Miriam Freedman

Miriam Freedman was born in July 1934 in Bratislava as the youngest of six siblings, her name at birth was Eva Mannheimer. Her parents were Salomon Mannheimer and Olga née Paskus, both came from Orthodox families and were from the area of Piestany and Nitra. Salomon had a textile business just like Olga’s father and that is how their paths crossed. Miriam remembers a happy childhood, loving parents and in particular a very affectionate father who travelled a lot for business. Her mother who had shown an interest in studying, loved music and sang operettas while doing her housework and dealing with her children.

Miriam remembers that the world of her happy childhood changed when they had to move from their flat in Suche myto 12 to a flat in Judenstraße and she saw Jewish citizens being taken out of the synagogue on Shabbat to scrub the pavements while Slovaks standing by laughing. Two of her siblings – Marci and Noemi – were sent to relatives in Hungary where Miriam’s parents thought they were safer – Miriam never saw them again. Her oldest sister Bracha went on Aliyah in 1939 and tried to organise her family’s emigration to Palestine. However, they were rejected at the Swiss border and returned home. Her father lost his business and take on any labour he could find to provide for the family. When life in Bratislava became too dangerous, the family relocated to Nitra where Olga’s family lived. One of her Olga’s sister’s had a business that made corsets and one day, when the family’s deportation was imminent, the aunt’s apprentice’s boyfriend – who was actually a Hlinka Guard – helped to save the whole family.

One day in late September 1944 Miriam does not remember the date - her father did not manage to escape a razzia. Miriam, her sisters and mother were saved by her aunt and uncle. Together with them, their son and the aunt’s sister, they hid in a flat in Jasykovy 52. The caretaker and his wife and another couple brought them food and kept them safe when the Gestapo searched the house. They realised that the flat was not safe enough anymore. So, the caretaker carved a hole in the wall of the cellar where the eight people hid under unbearable circumstances until their liberation in spring 1945, when the Red Army advanced on Nitra.

In 1946, her sister in Israel organised immigration for Miriam, her mother and her sister. Miriam was sent to a boarding school Kfar HaNoar HaDati because her mother found work as a cook for the Knesset. Miriam did not find the transition easy, as she had to learn the language first. After graduation, she joined the IDF and then afterwards trained as a teacher. When she was offered a position as the Israeli representative of a Jewish agency in Ireland, she went as a shaliach to Belfast.

She met her husband, Leonard Freedman, a Jewish Irishman and actor. They got married in Haifa in 1958 and settled in Israel for a while, until Leonard found work in England in 1960. They had two children, Alison and Martin.

Through friends Miriam was introduced to yoga which she found fascinating and she trained as a yoga teacher. At a later point she met Irina Tweedie, a Russian-British Sufi and teacher of the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiya order. Training with her turned out to be life-changing, as she experienced a way to let go of her past, expand her life and become a freed and happier person. When she doesn’t teach, she enjoys meeting friends at the Holocaust Centre.

Keywords: Mannheimer. Bratislava. Nitra. Piestany. Israel. Kfar HaNoar HaDati, Kfar Haroeh. Helena and William Gavalovic. Vitek and Maria Perny. Righteous Among the Nations. IDF. Teacher Training College in Jerusalem. Shaliach in Northern Ireland. Irina Tweedie. Yoga. The Shop on Main Street.