Gretti Istavanné Som

My birth name was Margit Régeni. My common name is Istvánné Som, but everyone calls me Gréti Istvánné Som.

I was born in Petrilla in Transylvania (Romania), on September 14, 1927.

We were four children in my family. I had two brothers and a sister. I was the third. I'm the only one still alive.

I had a lot of hardships to overcome during my childhood. Even as an adult, I have painful memories of that time in my life.

At the age of 6, in Transylvania (which belonged to Hungary before the First World War), I attended a Romanian school where the Hungarian language (my mother tongue) was forbidden. Our family lived as a Hungarian minority in Romania.

I remember that I had to walk very long distances to school every day, even during the winter when it was really cold. My mother would get up at dawn to cook us hot potatoes and put them in our pockets just before leaving to keep us warm. Thanks to this, we survived these exhausting and tedious marches.

During the Second World War, in 1940, we had to flee Romania (Transylvania) to go to Hungary. As Hungary wanted to recover Transylvania, we were enemies of the Romanians. All over Transylvania there were arrests of Hungarians. Our life was in danger. My mother had to flee alone with her four children to Hungary. My father had already left before us.
We lost all our material possessions (our house, our furniture, etc.) and our former life. The only things we had at that time were four bags of clothes. All the rest of our stuff stayed in Romania. We settled in a small village in Hungary. I went by train to a religious Catholic school in Esztergom, a town next to where my family lived.

In 1942 we had to flee again, but this time because of Russia. Hungary lost the war and the Soviets invaded the country. We fled to Zell-am See, Austria. We lived in a refugee camp for a year.

In 1943, we finally returned to Hungary and we found our apartment which had been stripped... After these traumatic events, I finally got training as a typist in Budapest. Then I got married and moved to the capital.

As a child, I dreamed of becoming a math teacher. I loved numbers and still do.

During my childhood, I went to a religious school (a convent) and my teachers were Romanian nuns. They were really very strict and I didn't like going there. Moreover, they didn't like me because, for them, the Hungarians were their enemies during the wars.

Then, to continue my studies, I did a secretarial typing course in Budapest, Hungary. After my marriage, I was a housewife and raised my two children. Then I worked as a secretary.

Since I retired, I have been doing crafts. It's been 25 years. I make and sell souvenirs and dolls of different kinds. I sew and crochet. I made several exhibitions with my dolls and I teach how to make dolls to different audiences but especially to kindergarten teachers (Waldorf).

I loved traveling to India, to Pondicherry. I went there five times, because my brother lived in India and he died there, in an Ashram. I really like this culture, their music and their food.

My favorite music is the 4 seasons of Vivaldi. I also like to listen to Vangelis. I love Indian music, like Ravi Shankar and Indian folk music.

My favorite color is apple green. At 5 years old, I received an apple green dress and my doll had a dress of the same color. Since that day, I love this color.

My favorite dishes are cauliflower soup, fried cauliflower, tartare, hot Indian dishes, etc. Finally, I love everything.

My favorite smell is the smell of lilac.