Ruzena R. with Hashomer Hatzair group

The boy in the very back was called Turtltaub, nicknamed Turisha. I don't remember his first name. He was a ‘histadrutnik,’ the instructor of our group. Histadrut was an organization, a movement. He and others were coming to Hashomer Hatzair. I don't really recall that organization, because I was only ten years old at the time. But there were always some histadrutniks, who joined us.

The first girl on the upper left is Ruzena Steinerova, I'm on the other side (upper right). Between me and Turisha is Lilly Popperova, who survived three years in Auschwitz. In the bottom row, first on the left is unknown person, then Greta Neumannova, Greta Rosenzweigova, who lives in America, and Lilly Weissova, who perished.

I used to spend my free time with my classmates or in Hashomer Hatzair. I felt very comfortable in Hashomer. We used to have lectures and on Saturday we used to go on tiul - an outing. We used to go out into the country. We were learning the basics of Hebrew. From those times I remember the word 'sheket,' which is what you'd shout to quiet people down. Otherwise, Hashomer Hatzair was a leftist organization, and they tried to indoctrinate us with Marxism. My brother Andrej, who brought me into it, wasn't a very big Zionist. His friends went there, and that influenced him. Before the war Andrej was supposed to aliyah. He was already even all set to go, but in the end it didn't happen.