The Stecklmacher family

This photograph was taken in my hometown of Prostejov in 1937. It's of our family; sitting on the left is my mother Katharina Stecklmacher, née Steinerova. On her lap is my younger sister, Karmela Ben Dom, née Stecklmacherova. Then there's my father, Friedrich Stecklmacher, and on the left that's me, Michal Maud Beer, née Stecklmacherova.

My parents were married on 25th March 1928 in our hometown, Prostejov. My mother at the age of 20, while my father was already almost 30. In their wedding photo, which by chance survived, my mother is wearing a white lace veil. As a dowry she got table and bed linen - embroidered damask and batiste, often with a monogram. Also dishes, silver-plated cutlery and modern stainless-steel cutlery.

After the war, my mother, sister and I returned - by miracle we'd survived the Holocaust. We still had a part of what remained of the things we'd taken with us three years earlier to Terezin. In March 1949 we left for Israel. Mother divided our belongings up into three portions; we knew that we weren't going to be living together. I got a medium-sized stainless-steel spoon that had returned with us from Terezin. As long as my children were little, they ate soup and porridge with it; since they grew up the spoon has been mine and I use it only. When my first granddaughter, Inbal, was little, she ate with my spoon when she was at our place. My wish is to eat with my spoon until the end of my days.

Photos from this interviewee