Calendar of Jewish Girl's Orphanage Budapest

Calendar of Jewish Girl's Orphanage Budapest

This is a Jewish and Christian calendar of 1939-1940. It was probably it was made for the Jewish Girl's Orphanage in Budapest. Margo Breuer, my future wife was ten to twelve and Evi, her sister, was five to six years old when they were put by their mother into the orphanage which was actually more like a boarding school . Wealthy Jewish women ran the Jewish boarding school for girls and they gave everything to the girls. The girls all had to dress up nicely and had high heels. It was like a Swiss boarding school except that the girls received vocational education. In the boarding school there was a room with a stage and a piano and they also learned to sing. They had a chorus that performed, they even had a little synagogue and performed there. Margo was a soloist in the chorus. This is the chorus in the photo. There was serious singing on high holidays. Margo had a very good voice. She is standing in the middle; she is the lead soloist. You can see the girls, they are all tough looking. They had practiced for the holidays when they sang after the prayer service. In the boarding school they observed the Jewish holidays but they were, after all, a progressive institution. They didn't work on Saturdays. The girls must have also walked around because there was a beautiful garden and there was even a gardener. They could also take books out of the library. The institution had a bank account and girls received tram and opera passes. I believe that they got allowances until they left the boarding school. Margo had five years of high school. They studied Hebrew at the boarding school because they had to be able to read the prayers. She also spoke English.
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