Tag #135817 - Interview #99349 (Otto Schvalb)

My mother’s parents lived in Trstena na Orave. Grandpa owned a store and family house, which had three rooms, a pantry and washroom. In the courtyard in the back they had a smaller house where the helpers who worked in grandpa’s store lived. There were no farm animals in the courtyard, only a large garden. My mother’s brothers, that is, my uncles, used to take care of the garden. My mother’s youngest brother, Martin Kempler, was only eleven years older than me. So he and I used to hike around the surrounding mountains. So he took care of the garden along with my grandmother. While my mother was still single, she lived with her parents, four brothers and a sister. Her sister died in 1921 at the age of 16. I don’t remember her name.

I had a few funny experiences with my grandparents. My grandfather once had an elegant suit made. He came home, carefully laid it out and left. I saw long pants, took some scissors, and nicely cut some of it off. I made them into shorts. Grandpa was angry, but didn’t beat me. If his sons had done it, they would have for sure gotten walloped. I could have been all of six at the time. But I used to do similar things at home as well. My father’s younger brother, Eugen Schvalb, who was a lawyer, used to very much like soups: chicken, beef, it didn’t matter. When my mother would prepare them for him, I was used to ‘nicely’ seasoning those soups. He wouldn’t scold me, but only ask for a different soup.