When Life Calls Out to Us by Haddon Klingberg Jr

Author:Haddon Klingberg, Jr. [Klingberg, Haddon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-385-50647-2
Publisher: The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group
Published: 2012-05-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Everything Changes

1937–1946

BY 1937, ELLY was no longer a little girl riding on papa’s shoulders. The innocence of her childhood had been pushed aside by the passage of time and the troubles of the day: economic distress, political tensions, social instability, the fear of war. The incongruous assessments of Hitler’s rise as threat or promise divided the people. Austria was still officially independent of Germany’s Third Reich, but nothing was certain.

There was Leopoldstadt, teeming with Jews of diverse persuasions and origins and bustling with commercial competition. There was Kaisermühlen, seemingly far removed from the ferment of the city. But if Kaisermühlen seemed more out of reach, its isolation was superficial. The surrounding waters and the bridges that spanned them, the woods, and even the sense of community in Kaisermühlen could not shield it from its larger context. It was no safe, suburban neighborhood.

For the 1873 World’s Fair in Vienna, the great Rotunda had been built as its focal point. It was a cavernous and ornate exposition center designed to be a permanent major facility of the city. It stood monumental across from the Prater and for more than six decades hosted major public events and exhibitions. Visitors took the elevator to the observation deck for striking views of the city and its surroundings. From there it was easy to scan the Danube waterways to the east and spot the forests of Kaisermühlen. Elly went to the Rotunda many times but not for its exhibits. Rather, she was assisting her papa as he cleaned its large toilet rooms and other interior spaces. In the time and circumstances, children pitched in to help their parents make a go of it.

But on November 17, 1937, the Rotunda caught fire. Word of the disaster spread quickly and the inferno could be seen from miles away. Elly, who had just turned twelve, watched the smoke filling the sky and became very anxious.

Elly showed Viktor and me a photo of the Rotunda ablaze and said, “When the fire was burning I watched it from the dam in Kaisermühlen, and I was crying because on that day my father was cleaning and I was afraid that he was working in that building.”1 Thankfully no harm had come to Leo Schwindt, though the Rotunda disintegrated to smoldering ash.

Following the Rotunda disaster, Viktor conveyed that there was a popular sarcastic jab at Adolf Hitler, though it was carefully whispered only among trusted friends: “The Rotunda burns to the ground and this guy lives on.” Not only did Hitler live on, but in a few months he would take Austria into the Reich. What lay ahead for Vienna would make the Rotunda calamity look like a family picnic in the Prater.

For all of Kaisermühlen’s former natural serenity, it took its share of the city’s growing violence. Even in the brief civil war of February 1934 between the Social Democrats and various fascist and Nazi elements, Schüttaustrasse had seen vicious street fighting. The Schwindts were unharmed, but the combat shook the neighborhood.

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