Herta Freund, Matriarch

This interview was conducted in Miami, FL on May 19, 1981 by Ms. Lea de Freund. Herta Freund, Lea's mother-in-law, was born in Grosstein, Germany (near what was then Oppeln and Breslau) in 1905. Herta attended school in Grosstein until she was twenty, when she decided to get a higher education in nearby Oppeln. Her father was also born in Grosstein and her mother in Boiten (near Schleisien).

Herta's family was the only Jewish family in Grosstein. In the beginning of her interview, she explained that this was not always the case.

"My grandfather came to an established Jewish community in Grosstein. There was a large family with many children, and they wanted to educate them in our tradition. He came as the teacher and stayed on and married and had his own family of which there was one son. That was my father..... Eventually everybody left for the larger cities and my father was the only one who did not want to leave..."
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Now for an excerpt from Lea's interview. Please note that Lea's questions will be in parentheses.

(So when did you get married?)

In December of 1923.

(How did you meet your husband?)

Well, there was no Jewish life [in Grosstein] and my parents were still very religious. We used to spend the holidays in Grosstrelitz which was the next city that had a Jewish community. For the holidays, we would close the store and go there for the two days of Rosh Hashanah. In Grosstrelitz, my father had a sister who married and had a big family, we joined that big family in Grosstrelitz. My late husband was born there and he left just for the fun of it to go to Central American where he had a cousin. He had the idea to see the world and come back to Germany. Meanwhile, WWI broke out and he could not come back. He stayed on in Salvador and in 1923 he came back to see his family. We were there for Rosh Hashanah and everybody was talking about Freund, the man who lived in Salvador. Nobody at that time knew what Salvador was, of course, and I got to know him. We fell in love and decided to get married and I moved with him to Salvador. Our idea was to stay for ten years while we had children. Stay in Salvador for ten years and then return to Germany and educate our children.

(So you arrived in Salvador by boat?)

Yes.

(How was it? What did you feel? What did you see when you arrived?)

A very small town at that time. No paved streets but cobblestones. Lovely people and a foreign colony which kept together. Jewish and non-Jewish had no influence. There were Englishmen, a few Americans, French, Germans, and we all kept together because we felt a little different. Our upbringing was a little different than the Salvadorans.

(What kind of Jewish life did you find when you arrived?)

Well, "life," that is a big word for what I found there.

(How many families did you have?)

That I don't remember, but I remember there was Paula Widawer, who had no children. About two years later, Sol Mugdan, my husband's cousin, was married so that was a second Jewish family. Then there were the Frenkels. She came about a year or two before I came to Salvador.

So maybe.....three families?


Transcription prepared and provided by the University of Florida, Oral History Program.