Translated from Polish by Shoshana Reczinska,
Hebrew Editor: Eliel Ezgad

Published in 1989 by "Notza Vakeset", P.O.Box 37307
Tel Aviv 61372

Family History - Excerpts from Adam Neuman-Nowicki's book

..."My parents, Mosze-Szlomo Neuman and Frymeta Goldkind, both from Plock, considered themselves philosophically progressive and liberal Jews who eagerly participated in Polish gentile culture. My parents frequently entertained and they were active in social causes. Nevertheless, they observed all the Jewish Holidays and kept a kosher kitchen. My father' however, did not wear a kippah (skullcap) and he did not grow a beard. We spoke Polish at home, and my parents spoke Yiddish between themselves when they didn't when they didn't want my brother and me to understand what they were saying. In contrast, my two grandfathers, Jehuda-Leib Neuman and Abram Goldkind, were strict Orthodox Jews, whom I remember with long white beards. Both of them had important positions in the Plock synagogue. My paternal grandfather, who had a beautiful voice (it seems a family trait, since both an uncle and an aunt also had melodious voices), was a cantor".

..."My father, who worked as an accountant in the agricultural machinery factory owned by the Marguliesz family, could not get ahead at job/ So' for a while, he set up and managed an office of the state lottery. My father's business, unfortunately, was not prospering at all. However' he was a clever businessman. Soon, my father's business started to sink into debt, which almost brought him to the point of bankrupcy. My mother decided to help out by renting furnished rooms. At the outset, sge rented in our own apartment. Gradually, with an increase in business, she had a regular hotel, which occupied two floors of the house at 4 Kolegialna Street.

My parents and many of my relatives were killed by the Nazis during Holoaust. I know neuther the date not the place of death and' thereore, I am unable to solemnize their memory by visiting or lightening a candle at their grave. My book, then, is an homage - an everlasting memorial to them."