At eighty-seven years old, Konc, born László Etelek, is likely one of our oldest students who remembers the following details: "In the distant year of 1930, I attended elementary school and then secondary school. I still keep my first reader and fondly remember some of the poems. In first grade, my teacher was Ilona Haršanji.
We addressed her as Miss Iluš, and I still thank her for her kindness. I enjoy looking at the photograph from the first grade, and Miss dedicated these few wonderful words to us: 'Memories of your first school year, your first friends, and your first teacher.' A particularly vivid memory is of the "Great Storm" that occurred precisely when a small boat that connected between Bečej and Novi Bečej sank. Our classroom was on the second floor. The wind blew so hard that it knocked out our windowpane. The teacher led us out into the hallway, where we had to hold onto the classroom door handles so the wind wouldn't open them.
In the second and third grades, we were taught by Teacher Manja, and in the fourth grade by Teacher Milica Glavaški. All three teachers educated us with kind words and without any physical threats. From the fifth grade onward, we attended secondary school, where we could only be educated in Serbian. The school's director at the time was Vuk Radović. I remember the class teachers such as German teacher Sauer Margit and teacher Lazar Prodanović. We greatly respected German teacher Sauer Margit. Since she had limited knowledge of Serbian, she mostly spoke in German during classes.
During the famous saying "The rod came from heaven," she never raised her hand to any student. This cannot be said for Teacher Zlata, who readily used her whip for disciplinary purposes (it was a real leather whip with knots at the end). Even today, tears come to my eyes when I recall the case of Áč Lacike. He was a handsome and good boy. During one class, while the teacher was writing on the board, he let out a sneeze. As punishment, he had to lie face down on the bench, and she hit him with the whip. At that time, strict rules were in place at home, and several students repeated grades. In this school, which today regains its former glory, I spent the most carefree days of my life."
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