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My father, Julius Engel, was born on 21st November 1900 in Muranska Lehota, and died in 1976. My mother, Klara, née Polakova, was born on 3rd December 1904 in Kokava nad Rimavicou and died on 27th July 2005. My father was relatively authoritarian, and quite dynamic. More of an extrovert than an introvert. With a very friendly nature. Communicative, good-hearted, but it took me a while before I realized that. He was 166 cm tall [about 5' 5"], and relatively fair-haired, which many times helped him, that he looked quite Aryan. He loved us immensely. But the times we lived in were hard. I’d say that in this regard he crossed a certain line of tolerable parenting methods, but I can understand it. Taking into account the time that he lived in, and taking into account the worries that he had to deal with.
My mother was more of an introvert. She was my father’s ‘inferior,’ though not in a bad sense. Basically just an obedient wife. That’s how my mother was raised. I consider her to be a very good-hearted person. She was a typical woman. Not everything was the way I’d have liked it, later I said to myself many times that it would definitely not have done any harm for her to also defend me from my father, when my father ‘overdid’ it with disciplining me. She wasn’t capable of that.
My father had three years of council school and then was a merchant by trade. My mother had a primary education. My father’s mother tongue was definitely Slovak, and my mother’s tended more towards Hungarian due to my grandfather. Both of them spoke Slovak, Hungarian and German, and normally spoke to each other in three languages. They spoke Slovak with us children, and amongst themselves as well. My mother sometimes had a tendency to go off into Hungarian, but because of where we lived, my father insisted on Slovak.
My parents met in typical Jewish fashion. My father was already a relatively old bachelor, and my mother was a widow. One good aunt came along, I get the impression from Lucenec, who arranged a meeting. At that time my father was already an independent wood merchant, and it was known that my mother was a widow. So they met in 1934, and based on mutual sympathies, a wedding took place. They were married on 6th January 1935 in Rimavska Sobota. My parents dressed in a contemporary, civilian fashion. Their financial situation was acceptable, we didn’t throw money around, but neither did we want for anything.
My mother was more of an introvert. She was my father’s ‘inferior,’ though not in a bad sense. Basically just an obedient wife. That’s how my mother was raised. I consider her to be a very good-hearted person. She was a typical woman. Not everything was the way I’d have liked it, later I said to myself many times that it would definitely not have done any harm for her to also defend me from my father, when my father ‘overdid’ it with disciplining me. She wasn’t capable of that.
My father had three years of council school and then was a merchant by trade. My mother had a primary education. My father’s mother tongue was definitely Slovak, and my mother’s tended more towards Hungarian due to my grandfather. Both of them spoke Slovak, Hungarian and German, and normally spoke to each other in three languages. They spoke Slovak with us children, and amongst themselves as well. My mother sometimes had a tendency to go off into Hungarian, but because of where we lived, my father insisted on Slovak.
My parents met in typical Jewish fashion. My father was already a relatively old bachelor, and my mother was a widow. One good aunt came along, I get the impression from Lucenec, who arranged a meeting. At that time my father was already an independent wood merchant, and it was known that my mother was a widow. So they met in 1934, and based on mutual sympathies, a wedding took place. They were married on 6th January 1935 in Rimavska Sobota. My parents dressed in a contemporary, civilian fashion. Their financial situation was acceptable, we didn’t throw money around, but neither did we want for anything.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Tibor Engel