This is a picture of me, Irena Wygodzka, with my siblings Natan and Zofia and our family’s employee Hadasa.
It was taken on holiday in Jastrzebia Gora, in 1932. Almost every year we'd go on vacation. We'd leave the city for at least a month, or two. We'd take all our stuff.
We'd go near Katowice, to Bystra, to Cyganski Las, sometimes to Rabka, always to southern Poland, Silesia. I never went to the seaside before the war.
Our more distant family would go with us, too, and we'd spend time there together. We'd rent cottages from peasants.
Father had help, this girl called Hadasa who worked for us for very many years. She could do bookkeeping. She was schooled in trading. Hadasa would sit at the typewriter and serve all the people who came there. Her maiden name was Manela.
She lived in Bedzin, next to the market square, with her mother. She took a tram to work every day. A tram ride from Bedzin to Katowice took from 20 to 30 minutes.
Hadasa also had a brother. They were both Zionists, but rather religious ones: they were probably members of Mizrachi, not of the Zionist Organization. We were great friends with Hadasa. She sometimes went on holiday with us.
Natan had a crush on Hadasa. She was older than him, some ten years older. She had a crush on him as well. They didn't hide their feelings from our parents much, because it was, how should I put it, a platonic story. They weren't a couple.
