Jorge Weill Part II: Growing up in El Salvador

In this second entry, Jorge remembers his childhood in El Salvador and his first experience living abroad.
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They got along. They had an exceedingly good relationship. They used to go to the office together every day, and they’d take turns driving. One week one would drive to work and the following week the other one would drive. They’d pick each other up in the morning and drop each other off at 12 o’clock, they’d again pick each other up again at 2 o’clock and return home at 6 o’clock. And they had always something interesting and new to talk about in the car. It was a pleasure to go with them.

There were a couple Jews in the business. There were two I can remember. There was Alfredo Klein and there was another gentleman called Luis Margerit, whose children live in Salvador, but I’ve lost track of them.

(Your early years, did you go to the American school, like everyone else?)

I first went to the Echevez, which was a nursery school and then I studied first grade in France. At the time foreigners used to take five to six months vacations every five years, so my parents went on vacation for six months to France and left me with an aunt to study first grade in Strasbourg. I came back and went to the American school until eighth grade, and then went on to boarding school in the states.

(What did you speak at home, what language?)

We spoke French, primarily. But then when I was with my friends I would insist on speaking Spanish with my parents. I didn’t want to be different.

(As a child, did you know what had happened to your grandparents in the war?)

Yes. I knew that from an early age, I would say around nine, ten years old. My mother would tell me her experiences during the war. My mother was understandably traumatized. But I didn’t suffer from it. It wasn’t suffocating, but she would often tell me the story, what happened to my grandparents, what she went through the war.

(So it wasn’t a secret?)

It was not a secret. It was open and I think it was much better that way.

(What about your father’s side? Did he lose anyone in the war?)

My father was very lucky, because his parents were able to escape to what was at the time Free France. They only had to hide towards the end of the war. They almost got caught going from occupied France to what was Free France. I have always wondered and never had a chance to ask my father if he had any contact with his parents. Apparently during the whole period he wasn’t able to communicate with them. I can’t imagine what it’s like living five years without being able to contact your parents, not knowing if they’re alive or not. But they were very lucky.

(When you went to France, how was that? Was that a shock? Do you remember that first trip when you were in first grade?)

I remember that first trip. I didn’t mind it at all. I don’t know, I’ve never really suffered through anything. When I went to boarding school in the States, I enjoyed it enormously. When I went to college, I enjoyed it enormously. I also enjoyed living in Salvador. France, I didn’t mind it at all.

(Tell me about the Escuela Americana. What was it like to be Jewish?)

The Escuela Americana, my children went to the Escuela Americana and there were usually one or two Jewish kids in these very large classes of 100 students. In my the time, there were only 30 students per class, and generally speaking there were about five Jews in most of these classes. So you were not alone and you felt a little bit more cohesiveness in that sense. But at the same time, many of my friends were not Jewish but we got along very well, and I rarely felt any difference. As a matter of fact, my Catholic friends had Catholic classes, and at the time, the rabbi used to come once or twice a week to the American school, and he would also give us religion classes. The only thing that struck me was maybe in seventh grade when one of my friends told me, “Oh, you killed Jesus.” And I didn’t even pay too much attention, because it wasn’t said in a very disrespectful or hateful way.

(So you really never experienced anti-Semitism?)

I never really experienced anti-Semitism.

(Was your family very Jewish growing up?)

I think that my family was culturally Jewish. We celebrated all the High Holidays although we didn’t really celebrate Shabbat at home every Friday. My father used to go to synagogue quite often. Sometimes I would go on Friday nights. When I started studying for my bar mitzvah, I would go on Saturday mornings. And then after I made my bar mitzvah, they’d ask me to go on Saturday mornings. I didn’t like it so much, but I’d do it so they’d have a minyan. I have very comforting memories of the community. I remember it as being a very friendly place. I never really felt too many conflicts. Probably there were more than what I could sense.

(And after eighth grade you were sent to where?)

After eighth grade, in ninth grade I went to boarding school in the States. I went to Worcester Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts.

(How was that?)

I enjoyed it enormously. I felt—especially because, you know, all of a sudden, even though it was very strict, I didn’t have any parental supervision. I loved that. I felt much more independent. I made very good friends at Worcester.

(And the transition to U.S. life?)

It wasn’t too difficult. I had a little difficulty with the language, especially with my pronunciation. Sometimes I’d make some funny mistakes, and people would laugh at me. But I made some very good friends, and I remember being invited quite often for the weekends to my friends’ houses. I loved it because there were sports. We had a lot of personal attention. And I must say, I learned how to study. It was very good for me. It made me responsible.

(What did they think of you coming from Salvador? Were you kind of an exotic presence?)

I was a semi-exotic being, but I got acclimated pretty quickly, and they didn’t see me as a Salvadoran any more.

(Were there lots of Jews there?)

There was a fair amount of Jews, I would say. Fifteen to twenty percent of the class was Jewish.

(Do you feel like you had something in common with the American Jews?)

Yes, I felt it for some odd reason, don’t ask me why, but I always identified more with the Jews at the school. I was very excited, because my first roommate was Jewish, his name was Steve Katz, and my mother said, “Katz? He must be Jewish.” And I said, “Is Katz Jewish?” I didn’t know at the time.

Transcript by Sandy Adler, Adler Enterprises LLC