Tag #138102 - Interview #100912 (Henrich F.)

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Besides that, Grandma Jolana used to watch over us a lot. Actually, she watched over all her grandchildren. We’d walk with her to the park in Hviezdoslav Square, to the Janek Kral Orchard. We’d take a ferry across the Danube, and there was this huge park there, where we’d play. Besides this, we also used to go for walks with her around Bratislava. We used to go out into the country with our parents. In those days vacations weren’t much in fashion. Mostly we’d go out into the countryside around Bratislava. In the summer my parents would send me to rest homes. These were pensions that took children on recommendation. There we’d play games together and walk around in the vicinity.

We kept in closest contact with that part of the family that lived in Bratislava. When cafés, cinemas and theaters were already forbidden, a large part of the family and friends would then also get together at our place. They’d play cards, mainly Marias [Marias: a card game originating in Bohemia played with the Czech 32-card German suited pack – Editor’s note]. As far as we children are concerned, Aunt Roza lived the closest, practically around the corner. We used to go to her place almost every day. Auntie had two daughters, Edita and Lydia. Edita was born the same year as me, so 1928, and Lydia was born in 1935, like my brother. They deported their entire family. Only Edita, who went on the same transport as my parents, survived the war. She returned from the Auschwitz concentration camp.

We also used to go visit my mother’s sister Bella. She didn’t have children. She worked in a clothing shop. We also used to go to Aunt Zelma’s, who had two daughters. One of them was named Erika; I don’t remember the second name. They had the luck to move to the Palestine in 1938. My mother’s sister Greta lived with her husband, Perl, who was a typographer. They had two children, a son named Tibor, and a daughter, Olina. They lived on Dunajska [Danube] Street They deported them all. My cousin Tibor got to Bergen-Belsen, where he luckily survived the war. My mother’s sister Greta was also lucky, she survived the concentration camp. My mother’s last sister was Irena Ehrenreichova, who lived in Sahy after getting married. She had two children, Stela and Richard. Except for her husband, they all died during the war. He remarried, and then died of a heart attack. His second wife emigrated to Israel.
Location

Slovakia

Interview
Henrich F.