ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author details an autobiographical memoir of his childhood in Vienna. The author's friends came from a wide variety of religious and economic backgrounds. Some were totally secular while others were highly religious. His friend Josef Brenner once took him to a Shabbat Mincha service at a hasidic Klaus where the Nevatselesser rebbe held court. With another boy, named Koppel, the author regularly played Knieball, their favorite school game, mainly during the second Jause break between 10 and 10.15 a.m. They were more or less even and could never tell who would win. This went on for years until one day in 1937 they went on a school trip in the Wienerwald. Another friend was Heinrich Feigenbaum, nicknamed ‘Ficus’. Slender and short, Feigenbaum would vanish under his desk, at first perhaps to avoid being asked questions by their teachers. The only one of the schoolmates with whom the author had problems was Michael Plaschkes.
