All of the family, except for uncle Alois and aunt Hedda, who lived in the hops growing area of Žatec/Saaz belonged to the Bischofteinitz/ Horšovský Týn Jewish community, which consisted of about twelve families. Except on the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur, most of the families went to services only on the anniversary of the death of a close relative. The „temple“, as it was called, was the second floor of a house in Bräuhausgasse. On the ground floor lived the Klaubers, the only poor Jewish family in town, and Rabbi Zwetschkenbaum during his bachelor days.
More than to the Jewish community, we belonged to the German bourgeoisie. Most of the Czechs living in town were officials who had come relatively recently, and kept to themselves. I doubt that even they knew that until the seventeenth century this had been a Czech town. There were also many German officials in our time, from the head of the district down. Until the thirties there seemed to be no problems between the nationalities. Our standard of living was very much like that of the German doctors, officials and merchants. Perhaps we ate somewhat better as farmers and because the Abeles’ thought they knew a lot about good food.
My father sometimes met friends at a bar in town, and my mother saw ladies at Jung’s, the best pastry shop in town. During carnival everybody, including my relatives who lived in villages, went to the masquerade ball and the firemens ball.
[…]
I did experience anti-Semitism on the part of the boys who went to the German school which was located next to our house. On my way to school, I met dozens of these boys, and they sometimes really gave me a hard time. When I was in first grade, a boy hit me and cut my upper lip so badly that it bled. When mother complained to the boys teacher, he told her that her daughter was not exactly a peaceful little dove.
Source: Wilma and Georg Iggers, Two Lives in Uncertain Times, New York: Berghahn Books, 2006, p. 6ff