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My last boss was the best one. I was already 15, so during those two years when I worked for free I had already learned something. When she took me, I could sign a proper contract. It was called an apprentice course.
I started actually making the hats. But not only that. As I had good visual memory, she’d send me on the street to look out for original designs. Every [milliner shop] had its own designs which were made in very short series. So I’d return to the shop and use a kind of rigid muslin to form a semblance of what I had spotted.
My boss was very satisfied with me, shortly before the war I was making thirty zlotys. So I was able to pay for myself. All those milliner shops were very elegant. All my bosses were Jewish, and I know that the last one survived the war. She lived in Warsaw at Waszyngtona Avenue.
I started actually making the hats. But not only that. As I had good visual memory, she’d send me on the street to look out for original designs. Every [milliner shop] had its own designs which were made in very short series. So I’d return to the shop and use a kind of rigid muslin to form a semblance of what I had spotted.
My boss was very satisfied with me, shortly before the war I was making thirty zlotys. So I was able to pay for myself. All those milliner shops were very elegant. All my bosses were Jewish, and I know that the last one survived the war. She lived in Warsaw at Waszyngtona Avenue.
Period
Interview
Anna Mass