Marta Schlesinger on a school performance

Marta Schlesinger on a school performance

This is a dance performance in school. It was a dance examination.

I didn't attend a Jewish elementary school; there was no such school in Zalaegerszeg. I even attended the convent school when I was 9 or 10 years old.

That was because an acquaintance of ours who lived with us was a teacher there. Then I went to middle school. The middle school lasted until I was 14 years old. I think I was 15 or 16 years old when I went to learn sewing - because at that time they didn't admit Jewish girls to the higher commercial school any more.

I think I had three years of apprenticeship. Then I went to a dressmaker's shop. [The boss] was called Mrs. Lovas, she came from Pecs but she got married and moved to Zalaegerszeg.

I worked, sewed, at her place. We usually went to the dressmaker's shop at 8 o'clock and we always had to clean up after our shift.
There was a magnet, which we had to use to gather up the pins that had fallen down during the day.

I had Christian friends as well, but I mostly [mixed] with Jews. There was my girlfriend Vera and her sisters Dora and Zsoka. We lived close to each other and used to see each other very often. My mother saw a great deal of their mother.

They were Neologs too but on high holidays they went to the [synagogue] as well. Neither their mother, nor their father nor Zsoka came back [from the deportation]. I didn't really have other friends before the war.

For fun I used to dress up, do myself up, and go walking around in court shoes in the Main Street. I had great success and that was enough for me.

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