Bajla Beitner with Hadasa Krzesiwo

This is a picture of my mother, Bajla Beitner, with my father’s help, Hadasa Krzesiwo. The photo was taken in the 1930s, but I don’t know where.

Father had help, this girl called Hadasa who worked for us for very many years. She could do bookkeeping. She was schooled in trading. Hadasa would sit at the typewriter and serve all the people who came there.

Her maiden name was Manela. She lived in Bedzin, next to the market square, with her mother. She took a tram to work every day. Hadasa also had a brother.

They were both Zionists, but rather religious ones: they were probably members of Mizrachi, not of the Zionist Organization.

We were great friends with Hadasa. She sometimes went on holiday with us. Abram Manela would also go with us. He was Hadasa's nephew. I later met him in Israel, he married a Hungarian and had two sons.

I was in Bedzin two or three times, but when I went there I would always sleep at Hadasa's house. I remember there was this huge bed with a feather quilt.

There was only one room there, they were not rich people. Hadasa's mother used to bake yeast chocolate cake - it was delicious. Hadasa would sometimes bring it to us, to Katowice.

My brother Natan had a crush on Hadasa, who was my father's employee. She was older than him, some 10 years older. She had a crush on him as well.

They didn't hide their feelings from our parents much, because it was, how should I put it, a platonic story. They weren't a couple.

In his notes, before he died, Natan wrote that he loved Hadasa, but that some other girl could have replaced her for him. I would say he was very realistic about this.

Photos from this interviewee