of time in parks. My mother would wheel me there in the company of other mothers from the neighborhood. When I became older I went to a Jewish elementary school. The father of one of my best girlfriends, who now lives in London, was the school principal. Although the students were all Jewish, it was a public school. We had small classrooms and great teachers. I was considered an excellent student in elementary school. Even as I was passing secret notes to my friends during class, I was always able to answer questions when the teacher caught and tested me. I was able in math, but geography was my favorite subject. I remember studying about North American cities, but we talked a lot about Chicago because it was “the windy city.” At the end of the school day, I went ice skating in winter and bike riding and playing volleyball in the summer. My parents could not get me home on time for dinner. I attended the school until seventh grade, and after the end of that school year, I registered for a private high school in Radomsko. I did not attend high school because the war broke out on September 1, 1939, the day I was supposed to start. My parents had Jewish and non-Jewish friends. I did not experience any antisemiticincidents ,exceptonce.Onthewaytoschool,agirltoldme,“WaituntilHitler comes. You will not be as well as you are.” She was one of a few Volksdeutsche—that is, an ethnic German, a member of a German colony outside Germany...

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