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Before the war there was no army in Topolcany. So there were no army field days or parades. The only thing that's stayed in my memory is when Tomas Garrigue Masaryk died in 1937. All of the town's inhabitants dressed in mourning-wear and the stores were closed. Otherwise, nothing ever happened here. Perhaps the only thing worth mentioning are the Holy Spirit pilgrimages, when pilgrims would pass through town.
Every Thursday there was a market held in Topolcany. Farmers from the entire region would gather and sell their products. I for example remember, that one watermelon weighing 5 kilograms cost one crown. [Editor's note: in the year 1929 it was decreed by law that one Czechoslovak crown (Kc), as the Czechoslovak unit of currency, was equal in value to 44.58 milligrams of gold.] So a kilo of melon cost 20 halers. We used to go shopping at the market because it was cheaper. Poultry - chicken, geese, because Jews don't eat pork. Most often we'd buy a goose. You could buy one for about 20, 25 crowns. And that was already a large goose, liver included. My mother did the shopping. Though we'd also do the normal shopping. I remember that we heated with wood in a cast-iron stove. We used to go buy the wood in a general store. Across from us lived Mr. Schwartz, a businessman, and he had a very wise principle, which he also practiced. He always said that 2 x 5 equals 10, but 5 x 2 also equals 10. Which means that it's better to sell five things for two crowns apiece than to sell two things for five crowns apiece. And we used to go to him to buy groceries - sugar, flour, whatever we needed.
Every Thursday there was a market held in Topolcany. Farmers from the entire region would gather and sell their products. I for example remember, that one watermelon weighing 5 kilograms cost one crown. [Editor's note: in the year 1929 it was decreed by law that one Czechoslovak crown (Kc), as the Czechoslovak unit of currency, was equal in value to 44.58 milligrams of gold.] So a kilo of melon cost 20 halers. We used to go shopping at the market because it was cheaper. Poultry - chicken, geese, because Jews don't eat pork. Most often we'd buy a goose. You could buy one for about 20, 25 crowns. And that was already a large goose, liver included. My mother did the shopping. Though we'd also do the normal shopping. I remember that we heated with wood in a cast-iron stove. We used to go buy the wood in a general store. Across from us lived Mr. Schwartz, a businessman, and he had a very wise principle, which he also practiced. He always said that 2 x 5 equals 10, but 5 x 2 also equals 10. Which means that it's better to sell five things for two crowns apiece than to sell two things for five crowns apiece. And we used to go to him to buy groceries - sugar, flour, whatever we needed.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Alexander Bachnar