Vera Erak's mother Edith Bondy with her brothers and sister

The picture was taken in 1908 in Zemun at R. Gatter's photo studio. My mother is pictured, second from the right. First from the left is my uncle Jakob, whom they called Zaki. Next to him is my uncle Robert, and on my mother's left side is my aunt Greta. My maternal grandfather and grandmother, Markus and Minna Bondy (nee Weiss) had four children. The eldest was Jakob, born in 1901, then Robert in 1902, then my mother, Edith, in 1903, and finally Greta in 1905. My grandfather Markus had a big store and my grandmother Minna whole-heartedly helped him run it. While she was in the store, their four children were taken care of by Olga, the governess, who at the same time took care of the whole household, with the help of a maid. The family marked all the holidays and regularly went to synagogue. She went to a Jewish elementary school, and after that she attended a school for girls. She played handball. She went to a boarding school in Vienna in 1915, where she studied music and painting for a year. In Vienna she learned of the death of her father Markus, and she came back to Zemun in 1916. After the death of her mother, Minna, she went with her sister, Greta, to her uncle Weiss in Vrpolje. The two of them helped him in his law offices and his mill. She stayed in Vrpolje until 1925, when Ilija Erak came to her uncle's to ask for her hand in marriage.