Klara Karpati's mother, Karolina Grunberg

This is my mother, Karolina Grunberg. The photo was taken in Budapest in the 1920s. My mother was born in Budapest in 1880. She married quite late, in 1912, when she was 32. She was seven years older than my father. Her pregnancies were difficult. There should have been seven siblings, but only I was born, and then a girl after me, who died when very young. My mother did not work outside the home. She stayed at home, managed the household, cooked, and did the shopping. We went to Klauzal Square to the market to shop for food. Mother usually took me along with her. There in Klauzal Square was the goose-merchant she always bought from. Mother kept a kind of kosher kitchen. We bought butchered geese from the Klauzal Square Market, but we kept dairy goods and meat items separate. My mother made cracklings and liver from the geese and all sorts of other goodies. My mother was an excellent cook and baker. She baked many kindlies, baby shaped cookies stuffed with nuts and poppy seeds, for Purim, and my father's work-mates told him to tell 'Karolinka' to send more. My mother did not attend synagogue much, nor did my father, even though he came from a relatively observant family.