Charity was a matter of course
At Passover time they had matza (Mazzen). When I was a child Joseph would share
two or three with me, and I took them with me to school. The kids coveted them.
When the kids from ”Joseph’s Home” took my matza and ate them, I told Joseph
about it. Immediately the Strauss’ would send a bag of matza over to the ”Joseph’s
Home”. Oh yes, Joseph was a very charitable man, who was held in high esteem in
Huenfeld, and the people from the area would shop at his store. Where there were
poor people they would help. I know that like nobody else since I very often had to
deliver those things, because the maids would complain: ”Again, we have to make
that stuff for those people.” For poor, sick, and old people they would do these
things. This was a matter of course for the Strauss’, no matter what the peoples’
religious persuasion was.
Jeanette and Male for instance were old women and dirt poor to boot. They used to
come to the store almost weekly to get something for free. They also saw us to get
something. There also were quite a number of poor Jews. The Strauss family, the
Katz family, and Mr. Tannenbaum were more prosperous, however, they were not
considered rich although hard-working. Every night they would be working at the
office until 10 or 10:30 pm.
Milli and Alfred used to visit with us quite often
My earliest memory of Milly is when she was a little baby, and I was allowed to push
her back and forth on Bahnhofstrasse in her pram. I was eight years old at the time.
Milli used to be at our place rather often, especially during blueberry harvest.