Escape to Africa. Henri Diamant
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graduation from high school, father obtained an apprenticeship at a dry-goods retail store in Znojmo. It was then that he realized how much he liked the retail business, and that he was going to make it his life’s career. He left the apprenticeship only because he was drafted into the Austrian army.
After his discharge, he returned home where he helped to run the family business, and gradually put on some weight on his mother’s renowned cooking (in light of the awful food that he ate in the army, his mother’s cooking was pure bliss). However, this utopia was short-lived because, as mentioned earlier, he was drafted a second time. He served in the Czech army until 1922.
After his discharge, Father decided to pursue his luck in a large city. And the one that was reasonably close, and happened to be especially attractive to him was, of course, the famous city of Vienna. But what really helped him decide on Vienna, was the fact that his sister Johanna, her husband Paul Katz and their first child, daughter Susanne, were already living there. No other city offered all these advantages, and father made his move without reservations (Johanna’s cooking was second best only to their mother’s).
Once in Vienna, it did not take long before he landed a retail position. He became a salesman in a shoe store on Favoriten Strasse, owned, interestingly enough, by a Rudolf Diamant. This man was not related to our family, but father’s last name may have helped him get his “shoe” in the door (after all, we are talking about a shoe store, not a foot store). Right from the start, father truly enjoyed his job, and he worked hard on mastering all the fine points of the retail business.
The result of this zeal was that father quickly became an accomplished salesman who bolstered the store’s proceeds. He ended up working for Rudolf Diamant from 1922 until 1928.
During the course of these years something momentous happened. Something quite wonderful actually. Father married mother.
Now, one must wonder how a man living in Vienna could meet, court and marry a young woman in Brno. Especially since all this went on when long trips were difficult to undertake and rather expensive on a salesman’s salary. Another problem was the lack of easy and affordable communications.
But love conquers all, and father did not let such mundane issues stop him from courting mother.
Initially they met at a wedding in Znojmo. I do not know exactly who was getting hitched, but I do know that it was some one from the Schwarzbart side of the family (grandma Ernestine’s sister was married to Bernard Schwartzbart). As luck would have it, the Schwarzbarts from Brno came to the happy event, and mother tagged along with them.
Weddings in those days were not the elaborate affairs that are the norm today. For the most part, out of town guests usually stayed with relatives , even if it meant that some of them had to spend a couple of nights on the floor. Of course, that small detail never stopped any one from having a great time at a wedding.
Father did not relish using the floor for a couple of nights, and so he did his best to find a good substitute the minute he came in. And find one he did. It was a small couch that was set apart from the main area of the living room, in a corner that actually offered some privacy. But, as he was about ready to enjoy a peaceful night, he noticed, across the crowded room, a very attractive young woman struggling to get comfortable on the bare floor.Not surprisingly, before he even realized what was happening, he walked over and gallantly offered his private couch to the enchanting woman. That was Amalie, our future mother.
I understand that father did not get much rest that night, and it was not due merely to the hardness of the floor. Father could not stop thinking about the beautiful Amalie. It was love at first sight.
Early the following morning, they met for breakfast, and wound up spending the whole day together. They quickly developed a deep fondness for each other, and promised to keep in touch after they parted and returned to their respective homes.
There is no doubt whatsoever that they kept their promises, and that father became very good at keeping alive a “long distance” courtship. They were married hardly a year after they met. The wedding took place in 1926, at the Schwarzbart’s home in Brno.
The newly-wed couple found a small apartment in Vienna and while father resumed his work at the shoe store, mother spent long hours visiting with her brand new sister-in-law Johanna. In fact, she desperately needed to acquire quickly some fundamental knowledge about cooking meals. She was good at many things, but cooking was not one of them. Her aunt and uncle, with no children of their own, had pampered mother in the pure sense of the word and, although she learned to play the piano and enjoy operas, she acquired very little experience in running a household, and even less preparing meals.
On the other hand, Johanna was definitely an experienced homemaker and, like Grandma Ernestine, a great cook. In the end, mother learned enough from Johanna to manage on her own, and to stop relying on the neighborhood restaurant to keep father from going hungry. Still, it must be noted that in true fashion of newly-wed husbands, father never complained about their meals, not even when some of them happened to get scorched. Mother had the unfortunate habit of forgetting about the oven whenever she played the piano.
Mother fell in love with lively Vienna, the Paris of the South, a Vienna that was the home of the waltz and the operetta. The city that had been, at one time or another, the home of such famous composers as Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Strauss and many others. It was a city full of joie-de-vivre and culture, with many museums, beautiful parks, imposing palaces and, of course, the celebrated Danube River. Father and mother made the most of what the city had to offer, the theaters, movie houses and the neighborhood coffeehouses where they whiled away many pleasant evenings with family and friends. Then there was the Prater, Vienna’s large amusement park with its celebrated Ferris wheel. And because father was wild about horses, they frequently went to see the graceful white Lippizan stallions of the prestigious Spanish Riding School. Father was entranced by the “Haute Ecole” riding maneuvers and the intricate routines flawlessly executed by these magnificent animals. To this day, the most famous drill is the “Capriole”, in which the horse leaps into the air while kicking its rear legs backward. The Lippizans, which are one of Austria’s major cultural heritages, are the direct descendents of the oldest classic horse breed in Europe. Its origin dates from the 1500s when Archduke Karl II, the son of Emperor Ferdinand I, founded a stud farm in the village of Lipizza, hence the name Lipizzan Horses (also known as Lipizzaner). These horses are born black, but most of them turn entirely white within about a year. Only white stallions are featured in the performances of the Spanish Riding School. By the way, had it not been for the efforts of General George Patton, the school and its horses would have been annihilated during World War II. What a great tragedy that would have been.
The little village of Piber, approximately 35 km west of Gratz, in the beautiful countryside of Austria’s west Styria, is the home of these exquisite Lipizzan horses. Fortunately, Leila and I were able to see them there when we visited Europe in 2005. It took us most of the day to go through the immense complex, which includes a museum full of carefully restored antique horse carriages. We got great pleasure from the graceful white mares and cute black foals. Their barn was immaculate; with not the slightest hint of manure in the air. We later learned that all the barns on the grounds were cleaned every two hours, around the clock.
Getting back to the 1920s, I should add that mother’s first cousin Steffy, her husband Hugo Gratzer and son Otto also lived in Vienna during that period. Hugo was an auto mechanic and Steffy a seamstress. The fact that mother had a relative from her own side of the family at hand, made her life in Vienna that much more delightful. Years later, we found that Steffy, and her family, were the only ones on mother’s side who escaped with their lives. They had left Vienna when Jews were still allowed to travel, and had booked passage on a ship bound for the U.S.A. But when they reached New York, none of the passengers were permitted to disembark, and the ship was ordered to return to Germany. The captain, a German mind you, did not want to be part of such cruelty and, instead, sailed into Cuba. Once again, the ship was turned away with all its unfortunate passengers. So, he tried again, and went to Caracas, in Venezuela. Bingo, that worked and the Grazers were given a new lease on life. They became a prominent family in Caracas.
Anyway,