This photograph was taken in Bratislava in 1934; I was about 15 months old. My mother, Margita Steinerova, nee Abrahamova and me are photographed on Venturska Street, opposite the Steiner family house.
I was born on 2nd April 1933 in Bratislava into an urban Jewish family, whose Bratislava roots date back to the first half of the 19th century. The Steiner family came to Bratislava in the 18th century. One could say that our prime began in 1846, when my great-grandfather established a second-hand bookshop he named after himself, Steiner. Today the store is managed by my cousin Selma and I'm proud to say that it is one of the most important cultural centers of Bratislava. It is the heart of the old town, and the front of the store looks like it did a hundred years ago.
I have to say that I was never really close to my mother. She never had time for me, so I do not know much about her. My mother died in Auschwitz in 1942.
Lydia Piovarcsyova with her mother Margita Steinerova
Centropa Collection acquired by USHMM
The Centropa archive has been acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
USHMM will soon offer a Special Collections page for Centropa.
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