Rosalia Weiner

This is a photograph of my grandmother Rosalia Weiner. It was taken at the beginning of the 20th century in Vienna, where my grandma lived.

My father's father was named Rudolf R. He was born in the Hungarian city of Pápa. He supported himself and his family by selling supplies to village shoemakers at fairs. My father's mother was named Rosalia, née Goldschmidt. That's who I got my first name from. They lived in Trnava, where they had three children. Grandma took care of the household and the children. My grandparents' oldest daughter was Johanna, next was my father Ignac, who was born in 1876, and the youngest was named Arnold.

I know more or less nothing about Grandpa Rudolf, because he died very young. My father said that he caught a cold during one fair, from that he got pneumonia, which back then was definitely a deadly disease, antibiotics didn't exist yet, and he died of it. He left behind three little children with no means of support. Grandma got remarried, to Simon Weiner, with whom she had a son, Max.