With my grandmother in Nitra

This photo was taken in Nitra in 1942, where my grandma, Jolana Schwartz, my brother, Siegfrid, and I were in hiding.

I was born, as my parents' first child, in 1928. They named me Henrich, or informally Harry. Several years later, on 28th February 1935, my brother, Siegfrid, was born. My brother and I got along very well. He was an agreeable kid. But we didn't get to enjoy very much fun and games outside, because the anti-Jewish laws [5] began coming out, so we mostly stayed inside.

In 1942, when the deportations were taking place, our parents sent us to Nitra with our grandmother Jolana. Grandma's brother Illes, who had a furniture company, lived in Nitra. This company's courtyard was next door to the courtyard belonging to the company Vychterle & Kovarik, which sold tractors, threshers and similar farm machinery. They had one long building. In the front there was a showroom and offices. In the back there were company apartments for the employees. We rented one of those apartments, and hid our there for some time. Then we returned to Bratislava, where it was also dangerous, and so our parents sent us to a Protestant youth camp in Brezova pod Bradlom. Usually one went there for two-week stays, but we were allowed to stay there for two months. I'm sure there were other Jewish children among us.