University

We had to work pretty hard to keep up with the level of studies at university. There were students from various European countries, all with different levels of education. It turned out that students from other countries had much more knowledge than we did, especially those students from Germany and Belgium. We also had the handicap of not knowing the language perfectly.

There was strict discipline in the school. We had to sign in every day and out at noon time. From eight to twelve we had lectures. After three there were labs, drawing sessions, etc. At intervals during the year we had "interrogations" (called midterms here). There was not much in the way of entertainment but still, and despite the heavy workload, I managed to go to concerts, operas and movies.

There was quite a bit of political activity in the student society, especially the Jewish part of it. A high percentage of the students were Jewish. Because some other countries would not allow Jews to go to university, they came to Belgium. These Jews held various political views and some of them had pretty good political leaders. We had a special home for Jewish students at number four Orange Street. Quite often the meetings of different political parties were held there - the Zionists, communists, etc. There was energetic debating which sometimes came close to violence. There were also cultural activities there and various artistic groups met, but there wasn't very much of this.

The first two years of the school were called Šcole Preparatoire and the second two years Šcole Speciale. Not knowing exactly what kind of engineering I wanted to go in for, I tried to take a majority of subjects so that later I would have a free choice. In the beginning I was still thinking of medicine as I had to consider my weakness in drawing. I decided that if, in the first exams, I got less than thirteen out of twenty I would switch to medicine. Probably it was my fate to continue in this school. We had a very good professor in Chemistry, Van Howe, who attracted not only me but crowds from the city with his interesting lectures and I decided to take Chemical Engineering

With Chaim Hirshovitz the togetherness didn't work out very well. We lived in two adjacent rooms in the same suite and we used to share most of our time. Our arrangement soon became unhappy, however. Probably our interests differed somehow, not in major outlooks but in minor things. We became very angry with each other until we decided to have a good talk and analyze our relationship. We decided that the major obstacle to good friendship was to live together. We split by the end of the first term. After that, we became very good friends again and this friendship still exists to this day.

The yearly exams were very tough. Before the exams we were given a free month for preparing which was called Mois de Block. After that, on a certain date, the exams were announced. The examinations were oral. The students were divided into groups of less than ten and the dates for each group were designated. If a student failed a subject he didn't have to take the rest of the exams because he was automatically failed. The rate of failure was high from the first day so from the next day there were empty seats and free time for the professors. Because of this free time, other students were called to the examinations at any time, even though they were scheduled to appear much later. Thus every one of us had to be prepared to be called at any time. They used to send messengers to the students' homes telling them to come immediately. This made things very difficult. My friend Chaim failed physics the first day of exams so he was out. He changed universities after that. I was luckier. I passed all the exams and was promoted to the second year.

Every year there was a big assembly for the ones who passed the exams. The body of professors sat at the head table in this assembly and they would call the students to the podium. There they gave them a certificate and congratulated them with a handshake. I was one of the first students to be called. Later on they stopped shaking the hands of the students and they just called names. It turned out that the first students to be called were the ones who got high distinction. I didn't realize at that time that I was one of the top students of the course. As a result of this status, the attitude of everybody changed toward me. At first I was an unknown entity amongst thousands of students from all countries. Then suddenly I was one of the top men and was held in much higher esteem.

Every summer I used to go back home for summer vacation. The first year I went home I found that my family had moved from the old house at Frankel's to our new house which had become very modern in comparison to what it had been before. We had running water now and an inside toilet. Our water was, naturally, not city water. It was pumped by hand every morning by our janitor, Jonas. The sewer was also not city-wide but privately taken care of. However, I found it a pretty comfortable life at home.

When I went home that first summer I found that my uncle Bere-Meyshe Weiss had died. This created quite a problem for my father for he had to take care of the widow, Tzipe, and her three little children. He set Tzipe up in a shoe store which was connected with the factory and she kept this store until the war. But it was not a happy enterprise. My aunt always had financial difficulties because she couldn't make a good enough living to educate her children and this was a source of steady worry to my father and mother. The eldest of her children was Mania, who now lives in Natania, Israel. Not long ago, he had his sixtieth birthday. Esther, his sister, now lives in Tel Aviv. Rubin was one of the ones arrested and liquidated by the Lithuanians in the first days of the Second World War.

At that time my sister, Tzilia, was still working at the office with papa and Asya was at home. Asya got married to a very fine man, Solomon Levy, a bookkeeper, and they made a good living in Riga.

During the vacation other friends of mine came back home too and we had a generally good time and a glorious rest with no worries. Every year until the end of our studies we followed more or less the same pattern.

The end of the university years came in 1928. As usual, I finished with high marks and received a diploma in Chemical Engineering with high distinction. I have never had to present this diploma to anybody up to date.