Selected text
After school, first I was at an insurance company, but only for a short time. Where I worked for the longest time was in the Klinger factory [founded by Heinrich Klinger, who exploited the general surplus of workers due to the vineyard blight. Production was directed toward fabrication of impregnated (water-resistant) materials which were primarily of interest to the army and navy. To supply the growing demand, Klinger built industrial works in Liptovsky Mikulas and outside of Slovakia, one of which ensured housing for its employees.
This began the construction of family houses in the area. The factory’s production stopped after 1945.] One of my uncles was a member of the board of directors, and he brought me in. We worked a lot. We worked on Saturdays back then. It was a very good school [learning experience]. Everything happened in German. Because I had gone to a gymnasium [preparatory high school] and not the School of Commerce, I couldn’t take shorthand.
I learned that, and picked it up very fast, they were very pleased with me, I just couldn’t read it. There was an older colleague, and she read my own shorthand to me. I was there for years, all the way up until they threw me out. Germans took over the factory, and kicked out some of us for being Jewish. The head engineer was Jewish, one of the directors was, too. I was thrown out near the end, because I was employed in the export department, and the Germans needed my English knowledge, too.
This began the construction of family houses in the area. The factory’s production stopped after 1945.] One of my uncles was a member of the board of directors, and he brought me in. We worked a lot. We worked on Saturdays back then. It was a very good school [learning experience]. Everything happened in German. Because I had gone to a gymnasium [preparatory high school] and not the School of Commerce, I couldn’t take shorthand.
I learned that, and picked it up very fast, they were very pleased with me, I just couldn’t read it. There was an older colleague, and she read my own shorthand to me. I was there for years, all the way up until they threw me out. Germans took over the factory, and kicked out some of us for being Jewish. The head engineer was Jewish, one of the directors was, too. I was thrown out near the end, because I was employed in the export department, and the Germans needed my English knowledge, too.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Katarina Löfflerova