this too was a loss... from Lucca Ginsburg on 2004-01-19 (The Czernowitz-L Archive)

From: Lucca Ginsburg <lucca99_at_netvision.net.il>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 15:59:42 +0200
To: czernowitz czernowitz <Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu>
Reply-To: lucca99_at_netvision.net.il

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Tragedy is of course relative and during World War II so many
bad things happened to good people!
Thus, looking back at this sad day in my childhood, and
comparing it to other calamities, it moves into the right proportion, which
means - the realization that this mishap was minor.

I was about 14 or 15 years oldwhen this happened. It was
the second invasion of the red army into our city. One of my most priced
possession- if not really the most priced - was my piano. I was no great
pianist, I played a bit of classical etudes, sonatinas,
light Beethoven, Bach, Schubert. Being at romantic age, I
played fashionable romantic music, often moving myself to tears...

One day a Russian officer entered our house and approached my
piano directly:
"This, he said to me and my mother, comes now with me! You
have played enough, now it's my children's turn to play! Here, I pay you for
it!"
He threw a few rubles on our table.
Two soldiers came into our house and carried the piano away.
The whole action had not taken more than a few minutes. The corner where my
piano had stood was suddenly empty and I broke out in tears.
The officer, maybe moved just a bit, said to me:
"We live across the street, whenever you feel like playing you
may come and play at our house!"

Homesick for my piano, I accepted his offer. Only once. After
coming back home I had a terrible itch on both hands. Our neighbor, a doctor,
looked at my handsand diagnosed:"scabies! Where did you get this?
What did you touch?"

In addition to having lost my piano, I had also acquired a
shameful disease, one caused by dirt and neglect.

One more memory from troubled times....
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Received on 2004-01-19 09:57:32