One of our writers wrote the article The Jewish people in Harbin. The Press and Information officers of the Israeli Embassy gave high praise to the article and suggested that I interview the Minister-Counselor of Scientific & Agricultural Affairs, Mr. Amram Olmert. Mr. Olmert's grandfather, parents, and some relatives lived in Harbin for many years. His grandfather was buried in Harbin. Mr. Olmert talked a lot about those years and those people during the interview.

　　My grandfather came to Harbin in 1917 from Russia, because of the Great Revolution happening then. The Revolution vibrated the society and made their lives more difficult. He came to Harbin by train insgroupsto find a peaceful land and have an easy life. He got a job in a railway company in Harbin, and later moved all his family to Harbin. Many Jews moved from Russia to China, to Harbin, in those days. Among them was my mother's family, too. My grandfather's family was only one of them.

　　My father was still a boy then. He grew up in Harbin with asgroupsof Jewish children like him. They received their educations in China and graduated from Chinese schools. My father graduated from a polytechnic school and studied electricity. I can show you my father's graduation certificate.?He showed me a photocopy of the diploma. It was kept quite well. Mr. Olmert couldn't read Chinese, so his secretary, Miss Geng, translated for him. He looked very proud of his father, because nearly all the courses listed were graded at the highest score. He let me take a photo of the certificate, saying it might be persuasive. He put aside the certificate and we went on with our talk.

　　After my father's graduation, he began to think of going to Israel. My grandfather didn't agree to let him go back and would not give him money, because Israel was not an independent county at that time, under British domination, and far away from China.

　　My grandfather was worried about my father's safety and future. But my father insisted on going. Fortunately, my father had asgroupsof Chinese friends, and one of his friends uncle was the director of a school in a small city two hundred kilometres from Harbin. They asked him to go there to teach Russian. As I said just now, my father grew up with asgroupsof Jewish people who came from Russia, so he could speak Russian very well. He lived in the small city for two years and earned some money which enabled him later to go to Israel.

　　My grandfather died in Harbin, and my grandmother left for Shanghai. When my mother's family also moved out of Harbin later, part of them went to Shanghai, and part went to Tianjin. My mother's elder sister died in Shanghai and her younger brother died in Tianjin. So, I'm a land lord, since I have three pieces of land in China.?He told me this is just a joke, and I knew that he referred to their grave yards. He laughed heartily, making our interview relaxed.My parents got to know each other in Harbin. Later my mother entered a university in Shanghai, majoring in law. After her graduation, she went to Israel, because my father was waiting there.

　　My father wanted to be a farmer, but he didn't learn any anything about agriculture in China. Therefore, on his way to Israel, he stayed in Holland for two years, working on a farm to learn farming. I was born on the farm in Israel; later on I studied in an agricultural school. Then I went to a university to study agriculture and worked in the Ministry of Agriculture after my graduation. My father greatly influenced me, and I continued working in his way.

　　When I was a child, my classmates were told that my parents were from China, so they faddled to say that I looked like I was Chinese. I got most of the information about China from my parents. Today you can easily find things from China, but in those days things from China were very rare. I was only able to learn about China from others conversation. While I grew up, there were many people from China around me, so it was quite natural for me to ask questions. They told me a lot of things about Harbin, Shanghai, Canton, Beijing, and Tianjin. China, in my mind, was a country far away; there were big rivers there, the Yangtze River and the Yellow River; Chinese people eat rice. These things were all new and strange to me. There was a popular song in the circle around me. It said, tea and rice you can find in large quantities in China, a very remote county, but in our smaller country we have diseases from mosquitoes.Mr. Olmert laughed happily. It's usually pleasant for one to recall the happy days of his childhood.

　　My father wrote an autobiography in which there was a special chapter about China, about his life in China, and about Chinese people. I knew from the book that he had many Chinese friends. He also kept some photos he had taken with his Chinese friends.

　　My father began to learn Hebrew after he went back to Israel. Before that, he could only speak Chinese and Russian. His Chinese was very good; I can tell you that when he was old and already not so bright, he began to speak Chinese again. It seemed that he had gone back to his childhood. When I came to visit him, he spoke Chinese to me. I told him, rather, I can't understand you, you speak Chinese. But he continued to speak Chinese.

　　I first came to China in 1989, when I was the general director of a company which established a demonstration farm in China. I came to China many times later. And I visited the Jews cemeteryswheresmy grandfather was buried, in Harbin-two times: first, in January, and second, in June, 2001. It's a newly moved cemetery, in which the government moved the graves from inside the city to a beautiful park outside the city. The government spent much effort to keep them well. I think my grandfather and other Jewish people can rest in peace there.?