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So two quite large [rooms], the third was much smaller – that was my parents’ bedroom. We were in the first room: our bedroom, the dining room and the photographic workshop. Four boys slept in two beds. The table was lit with a lamp, not an electric one back then, but a kerosene lamp with a gas mantle: that was a much brighter light.
That first room was an all-purpose room. In the first room there also was a sofa covered in oilcloth, with a high back. The bedsteads were metal. I slept in one with Artur. Where the girls slept I don’t know. Where they were born I don’t know! I didn’t know when Mother was pregnant either, it was never talked about, and I didn’t pay any attention to it.
On the floor there were floorboards painted red. A proper floor came when we moved into our new apartment: wooden blocks that fit together, parquet flooring they call it today. In that all-purpose room there was a big, heavy table, there was a dresser, I remember – I used to try to get into the dresser when I was older.
The dresser was made of this pear wood, a warm sepia color, there were these little columns, probably typical of Jewish furniture, the glass panes were colored of course, a little bit like stained glass windows. Above the panes and at the sides there were grapes carved into the wood, that I remember. That dresser was the nicest thing in the house.
In the other room there were plants on the windowsill and on the floor, because Mama was very fond of flowers. I remember a cottage piano also, because when I found out I hadn’t got into gymnasium, I sat at that piano, on this swivel stool, and I leaned against the piano and I think I cried then, I remember.
That first room was an all-purpose room. In the first room there also was a sofa covered in oilcloth, with a high back. The bedsteads were metal. I slept in one with Artur. Where the girls slept I don’t know. Where they were born I don’t know! I didn’t know when Mother was pregnant either, it was never talked about, and I didn’t pay any attention to it.
On the floor there were floorboards painted red. A proper floor came when we moved into our new apartment: wooden blocks that fit together, parquet flooring they call it today. In that all-purpose room there was a big, heavy table, there was a dresser, I remember – I used to try to get into the dresser when I was older.
The dresser was made of this pear wood, a warm sepia color, there were these little columns, probably typical of Jewish furniture, the glass panes were colored of course, a little bit like stained glass windows. Above the panes and at the sides there were grapes carved into the wood, that I remember. That dresser was the nicest thing in the house.
In the other room there were plants on the windowsill and on the floor, because Mama was very fond of flowers. I remember a cottage piano also, because when I found out I hadn’t got into gymnasium, I sat at that piano, on this swivel stool, and I leaned against the piano and I think I cried then, I remember.
Period
Interview
Julian Gringras