Selected text
I did sports, too, and I didn’t know who was Jewish, and who wasn’t, what their religion was, nor even their nationality. Here in Bratislava, we spoke three languages, or rather two, we only learned Slovak a lot later. But there weren’t even Slovaks, a lot of first-rate athletes came from the Czech Republic.
The Bratislava tennis champion, Nedbalek was Czech. The Czechs were better skiers, so we were average with them, but here it never happened that they would judge you for religion. I never ever felt that, and I have to say, that I never heard about anti-Semitism at home.
I had a lot of friends who weren’t Jewish, because I did sports – tennis, swimming – and it was natural. Mainly, we got together with everyone in skiing, so I was in an absolutely mixed social group. The Grossling swimming pool was built in 1908. I was five years old, when my mother told me that five-year-olds have to learn how to swim. She took me to the Grossling, instruction was cheap then, I learned, spring came, then summer, and we went to the Danube pool.
In the Danube pool, there were significantly fewer Jews. Princess Odescalchi was there every blessed day. The Odescalchis live here in Bratislava then. This was already in Czechoslovakia, but they stayed here. The Esterhazys, and a few of the Palffys also stayed here. A few of the Abonyis, too.
This Princess Odescalchi appeared everyday from ten to twelve. The water in the Danube [pool] was cold, but we regulars at the Danube got used to it. We sat around at the edge of the pool, on the steps where you had to get in, we soaked our legs.
This Odescalchi princess showed up ten minutes after ten every God-given day. Naturally, not in a short sleeve, or sleeveless swim suit, she rather wore an elbow-length blouse, and here pants came down below her knees. Dressed in this manteau [sic], she got into the water, went up and back twice, got out and then said to us in German: ‘So jetzt konnt ihr gehen’ [German – ‘now you all can go’]. I suppose there were really more non-Jewish women than Jewish ones. But almost every day my mother came, it was a natural thing, to get together with everyone.
I also had piano lessons, I really didn’t like them, for sure, not practicing. But I went, I practiced because it was important to know how to play the piano. The girls from so-called good families attended everything.
The Bratislava tennis champion, Nedbalek was Czech. The Czechs were better skiers, so we were average with them, but here it never happened that they would judge you for religion. I never ever felt that, and I have to say, that I never heard about anti-Semitism at home.
I had a lot of friends who weren’t Jewish, because I did sports – tennis, swimming – and it was natural. Mainly, we got together with everyone in skiing, so I was in an absolutely mixed social group. The Grossling swimming pool was built in 1908. I was five years old, when my mother told me that five-year-olds have to learn how to swim. She took me to the Grossling, instruction was cheap then, I learned, spring came, then summer, and we went to the Danube pool.
In the Danube pool, there were significantly fewer Jews. Princess Odescalchi was there every blessed day. The Odescalchis live here in Bratislava then. This was already in Czechoslovakia, but they stayed here. The Esterhazys, and a few of the Palffys also stayed here. A few of the Abonyis, too.
This Princess Odescalchi appeared everyday from ten to twelve. The water in the Danube [pool] was cold, but we regulars at the Danube got used to it. We sat around at the edge of the pool, on the steps where you had to get in, we soaked our legs.
This Odescalchi princess showed up ten minutes after ten every God-given day. Naturally, not in a short sleeve, or sleeveless swim suit, she rather wore an elbow-length blouse, and here pants came down below her knees. Dressed in this manteau [sic], she got into the water, went up and back twice, got out and then said to us in German: ‘So jetzt konnt ihr gehen’ [German – ‘now you all can go’]. I suppose there were really more non-Jewish women than Jewish ones. But almost every day my mother came, it was a natural thing, to get together with everyone.
I also had piano lessons, I really didn’t like them, for sure, not practicing. But I went, I practiced because it was important to know how to play the piano. The girls from so-called good families attended everything.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Katarina Löfflerova