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I didn’t work for the first two years of my stay in Warsaw. I occasionally swept up the snow in the winter. I looked for work and couldn’t find anything. I lived from my savings in Zamosc. My family helped me a bit. I suffered like this for two years and then, in the third year, I got a good job. A friend of mine, also from Zamosc, worked in a printing house and arranged with her boss a job for me.
At first I was supposed to help his two sons with schoolwork – they were such rascals, it was horrible, they were spoiled rotten! But after some time this boss started liking me, he felt he could trust me. He offered me a job in his office, he employed me in the printing house for 80 zloty per month plus lunches [by way of comparison: an average teacher’s salary in the 1930s was approx. 120 zloty, an office worker’s salary – 200 zloty, a tram driver’s – 600 zloty]. I was also supposed to keep taking care of those boys. And that’s when I started doing well. That was a good wage. I could support myself, and support myself well.
At first I was supposed to help his two sons with schoolwork – they were such rascals, it was horrible, they were spoiled rotten! But after some time this boss started liking me, he felt he could trust me. He offered me a job in his office, he employed me in the printing house for 80 zloty per month plus lunches [by way of comparison: an average teacher’s salary in the 1930s was approx. 120 zloty, an office worker’s salary – 200 zloty, a tram driver’s – 600 zloty]. I was also supposed to keep taking care of those boys. And that’s when I started doing well. That was a good wage. I could support myself, and support myself well.
Period
Interview
Maria Krych