My Love – Trudie Aldor
Resident of Jewish Care’s The Mark and Dina Munzer Community Residence
Born in 1928 in Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia); lives in Melbourne
When the war ended, I was liberated from the concentration camp in Slovakia where I lost my mother at the age of 14. After reuniting with my father I continued my education in a boarding school in Switzerland and in Oxford.
In 1947, my sister got engaged in our home in Pressburg (Bratislava) and I came for the party. I was 19 and had no idea that this trip home would change my entire life.
My father introduced me to a young man Richard, who made aliya to Israel in 1939. Richard offered to go out for a walk and I agreed. Obviously, some people saw us outside and made it their duty to ring my grandmother and tell her “Mazal tov!”
“What is the ‘Mazal tov’ for?”, asked my grandma. “What do you mean? Your Trudie is engaged!”
“Are you sure?”
“We hope so! Otherwise, why would she walk on the streets of Pressburg in the company of a stranger?!”
They were right; back then it was unusual for a young girl to date a man without an intention to get married.
Richard and I got married in 1948 and then we moved to Paris, even though we were both eager to go to Israel. I tried to apply to the Israeli Army but the officer didn’t believe my age and suggested to come back when I ‘grow up.’
Later we immigrated to Melbourne and had our son Lesley, who blessed us with 2 grandchildren – Judith and Jonathan. I started a clothes retail line but this is a different story…
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