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Then Mrs. Strauss had to help out at the store, when things got pretty hectic. Usually

Mrs. Strauss was just in charge of the office. Joseph knew exactly that our bread bin wouldn’t contain anything else but bread. And we would buy our delicious bread

from the Jewish baker, Blumenthal in Rhina, just like he did. And Joseph also knew that the pot in which we cooked our jam wasn’t used for anything but that. Consequently all that was kosher, and the kids were allowed to have bread and jam

at our place. The Strauss’ were very busy in those years since they also used to have

a wholesale business. So it happened that Milli kind of grew up at our place.

Later on there was a childhood friend of Mrs. Strauss’, who temporarily would help with the children. Her name was Hede.

I still remember that Milly had polio when she was little. She would clench her fist, and it was cold to the touch. The same happened with one of her legs. My mother

then said to Mrs. Strauss: ”You really should see the doctor, because this isn’t normal.” Well, as it turned out it was polio. The hand got back to normal, but with

the leg it was worse.

When Alfred was about three years old, he too would spend time with us quite often. He was of a very slight build, and I still remember that he had a week bladder. My mother used to say to him, "you'll be awarded a medal called pee every minute".

She used to say that because in German it almost sounds like ‘Pour le merite’, a high WWI decoration. Oh yes, my mother, who was pretty strict with us, was very good to the Strauss’ children. - I remember all of this so well, because it has deeply touched me, and it is part of my life.