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In the interwar period (1935) there were an estimated 320 Bulgarian gardeners in Slovakia, most found around Kosice and Bratislava.] They were in Ligetfalu [today Petrzalka]. The Bratislava peach was famous, the Ligetfalu ones were perfect. You would order what you needed from these Bulgarians and they delivered it to your house. Naturally, there weren’t worms then, and you made preserves at home. They sold great vegetables; you could get the best green peppers here.
The Ligetfalu potato was famous. You had to order them. You ordered fifty or a hundred kilos for the winter and put them in the cellar. They [the sellers] sat on the ground with their green peppers, spread out around them, shiny and everything. Peppers were put out cut up and stuffed too, and for stew, you needed a lot of them. So now they did the following: Mother started loading up, and when she had a load, he could only say in Slovak ‘dost’ [‘enough’].
Mother would ask, ‘how much is that’, and he said one koruna. So Mother would keep loading, and he would say ‘dost’ [‘enough!’ in Slovak]. Two crowns, she got two crowns’ worth. With the carrots, and with parsley, they didn’t weigh it; they just bought and sold it by eye. That was at the end of the 1920s, beginning of the 1930s.
There was a fish market on Fish Square. You went there to buy fish. The Danube carp, well those were fabulous. The continuation of Fish Square was called Zuckermandel [The base of the Bratislava castle, today is an agglomeration of the oldest parts.
Here on the so-called Schlossgrund Street – today Jewish Street – was where the Jewish community resettled in 1599, and a free-standing settlement developed here. The settlement gates were closed every night. This continued until 1850, when it was joined to the city.
The south side of the settlement went along the Danube beneath the castle, and the Zuckermandel area, which probably began to be called like that in the 18th century, formed a central axis. The oldest street in Zuckermandel is the Hauptstrasse [High Street] which was renamed Maria Theresia Street after 1879.
Today, we can only follow it theoretically beside a fragment of Ziskova Street to the west, its eastern side was swallowed up by a wide parking lot beside the renovated walls of the old water tower.
The other parts have completely disappeared during the earthworks required for construction of the new bridge.] It usually was my mother who did the shopping, but not just with us. She always took a long time. We lived dead close to the market. The market was the promenade for housewives.
The housewives showed up there, the gossip started, small-talk, that’s why they always liked to go to the market. When I didn’t have school and I was still a young schoolgirl, I loved to go there. I remember, we took big market bags.
The Ligetfalu potato was famous. You had to order them. You ordered fifty or a hundred kilos for the winter and put them in the cellar. They [the sellers] sat on the ground with their green peppers, spread out around them, shiny and everything. Peppers were put out cut up and stuffed too, and for stew, you needed a lot of them. So now they did the following: Mother started loading up, and when she had a load, he could only say in Slovak ‘dost’ [‘enough’].
Mother would ask, ‘how much is that’, and he said one koruna. So Mother would keep loading, and he would say ‘dost’ [‘enough!’ in Slovak]. Two crowns, she got two crowns’ worth. With the carrots, and with parsley, they didn’t weigh it; they just bought and sold it by eye. That was at the end of the 1920s, beginning of the 1930s.
There was a fish market on Fish Square. You went there to buy fish. The Danube carp, well those were fabulous. The continuation of Fish Square was called Zuckermandel [The base of the Bratislava castle, today is an agglomeration of the oldest parts.
Here on the so-called Schlossgrund Street – today Jewish Street – was where the Jewish community resettled in 1599, and a free-standing settlement developed here. The settlement gates were closed every night. This continued until 1850, when it was joined to the city.
The south side of the settlement went along the Danube beneath the castle, and the Zuckermandel area, which probably began to be called like that in the 18th century, formed a central axis. The oldest street in Zuckermandel is the Hauptstrasse [High Street] which was renamed Maria Theresia Street after 1879.
Today, we can only follow it theoretically beside a fragment of Ziskova Street to the west, its eastern side was swallowed up by a wide parking lot beside the renovated walls of the old water tower.
The other parts have completely disappeared during the earthworks required for construction of the new bridge.] It usually was my mother who did the shopping, but not just with us. She always took a long time. We lived dead close to the market. The market was the promenade for housewives.
The housewives showed up there, the gossip started, small-talk, that’s why they always liked to go to the market. When I didn’t have school and I was still a young schoolgirl, I loved to go there. I remember, we took big market bags.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Katarina Löfflerova