Majority of interview is a description of Ida Katzoff's journey (1927) with daughters, Martha and Trudy [Rosen], to Poland to visit family. Discussion begins with brief mention of Rosen's father, Isaac Katzoff, who died at age thirty four. As a young boy in Poland, Katzoff was apprenticed to a paint workshop and slept in a loft above the paint mixing station. Katzoff immigrated to Brooklyn, New York, (ca. 1906) and sent for his future wife, Ida Katzoff [Katzoff was her maiden name also] in 1907. The Katzoffs had four children, Mike, Sophie, Martha and Trudy. Years of breathing paint fumes resulted in chronic kidney problems for Katzoff and his eventual death from lead poisoning. Interview continues with Rosen's recollections of the aforementioned journey to her mother's native village of Kryvitsh, Poland. She describes the sea voyage from New York to London, and her habit of sneaking into the ship's first class section. From London they steamed to France and traveled by train to Poland, where the Katzoffs spent six weeks with Ida Katzoff's parents. Rosen's colorful narrative of the visit includes descriptions of her grandfather's farm, details of the village and her grandparent's home, the foods she ate, non-pasteurized milk which made her ill, relatives in the village, and how she returned to America speaking Yiddish. Rosen did not recall attending a synagogue while in Poland, but remembers traditional Friday evening dinners. Interview ends with Rosen's revelation that Ida Katzoff retrieved a package of diamonds in Brussels on the return journey. She smuggled the diamonds into the U.S. in a specially made belt worn under her corset. The diamond transport was repayment to the New York businessman who financed the trip abroad.
