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The grandparents bought and sold porcelain and glass on so-called Wielopole, a street that used to have an ugly name - Gnojna Street [Manure Street], but that was later changed to Rynkowa [Market Street, a large Jewish outdoor market was located on Wielopole before WWII]. But I remember this street as Gnojna Street.
Even today, when I see a plate with a stamp saying Cmielow [a well known Polish porcelain factory], I recall how Grandmother used to take to plates, tap them, listen and pronounce - 'Cmielow.' She could recognize that on the basis of the sound, or she pretended she could. But she could have really been able to do that, because she was very musical.
My grandparents were working people, they used to get up early and rush off to Gnojna. Right before the war business was starting to get worse and they moved from their store to a stall. And Grandmother, bundled up in lots of shawls, used to stand in this stall like a peasant woman and rub her hands. She had to wear gloves without fingers, because she needed to touch the merchandise. And this porcelain store was taken over by their son Hersz, a wholesaler.
Even today, when I see a plate with a stamp saying Cmielow [a well known Polish porcelain factory], I recall how Grandmother used to take to plates, tap them, listen and pronounce - 'Cmielow.' She could recognize that on the basis of the sound, or she pretended she could. But she could have really been able to do that, because she was very musical.
My grandparents were working people, they used to get up early and rush off to Gnojna. Right before the war business was starting to get worse and they moved from their store to a stall. And Grandmother, bundled up in lots of shawls, used to stand in this stall like a peasant woman and rub her hands. She had to wear gloves without fingers, because she needed to touch the merchandise. And this porcelain store was taken over by their son Hersz, a wholesaler.
Period
Interview
Jozef Hen