Tag #135813 - Interview #99349 (Otto Schvalb)

My father’s mother was named Hermina Schvalbova, nee Frankl. In her birth certificate it says that she was born in Stiavnicka, but her family lived in Vychodna. She was born in 1863. My grandmother kept a kosher household. She had separate utensils for meat and milk. The wife of their building superintendent used to help her out at home. For example, she would wash my grandparents’ dishes. Because they kept Sabbath, they weren’t allowed to work on Friday evening and on Saturday. They wouldn’t even turn on the lights; usually I did that. I wasn’t as religious as my grandparents.

My father’s parents lived right in the center of Presov, on Main Street. They lived in a spacious house. My parents and I lived in the front part of the house, facing Main Street. My father was a doctor, and also had his office there. My grandparents lived in the back part of the tract, where they had their own house. It was actually an extension to the main house. That’s where they lived. There, they had two rooms, a kitchen, pantry and washroom. My grandfather’s store was beside my father’s clinic. In the time of my youth the building already had electricity, and we also had running water. In the back there was a courtyard that was completely paved with stone tiles. In the time of my father’s youth my grandparents had a doggie, but they had the poor thing shot. We later also had a dog.