Erika Izsak and her family in their garden

This picture was taken on the HICAA grounds, near our house. On the bench in the center is my grandmother Jeanette Torok, I am sitting to her left, and her younger grandchild, Tamas Biro, is on the other side. The persons standing: my grandfather, Dezso Torok; my mother Iren Izsak; Ignac Izsak, my uncle and my father Karoly Izsak. Another uncle of mine, Gyula Biro, took the picture. I don't know on what occasion they were there, perhaps they came for my father's birthday, and not everyone fit in this picture. The adults' birthdays weren't a big family event, but mine was. Even though it was in the winter when it was difficult and uncomfortable to get to our place. Still, until I turned six or seven, so until the mid-1930s, all four of my father's siblings and their spouses, my mother's sister and brother-in-law, and my grandparents, of course, came. 'Children' were only my two youngest cousins, they were seven and ten years older than me, and later my older cousin's daughter, Vera, who was two years younger than me. I still had fun, there was a delicious snack, a big cake, I got nice presents, besides the sweets, toys and books I got many 'useful things,' clothes, which I needed anyway. The birthday party wasn't all about me, of course. It was an excellent occasion for both sides of the family to meet.

Photos from this interviewee