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Family Koch |
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| Last update: 6/2021 |
Jaccob Koch A U T O B I O G R A P H Y I was born on 13.11. 1919 in Frystat (Freistadt), Moravia, Czechoslovakia. Frystat was annexed to the nearby Karvina and Czechoslovakia is now the Czech Republic. The Slovaks established a separate state. My father, Gerschon ( 1879-1937) was born on the 7.2. 1879 in Prerov (Prerau) Moravia and after ending his career as an officer (Feldwebl) in the Austria-Hungarian Army –approximately in1918 opened a shop for bicycles, sowing machines and recorders in Friestadt, Tesinaska Ulice. In 1995 Mother and I visited the place and the house still stands, though another floor was added to it. Before that, Father met and married his future wife Eva (Hava) Loewenbein (1883-1944) of Raj near Freistadt and my sister Elze remembers that Mother kept a black goat in the backyard, as milk was scarce during the war (First World War 1914-1918). In the backyard stood also a small building attached to the house, where Mother’s Grandfather opened a small window shop, selling sweets to passing children. Very often the ‘customers’ became unruly and Father had to chase them away. Grandfather didn’t do it for profit, but it kept him occupied. He smoked a lot and didn’t mind to drink. (In his younger days he kept a restaurant in Raj). Grandmother Mari was a small, kind woman and as long as she lived, kept the room clean and took good care of Grandfather. Father’s family moved to Vienna, and he visited them from time to time. Once he took my older sister Elze with him, who told us afterwards amazing stories of the ‘Riesenrad’ (Ferris Wheel). Father promised me to take me once with him, but he couldn’t materialize his promise, so I have never seen my relatives in Vienna. Father had a brother in Vienna, Karl, who was a lawyer and another brother In Olomouc (Olmitz) , not far from Brno (Bruen), Moravia. Berthold (his wife Rosa) was the manager of the train station there and often visited us, bringing us nice presents. I remember once he brought us a toy stove with all the accessories and we three children played with it for quite some time. Mother (23.11.1883) came from a very large family Loewenbein, who lived in Raj, near Frystat. Grandfather Israel and grandmother Mari Loewenbein lived with us. Grandfather had once a restaurant in his younger years, but now he had to make do with a small window shop in our background, selling sweets to passing children. Father often had to chase away unruly boys who took advantage of Grandfather’s old age. We had many relatives from Mother’s side and most of them lived nearby. Max Schein and Sofi (former Loewenbein) had a grocery shop down the road and Wilhelm Loewenbein and Steffi had a brewery while Poldi Loewenbein and Berta had a large timber yard. Some of their children – my cousins – are here in Israel. Yael (from Poldi L) lives in Kibbutz Haogen, Oser (from David L.) lives in Neot Mordechay. The late Klarel Blazek (from Wilhelm L.) lived in Prague and is survived by wife Eva and daughter Daniela. He was an aircraft engineer and this helped him to survive the concentration camp with its horrors. However, he succumbed to his kidney illness. Hanzi, sister of Oser L. lives – I think – still in New York. However, many of my relatives, including Mitzi – my sister – perished in the gas chambers of the Nazi camps. We were quite well off. Father has a prosperous shop selling the prestigious bicycles (‘Eska’ and ‘Premier’), sewing (Minerva) and agricultural machines, record players and furniture. He often helped out Mother’s poorer relatives. To one, Emanuel L. (wife Cily) he bought a horse and cart to enable him to make a living. However, that Emanuel seemed to be a ‘Kuni Lemel’, and let the horse starve. So my father had to support his family again. His story reminds me of the story of a clever farmer, who reduced the food ration to his horse every day, hoping it would cut down on expenses. And sure enough, the horse almost stopped eating altogether, when he suddenly collapsed and died. Father had a motorcycle with a side-car, but after he had hit a drunkard, he stopped driving. We bought a Skoda car, but it was driven by one of our employees. While going to elementary school, which was situated on a hill in Frystat, I was allowed to drive the car a bit – without my parents’ knowledge. Thanks God, nothing happened. It was an adventurous, even dangerous time – and I was about 9 – 10 years old! The car worked hard to make it up the hill to the school and not once the water in the cooler started to boil over and hot water and vapor poured out of the water tank. So we had to wait till the engine cooled down. The year was 1929 –30 and the Czech Skoda had to improve a lot if it wanted to compete against the American Ford. And it did and the Czechs were proud of their car. They ventured even into aircraft manufacture and arm industry. Their weapons helped us considerably during our War of Independence.
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| יעקב קוך |