Markus Polak

This photo was taken in 1906 in the town of Liptovsky Mikulas at Mihaly Studios. It’s a picture of my maternal grandfather, Markus Polak.

My maternal grandfather was from Hungary, from Balassagyarmat I think. He died in 1936, and was around 80 years old. My grandfather in Kokava had a store with various goods, mixed goods as it was called back then. Their standard of living was relatively bearable, decent for the times. They didn't have problems making a living. My grandfather poke Slovak, but very badly, Hungarian even less, despite being from Hungary, and basically communicated in German.