In 1968 I Was a Religious Jew Jerry Bergman

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Oral History/ POLIN Museum collection

Published on Feb 29, 2024

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Jerry Bergman was born in 1948 in Tarnów, the third largest city in Galicia, an important part of the Jewish community. The interviewee's parents emigrated to the east at the beginning of the war, when they didn't know each other yet. When they settled in Tarnów and started a family, they ran a religious Jewish, kosher home where they spoke Polish and Yiddish. After the war, his father worked at the post office, and his mother looked after the house. When the interviewee lived in the city, there was no longer a synagogue, but it was replaced by a prayer house, which was a separate room. In 1967, he graduated from technical school and was interested in photography and film. He then wanted to study at a film school, but he didn't count on it because of his background. Due to the growing social tensions, he sensed that there would be a need to leave Poland. In the interview, he recalls a story about when, as a young boy, he wanted to have a beard, but his mother was not happy about it. One day, while sitting on a bus, he heard: "And I thought that all the Jews had been gassed." He understood then why his mother was not happy about his son wearing a beard. In 1965, he wanted to leave for Israel, but his parents did not agree. Finally, he left the country on October 24, 1969. He assumed that he would go to Israel, but he stopped in Vienna to wait for his parents, whom he then wanted to settle in Europe. He stayed there for a few days and then went to Denmark. However, his parents never left Poland. His father died in 1980 and was buried in Tarnów, while his mother passed away a few years later and was buried in Krakow. He did not plan to stay in Denmark for long, as he says, he stayed there "through adverse possession." The emigration community there had different views at that time, which is why there was confusion there. The interviewee began studies in line with his interests, i.e. film. He also began taking photographs, establishing contacts with the local press, and eventually worked with large agencies and became a correspondent for Denmark, Vice-President of the Foreign Correspondents and accredited to the Royal Palace and Parliament. He photographed waves of refugees and illustrated covers for books on the subject. He then created a committee that organized Polish-Jewish seminars, or meetings with young emigrants. He came to Poland for the first time after a long stay in Denmark in connection with his father's funeral. INTERVIEWEE NAME: Jerry Bergman INTERVIEWED BY: Józef Markiewicz RECORDING: Grzegorz Liwiński DATE OF RECORDING: February 7, 2018 COPYRIGHT TO THE RECORDING: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews Discover the POLIN Museum's oral history collection: https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/historia-mow... Subscribe to our channel: / @historiamowionapolin Watch the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews channels: POLIN (announcements and reports from events at the Museum): / mhzp2013 Virtual Shtetl (history and culture of Polish Jews): / virtualshtetl Polish Righteous (stories of help provided to Jews during the Holocaust): / polscysprawiedliwi Contact to share the interview: [email protected] #historiapowiedziona #muzeumpolin #marzec68

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