Family stories: the family's relationship with the Muslims

Name of speaker: 
Carmella ʾOḥayun (Nazima Sasson)
Gender of speaker: 
Female
Occupation of speaker: 
Housewife
Age of speaker at time of recording: 
88
Year of immigration: 
1951
Speaker's country of origin: 
Speaker's community of origin: 
Language: 
Documentation: 
May Ḥasidian
Year of recording: 
2021
Translator: 
Nathan Himmelfarb and Dr. Assaf Bar-Moshe

Translation: 

When my grandmother…in the war. My grandfather was…handsome, like…blue eyes, and his hair was yellow (blond). He went with someone, his friend, who was Muslim. They (police) stopped him, (and asked) “where are you going?”. He (the Muslim friend) said to him, “leave him! Do not arrest him!”. He said to him, “we will give you whatever we have in our pockets. Just leave my friend”. (The officer) said to him, “no!”. This Muslim (friend) started to hit him (the officer). He said to him (to my grandmother), “Yaaqub, run!”. They stripped him of his clothes on the way, until he reached some place. They brought him a robe and put it on him because he was naked. And my grandmother remained, (with) three children…she had four children. She remained without food and without drink. Afterwards, the Muslim man came and took her to his house. Jews did not eat the meat of Muslims, so he would only give them vegetables. There were two girls and two boys. One of the girls was given milk to drink…she wouldn’t eat or drink. When she (finally) ate, she had a stomach ache and died. My grandmother used to tell me (this story). My uncle used to work in a hospital. (His son) said to him, “father, bring me Abd al-llah’s docto!”. He brought him, and he said to him, “what he has, this sickness, there is no cure for.” Then a Jew came. He said to him (to my uncle), “Abraham, you have a sewage pit (at home). (When) you clean it, does the smell remain on it or not?”. (My uncle) said to him, “it remains on it.” He (the Jew) said to him, “your son has this sickness. It has no cure”. In the end, he died.

 

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