Tag #136220 - Interview #78490 (Katalin Kallos Havas)

I did a lot of needlework; I had good manual dexterity. I learned to sew in the public trade school, and then I worked for a Christian lady. Her name was Mrs. Veress, and she and her husband were supposedly of noble descent. We were on very good terms, and she valued me. Instead of the normal three years, I became her assistant in 1939, after only two years and then she gave me a salary already. The workshop was in the main square and had only two rooms. Five or six of us worked there. The customers were mainly Mrs. Veress’ acquaintances, but there were other customers, as well. When the Hungarians came, in September 1940 [the start of the so-called ‘Hungarian times’] [6], we made Hungarian gala-dresses for many customers, including some countesses, and decorated them with real pearls. I was by then chief decorator with pearls. For instance I put pearls on the dress of Koleszar’s daughter. Koleszar was the best ophthalmologist in Kolozsvar. While the three of us lived together, until 1939, my mother did the accounts for the family. We all put our salaries together, and at the end of the month she gave a third to each of us. We could do anything we wanted with our share.