Clairette Schuller

This is my mother, Clairette Schuller. The picture was taken by my grandfather Eugen Rappaport in Barmen in the 1910s. My mother must have been born around 1890. She was born in Pest. I don't really know anything about her childhood, because either it wasn't a topic, or I don't remember hearing anything about it. At that time it was in fashion in the family to give the children French names, that's why she was called Clairette. If anyone talked about my mother in the family they always referred to her as Clairette. I don't think that anyone had French origin, but at that time a little bit snobbish child rearing was in fashion. My mother was very beautiful and very strict and I adored her. I adored her unconditionally. Otherwise she must have been a playful young girl, she put on my grandmother's stage costumes - at that time it was customary that not the theater provided the costumes, but the soloists had to bring their own costumes, and my mother took a liking to them and put on my grandmother's costumes. My grandparents led a very active social life for quite a while. My grandfather invited big companies. There was a huge dining room, in which there was room for about 20 people, and we, the children, were not allowed to go in there, but there was a smoking-chamber and my younger brother and I stood behind its curtain and peeked in from there. We were curious to see what happened there. If guests came, my parents or grandparents received them on the first floor. Then my grandfather called us to come downstairs and present ourselves, because we were very beautiful kids. And he was proud of us. Grandfather Rappoport and Grandmother Merenyi didn't have children, but our grandfather loved us very much in spite of the fact that we weren't his natural descendants.

Photos from this interviewee