The photo was taken at my place, in October 1997. The rooms are intercommunicating, so I set the table from one room until the middle of the other room. Everybody was invited, who worked at the community. I’m standing in the background, and my husband is next to me.
[Editor’s note: In the foreground Margulies Carol from Csernovic can be seen. Centropa interviewed him as well.]
My husband attended the Jewish community for sixty years; he was there with every occasion. While he was working, he went to the synagogue each Friday and Saturday; after he retired, they prayed each day in the synagogue until they were enough persons. Later he took part in the prayers only on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. When he was still working, he entered the synagogue through the neighboring yard, yet they watched him and reported him. In the communist era, during services women came to us, because they were afraid, so they waited for their husbands here to come from the synagogue. We weren't afraid. In those times Scheiner was the leader of the Jewish community, then it was Sauber. [Editor's note: Centropa made an interview with Bernat Sauber as well.] My husband led the funerals, the weddings, he was the cantor. He died at Pesach, in March 2002.
I invited several times everybody who worked at the Jewish community; there wasn't any special occasion, I just promised them to make a big challah, and birds, flowers made of cake and many other things. I baked it at home, it is some kind of braid, it can replace bread: it has salt and a little oil in it. That's how they do it, that's how my mother prepared it. First, when they wash hands, they recite a prayer, then they cut a little piece of challah for everybody, they dip it into honey, and everybody is given a piece, so that the whole year would be sweet. [Editor's note: So this must have been on Rosh Hashanah.] Then I served up a lot of cookies, and we had liqueur and brandy. Then we had fish in aspic, which I prepared of ten kilos of fish; all these people ate fish in aspic only when dining at me. After that I served stuffed cabbage from kosher beef and fine home-made wine, that's the custom. When meat was brought to the community, I bought some and I used it. Then we had coffee, I have a very nice German porcelain coffee-set, I served it up in that, then we had two or three kinds of cakes made of different creams.
Poor Laci [Laszlo] Grun, how much he liked it. [Editor's note: Centropa interviewed Laszlo Grun as well.] Rita, his wife used to tell me: 'This is Laci's favorite; you are so good in it, and mine is never so tasty.' Rita was very skilful, she always jumped to helped me out. I prepared these meals alone, during several days, but sometimes I called an aid for the last day.
