Zuzanna Mensz’ school class in Volodymir

This is a photo of my school class in gymnasium in Volodymir Volyns’kyy, where I was studying in years 1934-1936. I don’t remember the names of my teachers and collegues. I didn’t have close friends there.

I moved to Volodymir from Lublin after Father's death. In 1933 Mom sold our Lublin apartment and moved to Skryhiczyn with Hilka. Hilka had a year off from school, as Mom couldn't afford to send us both to school. I was left in Lublin by myself, Mom arranged for me to stay with some friends of her and to have dinners at some others' house, and that's how I spent the year. A year later we moved to Volodymir-Volyns'kyy. Parents had already planned to move to the city, 30 kilometers from Skryhiczyn. It was cheaper there than in Lublin, and Mom had some friends there.

In Volodymir we lived in a different place every year. We would go to school on September 1st and Mom would place us for a month or so at her friends' or some Father's relatives'. She would then come to the city, rent an apartment for nine or ten months and afterwards we would go back to the country again, to Skryhiczyn. Volodymir was a cheap place, you could find an apartment easily. I completed gymnasium there, I went to the Polish Public Copernicus Gymnasium. I came from a girls' school in Lublin to a coeducational one in Volodymir and found it hard to settle in, so many boys. Besides, I only spent two years there, until my final exams.