I was born in the town of Pruzhany in Poland, in 1925, to parents who had settled there at the turn of the century. My parents — Tzira and Moshe Fridberg — came from villages in the area, where the population was mixed and the Gentiles would harass their Jewish neighbors, robbing them and from time to time murdering them as well. Over the years, most of the Jews moved from the villages to the towns and cities, where their lives were safer and their livelihoods better. In this way a Jewish community gathered in Pruzhany, growing steadily until it numbered some 6,000 souls — in a town of about 8,000 residents. Most of the other inhabitants were Byelorussians; a minority were Poles, the majority of whom had been brought there by the Polish government to fill administrative posts.

Pruzhany before the war — a residential street
 

Pruzhany was founded in the fifteenth century by non-Jewish Poles. Various legends circulated regarding the origin of the name. Most probably it was derived from the name of the river Pruzhanka, which flowed through the town on its way to the river Mukhavets. Jews settled in Pruzhany a short time after the Gentiles established themselves there. It is known that a synagogue existed in Pruzhany in 1463.
The Jewish population of Pruzhany grew steadily. In 1873, 2,575 Jews lived there — constituting 64.5% of the population. In 1921, the number of Jews in Pruzhany was 4,152 — and they made up 65.6% of the total population.
Pruzhany lay close to Brisk (known to Jews as Brisk-de-Lita; this is the same Brest-Litovsk where the separate peace treaty between Russia and Germany was signed on March 3, 1918, at the end of World War I).
My father, Moshe, was not a Zionist. My mother, Tzira, who was involved in charitable institutions and other community organizations, was close to Zionist ideals. However, there was never any talk at home of realizing the Zionist dream — of making aliya to the Land of Israel. The language spoken at home was Yiddish, but Mother enrolled my brother Sioma and me in a Hebrew school.
My brother and I first attended the "Yavneh" elementary school and later the "Tarbut" gymnasia. The "Yavneh" school and the gymnasia were a few hundred meters from our home — a short walk.