The three figures appear to be seated on benches. Each is engaged in looking. A man in a trilby sits behind a woman wearing a hat, whose face is hidden from the viewer by the mirror she is holding. In the foreground, a woman in a headscarf and spectacles is preoccupied with handwork, perhaps sewing, although the flurry of lines used to build up tone provide little detail. On the left lapel of the coat draped over this woman's shoulders is the star of David, indicative of the fragile political situation of these figures.
During 1942-1943, Gedö studied with István Örkényi Strasser, a sculptor connected with the National Hungarian Cultural Association of Jews (OMIKE). In the summer of 1944, she and her family were subject to forced relocation to an apartment of her relatives in the Budapest Ghetto. The artist made numerous pencil drawings during this time, recording her experiences of the anxious and frustrated lives of the inhabitants, transforming her art into a more vigorous personal expression. "These simple line drawings are the first masterpieces in Ilka Gedö's oeuvre, and some of them manifest a sculpturesque way of modeling. Their faithfulness to reality has a historical significance." (Júlia Szabo).