Jeanette Torok

This photo was taken in Budapest in 1942. It is probably the last picture of my maternal grandmother, Jeanette Torok. It isn't a good picture in fact, but I always saw her this serious, very determined, a little bit strict. She rarely laughed, but she always worked very much. They had a shoe store on Erzsebet Boulevard from 1901 until the end of the 1910s. They went bankrupt because of the war, but they pulled themselves together with hard work, and in the middle of the 1930s they opened a new, not big but elegant shop on Andrassy Avenue. They raised and educated their two daughters, they married them off 'properly,' with a dowry. Then they turned their attention towards the two grandchildren. Grandma never spoiled me, but I always felt that she loved me. This picture was taken one year after grandfather's death. She ran the shoe store alone already. But of course, just like before, I got a pair of shoes for the festive occasions this year, too. Besides my birthday such an occasion was the Jewish New Year, because in the fall, at the beginning of the new school year I needed new shoes. If I needed new, warmer winter shoes, they were a gift for Chanukkah.

Photos from this interviewee