Ilona Seifert on the national holiday in honor of the 1848 revolution

This photo was taken at my elementary school celebration of March 15, Hungary's national holiday, in honor of the 1848 Revolution. All the students had to dress in Hungarian national costumes and recite poems.

I went to an elementary school on Mester Street. That was a prole (working class) neighborhood. Children of workers went there and we, who came from wealthier homes, were told to bring double portions of elevenses so that the children who didn't get any at home, could also have a share. It was assigned who should bring two of what, and we gave it all to the schoolmistress in the morning, so that no-one actually saw who got whose elevenses, but the poorer children got the same things the children from richer households got. In elementary school, I didn't have many friends among my classmates, because when we came out of school our ?Fräulein? was always there ready and waiting to take us to Ferenc Square to play with friends who were Jewish.

Photos from this interviewee