Ruda could not believe the excited response that greeted his little newspaper. All across the playground, young people were eager to get their hands on the paper and read what he had written. One child barely finished reading Klepy before the next child grabbed it. Not only did they love the newspaper, but they wanted more. “You have to produce another issue,” Reina Neubauer said.
Ruda agreed. “I can’t believe how popular these few pages are,” he said. “But I’m so glad. I knew I could do more than play volleyball here.” Writing that first edition of Klepy had been exciting, and he wanted to do more. But it was a lot of work, and he no longer wanted to do it alone. “If I’m going to produce another issue, I’ll need help.”
Ruda approached some of his friends – sixteen-year-old Rudi Furth and his fourteen-year-old brother, Jiri. Together they spoke with an older boy, Karli Hirsch. “With more people involved, we could really turn this into something important,” Ruda said. “Not just a few pages of descriptions, but a real newspaper, with meaningful stories and articles.” The other boys nodded eagerly. They wanted to be part of the newspaper as well. “Since I am the founder of the paper, I’ll write the editorial,” Ruda continued. “But what else should we include?”
The boys thought and thought. “Sports!” Jiri said. “The paper has to have a sports section. Sports are what brought us here in the first place. They are what keep us coming back day after day. Everyone would be interested in reading about the soccer matches here.”
“Maybe poetry,” added Karli. “We can write poems about the swimming hole, and what we love about being here.”
“We don’t want to make it too serious.”
The original editorial team, (top to bottom) Ruda Stadler, Karli Hirsch, Rudi Furth, Jiri Furth.
“That’s right. There has to be some fun in the paper as well.”
“And it has to appeal to everyone, young and old.”
The discussion continued, with each boy adding his thoughts and ideas. Ruda listened, running a hand through his thick, curly hair. There was so much to do if they were going to produce an actual newspaper. But he was excited and his mind raced with new energy and enthusiasm.
Left: Ruda’s editorial in the second edition of Klepy described the rules of the swimming hole. Right: The second edition of Klepy included a poem, which encouraged the young people to find ways to continue their friendship as the summer ended.
On September 15, the second edition of Klepy came out. It began with an editorial by Ruda, describing in more detail what the playground and swimming hole meant to the Jewish youth of Budejovice. He wrote:
In the middle of the summer of 1940, permission was given to establish a Jewish swimming area. Hurrah for us; we have a place for recreation, sport and fun. Since June 16, we have been enjoying the Jewish playground.
He went on to explain some of the rules of the swimming hole, with a few tongue-in-cheek rules of his own.
If you are a boy, and you mistakenly enter the girls’ changing cabin, you will be met by a storm of screeching girls. If a girl makes a mistake and enters the boys’ cabin, she is welcomed with joy.
That second edition also included a poem, encouraging the young people to find a way to continue their friendship and loyalty to one another as summer ended:
Our playground is so very nice,
With a cabin, small and fun.
But when winter comes and all is ice,
We’ll have no place to come.
So, Jewish children, what we need,
Is a cabin close to town.
Where our fantasies, come true indeed.
With songs and play and joyous sound!
When Ruda circulated the second edition of Klepy the reaction was even better than the response to the first one. The children laughed at the silly jokes, enjoyed the poetry, and delighted in the sports articles. More than that, the adults in Budejovice wanted to read Klepy as well. It was not enough to pass the newspaper around the playground. Now it was going to be circulated to the entire Jewish community. Klepy had become a huge success.