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Mother was always worried that she didn’t have enough money. As I remember it, it wasn’t so bad, because we used to go on holidays in the summer with our entire family, there was a piano in the house, I used to learn how to play it.
That didn’t last long, because I was lazy and didn’t have good musical hearing. But I remember that my parents always talked about being in debt. Father used to borrow money, possibly from his brothers Tobiasz and Chaim.
Mother dressed very modestly. She may have had one better dress, for outings. I remember Mom’s shoes, laced up, with heels, narrow, gray. Sometimes my parents would go to Bytom [approx. 85 km west of Cracow] to buy clothing.
That’s where the border was and there were Germans there. You could buy something a lot cheaper, but the Germans didn’t permit for anything to be taken out [of the country]. So I would leave my worn out shoes in a trash can and put the new ones on. But I remember that once my parents bought some oranges and it was forbidden to take those oranges [to Poland] and Father was so angry that he smashed them into a wall.
That didn’t last long, because I was lazy and didn’t have good musical hearing. But I remember that my parents always talked about being in debt. Father used to borrow money, possibly from his brothers Tobiasz and Chaim.
Mother dressed very modestly. She may have had one better dress, for outings. I remember Mom’s shoes, laced up, with heels, narrow, gray. Sometimes my parents would go to Bytom [approx. 85 km west of Cracow] to buy clothing.
That’s where the border was and there were Germans there. You could buy something a lot cheaper, but the Germans didn’t permit for anything to be taken out [of the country]. So I would leave my worn out shoes in a trash can and put the new ones on. But I remember that once my parents bought some oranges and it was forbidden to take those oranges [to Poland] and Father was so angry that he smashed them into a wall.
Period
Location
Poland
Interview
Wygodzka Irena