Magdalena Grossberger and her brother Andrija Grossberger with cousins

Magdalena Grossberger and her brother Andrija Grossberger with cousins

This is me (on the left), my brother Andrija (next to me) and two cousins, Baruh-Bat and Cuci (on the right). The picture was taken on a farm near Sombor in 1935. Our family was less religious than Father's parents but we were certainly not a typical Neolog Jewish family in Sombor: we were considerably more observant than most of the other non-Orthodox Jews in Sombor at the time. We kept kosher and bought all of the meat from the kosher butcher. I believe that my father maintained these traditions more out of respect for his parents than out of ideology. My family observed the Shabbat. Father's store was closed on Saturday and although my brother and I went to school on Saturdays, we were not allowed to write or do other things that violated the Sabbath. On Friday, Mother lit candles and we had a Shabbat dinner. Dinner usually consisted of a goose, goose liver, charvas, kiska, fried eggs and onions. For the second Shabbat meal we ate cholent and cold zucchini. The Shabbat leftovers were then eaten the rest of the week. We rarely had beef, mostly only poultry, and we made the challahs at home. I recall my father saying havdalah at the end of each Sabbath, using a flat, braided, brightly colored candle. I recall that young people did not socialize or travel in those days as they do now; people spent more time closer to home. As a child I went to school and came home. During the free time I rode bicycle or played by the canal near our house. My friends did not come to our house very often and almost never slept over. Most of my friends were Jewish but I had a few non-Jewish friends.
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