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Valerie Marie Schwalb

1900–1953

Born
3 Apr 1900, Liptovský Mikuláš
Country of birth
Kingdom of Hungary, today Slovakia
Died
14 Aug 1953, Mont Boron
facts
8
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Liptovský Mikuláš

    Birth, Liptovský Mikuláš

  2. Died · Mont Boron

    Death, Mont Boron

What was it like?

The world around Liptovský Mikuláš, 1900: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Valerie was born the same year as Luis Buñuel, Spencer Tracy, and Eyvind Johnson.

Born the same year

  • Luis Buñuel

    Spanish-Mexican filmmaker (1900–1983)

  • Spencer Tracy

    American actor (1900–1967)

  • Eyvind Johnson

    Swedish writer (1900–1976)

  • Teóphilo Bettencourt Pereira

    Brazilian footballer (1900-1988)

  • Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

    French writer and aviator (1900–1944)

  • Ruhollah Khomeini

    Supreme Leader of Iran from 1979 to 1989

Fashion

Men's everyday linen attire

Men's everyday clothing in the early 20th century consisted of wide-legged white linen trousers and thinner cotton shirts, with straw hats used for protection from the sun.

Rural women lacked panties and wore petticoats

In the early 20th century, rural women in the Ipoly region did not wear panties, and on feast days, the number of petticoats they wore varied by village, ranging from 2 to 8.

Music

Instruments and Musical Accompaniment

Professional ensembles often featured violins, clarinets, and cimbaloms, while in poorer rural settings, musicians sometimes used simple objects like spoons, sticks, or boards to create rhythmic accompaniment.

Roma Music in Daily Life

Roma bands were essential to local life, playing at weddings, cafes, and private parties, where they performed popular czardas, slow halgato songs, and operetta pieces.

Getting around

Carriage travel bet from Tornaľa to Budapest

A carriage journey between Tornaľa and Budapest, a distance of 185 km, was completed in 23 hours and 6 minutes as part of a bet.

Walking trips for gathering wood

In rural areas, women frequently traveled on foot to gather wood, typically taking four hours for a round trip to the forest.

Daily life

Housing and living conditions

Most houses were constructed from wood and sometimes stone, often consisting of a single living room and a small kitchen, with floors typically made of wood planks. Poor families occasionally shared their limited living space with their livestock, such as a horse or cow.

Lighting and cooking methods

Families often cooked over an open fire in the room, which also served as the primary light source in the evenings. Kerosene lamps were used, but their glass chimneys were frequently left dirty or missing.

Food

Children’s breakfast included warm beer

In many families, children were commonly given warm beer with bread for breakfast before going to school or work.

Mountain families baked bread rarely

In mountainous regions, fresh bread was rare, so families often replaced it with simple flatbreads made from flour, potatoes, cabbage, and turnips.

Prices and wages

Worker earnings and shoe prices around 1900

Around 1900, a pair of shoes cost between 5 and 10 crowns, while a worker typically earned 60 to 120 crowns per month.

Bread prices at the turn of the century

At the turn of the century, bread cost roughly 14 to 20 filler per kilogram depending on the type and location.

Work

Mining routines and miner greetings

Coal miners and iron ore workers typically worked 10 to 12-hour days, often beginning with a roll call and prayer before descending into the mines. The workers would signal their arrival in the tunnels with the greeting Glück auf.

Long shifts and 24-hour workdays

In the early 1900s, factory workers often toiled in 12-hour shifts, and sometimes up to 18 hours, starting work at 6:00 AM. In metallurgy, some workers endured grueling 24-hour shifts to manage continuous production.

News and letters

Popularity of postal cards

Postal cards became extremely popular, with the number of delivered items reaching approximately 25 million by 1900.

Around 1883–1899

Cost of sending letters inland

Between 1883 and 1899, sending an ordinary inland letter up to 20 grams cost 5 kreuzer, while a local letter cost 3 kreuzer.

During their lifetime

  1. 1900

    Paris Metro opens in 1900

    The first Paris metro line opened on July 14, 1900, allowing travel across the city in half an hour for 20 to 25 centimes.

  2. 1918

    Spanish flu epidemic reaches Hungary

    In 1918, a flu epidemic reached Hungary, with the first cases reported in Budapest in June and elsewhere in July.

  3. 1920

    New state border established at Danube river

    In 1920, the Danube river became the new state border between Hungary and the first Czechoslovak Republic.

  4. 1921

    Public radio broadcasting starts in 1921

    Public radio broadcasting officially began in France in 1921, with regular programs transmitted from an antenna atop the Eiffel Tower.

  5. 1944

    Women gain voting rights in 1944

    In October 1944, a government ordinance finally granted women the right to vote in France.

  6. 1945

    Electrification of Slovak seats reaches 45 percent

    By 1945, infrastructure development in Slovakia resulted in 45 percent of seats in the region being electrified.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.