Judita Schvalbova with her parents on a trip

This photo was taken right after the war, in 1946, in Trencianske Teplice. In the photo are my parents Melania Donathova, nee Pickova and Jozef Donath. The little girl in the photo is me. After the war the Aryanizer returned our dispatch company, which we then ran until they nationalized it in 1948 or 1949. After the war the company was modernized, of course, and a few trucks were added, but we also had horses with which we delivered goods around town. After the company was nationalized it was put under CSAD and my father and uncle were employed there. After the war my mother worked part-time in the Okrasa cooperative. She did light manual labor there, I think that she worked in the packing department. My parents considered leaving for Israel, and everything was even prepared. They assessed my father with a millionaire's tax and he had to pay the state a certain amount of money. We had no money left. My mother's brother Gejza left with his family in the first wave. My father helped him. People were renting moving wagons onto which they loaded their belongings. Things were packed under the eyes of customs officials. We also had a moving wagon prepared, and suddenly they assessed us with the millionaire's tax. And so we stayed. After the war I associated mainly with Jewish children in Maccabi. In 1949 the Aliyah came and everyone moved away to Israel. In Zilina there was no one of my age left, maybe three of us. At school I had many girlfriends, I was friends with practically all the children. It's like that to this day.