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Grandpa's grandmother's maiden name was Brüll and her husband was Mayer Steiner, whose name during my childhood was still written along with Jakob's name on their leather shop on Perstyn Square. This is the building where in the spring of 1929 – the coldest spring in memory – I was born.
Downstairs there was the shop, warehouse space and a cellar, and on the first floor lived Grandpa Max with Grandma Stefanie [Steffi] neé Steiner from Ivancice, along with their only daughter Katharina [Kathe], my mother. A hallway led from the shop into the residential part of the building, but I remember the main entrance from the street better. The door, almost a gate, made of heavy wood, a huge key and already we're in the passageway; a narrow little passageway to the courtyard and a broad wooden staircase to Grandma and Grandpa's apartment on the first floor.
We used to enter the apartment through the kitchen. Grandma's kitchen! Bright, clean-smelling. In the center of the kitchen ceiling was a hook, where once a gas lamp hung. Grandma was an excellent housewife, and her meals and baking were perfect. A doorway led off the kitchen into the bedroom; doors so wide that in the corner formed by one of them, Grandma used to force-feed a goose. A large window looking out from the bedroom onto the town hall.
The living room, in it Grandpa's piano, a shelf with a flute and sheet music. A clock that was wound once a year; Grandpa showed me: he pulled one weight down, that pulled the other one up – and that was it! A sideboard with better dishes, tablecloths and napkins. In a pot a plant almost to the ceiling. Grandpa's library, books, atlases, a lexicon that Gusta and I liked looking through; a vessel made of olive wood, from Palestine – from the Holy Land, and on it something written with Hebrew letters. That vessel was later at my relatives' in Prague. My relative Nada, née Steinerova, who lives in Prague, gave it to me during our visit to Prague in 2006. I have it here in my apartment in Tel Aviv.
In the living room, various pictures hung on the walls, and also a photo of Grandpa's beautiful sister Gisela, who died at the age of 21 during childbirth. Then there was a narrow small room where my mother had grown up, and another room where Pepka, Grandma's household helper, lived. On Saturday afternoon, Father, Mother, my sister Karmi [Karmela] and I used to come to Grandpa and Grandma's place for coffee and Grandma's good cakes. On the second floor lived Uncle Josef with his son Gusta [Gustav]. Josef's wife, Aunt Mela, died when Gusta was seven. Mela, neé Sborowitz died in 1932.
Downstairs there was the shop, warehouse space and a cellar, and on the first floor lived Grandpa Max with Grandma Stefanie [Steffi] neé Steiner from Ivancice, along with their only daughter Katharina [Kathe], my mother. A hallway led from the shop into the residential part of the building, but I remember the main entrance from the street better. The door, almost a gate, made of heavy wood, a huge key and already we're in the passageway; a narrow little passageway to the courtyard and a broad wooden staircase to Grandma and Grandpa's apartment on the first floor.
We used to enter the apartment through the kitchen. Grandma's kitchen! Bright, clean-smelling. In the center of the kitchen ceiling was a hook, where once a gas lamp hung. Grandma was an excellent housewife, and her meals and baking were perfect. A doorway led off the kitchen into the bedroom; doors so wide that in the corner formed by one of them, Grandma used to force-feed a goose. A large window looking out from the bedroom onto the town hall.
The living room, in it Grandpa's piano, a shelf with a flute and sheet music. A clock that was wound once a year; Grandpa showed me: he pulled one weight down, that pulled the other one up – and that was it! A sideboard with better dishes, tablecloths and napkins. In a pot a plant almost to the ceiling. Grandpa's library, books, atlases, a lexicon that Gusta and I liked looking through; a vessel made of olive wood, from Palestine – from the Holy Land, and on it something written with Hebrew letters. That vessel was later at my relatives' in Prague. My relative Nada, née Steinerova, who lives in Prague, gave it to me during our visit to Prague in 2006. I have it here in my apartment in Tel Aviv.
In the living room, various pictures hung on the walls, and also a photo of Grandpa's beautiful sister Gisela, who died at the age of 21 during childbirth. Then there was a narrow small room where my mother had grown up, and another room where Pepka, Grandma's household helper, lived. On Saturday afternoon, Father, Mother, my sister Karmi [Karmela] and I used to come to Grandpa and Grandma's place for coffee and Grandma's good cakes. On the second floor lived Uncle Josef with his son Gusta [Gustav]. Josef's wife, Aunt Mela, died when Gusta was seven. Mela, neé Sborowitz died in 1932.
Period
Location
Prostejov
Czechia
Interview
Maud Michal Beer