Alexander Bachnar's elementary school classmates in Topolcany

This class photo was taken in the 1920s. It shows Alexander Bachnar's elementary school classmates in Topolcany. In the first row (sitting on the ground) fourth from the right, is Kreunig. I don't know what his fate was. The third from the right is Jakub. He had a very sad fate, because he was somewhat mentally ill. He ended up in a psychiatric institute not far from Nitra, I don't know exactly what it was called, and was among the first to be deported. The first one on the right was the cantor's son, he was named Klein. In the second row are the girls. The first on the left was named Olitzerova. The second is Klara Friedmanova, married name Farska. Her story is also very interesting. One of the best Slovak soccer players of those days, Pista Farsky, fell in love with her. He had such authority in the town that he managed to hide her the entire time, despite the fact that the entire town knew about it. As a soccer player he was simply in those days such a personality, that no one laid a hand on his wife. So thanks to him she survived. She was actually the only Jew left in Topolcany after they had hung out a white flag to indicate that the town is free of Jews. She also attended high school with me, we also graduated together. I don't remember the one third from the left. The fourth is Magda Sternova. All I know is that they had a hardware store in Topolcany. I don't remember the fifth. The sixth is our teacher, Mr. Krajmer. He was very popular. He came to Topolcany from Hungary. He used teaching methods that were modern for the times. He was one of the ones that didn't beat children with a switch, which was in those days common. I don't remember the girl beside him. The next is Ruzena Vogelova, but I don't know anything about what happened to her either. The second from the right was named Friedmannova, she was also from a better-off family. Her father was a partner in one wholesale chain in Topolcany, which supplied smaller stores. The last in this row is Fischerova. The first on the left in the third row is Katzburg. He was from a religious family. His father was an official of the Jewish religious community in Topolcany. I don't remember the second one, I think that she was named Kollmannova, but I'm not sure. The fourth from the left is Krausova. In the third row, second from the right is Ruzena Weilova. She survived the Holocaust and married a lawyer, Dr. Schonfeld. They lived in Israel. She died not long ago. Fourth row: The second from the left is the aforementioned Katzburg's brother. I think that they were twins. The fourth is Davidov, he was from the town of Kovarce. He survived the Holocaust and is one of the few people on the photograph that is still alive. The fifth is Ladislav Ivanovsky, who also wasn't completely all right mentally, he died during the Holocaust. The sixth is Dezider Porke, he also died. The seventh is one of my closest friends, Imrich Sip. He was from a middle-class family. His parents had a clothing store on the main square in Topolcany. He was deported during the Holocaust. He survived the war and afterwards married a woman who had also been a prisoner. He died about five years ago. I don't remember the eighth one in the row. The last in the row is Dr. Ernest Englender Bartos. This Ernest, he made it the furthest of the whole group. He became a docent of economics, I think at the University of Economics. Then in 1968 he was an advisor to the vice-premier Sik. Sik emigrated, and then at his invitation he also emigrated to Basle, Switzerland in 1989. There he continued lecturing at university. He died two years ago. Fifth row: The third from the left is Tibor Polak. He was the strongest boy in the class. He was my friend and was my protector, as I was one of the smallest boys in the class. He defended me, so that they wouldn't beat up on me. The fourth is Singer, but I don't know what happened to him. The fifth from the left was named Schrochter. He survived and after the war immigrated to Israel, where he died last year or the year before. He was from this well-off family. The sixth is Hirsch, I don't remember what happened to him. The seventh is Ernest Werner, who was also one of my school friends. And the last in this row is Vogel, but I also don't know anything else about him.