Rosa Rosenstein and her siblings in Bad Buckow

This photo was taken in Bad Buckow in 1927. Here you can see me with my siblings, by age from right to left: I, Betty, Erna, Cilly and our brother Arthur, who was twelve years old at the time. As you know, Berlin has wonderful lakes. On Wednesday we always went out in paddleboats, and we also went canoeing. I couldn't swim, but we went rowing. I started learning swimming three times, but gave up after the third time. When I tried for the first time, the swimming instructor held me on a fishing-rod and I had to do the movements. The second time, I got a board and I had to push that board ahead of me. In the end, the instructor said, 'And now without the board.' That I didn't do. I was a coward. I was afraid, I do admit, but such is life. During the summer my parents rented a summer apartment. When we were still small, we spent our first summer vacation in Fichtenau by a lakeside. We took beds and dishes with us. My father came to join us on weekends. He was working while we spent the time with our mother. Mother cooked, and we - just like at home - ate noodle soup.