WEBVTT NOTE 2. How We Met 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.720 Chapter 2. How We Met. 2 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:08.560 Recently I found a handwritten letter of recommendation, signed Ludwig von Mises, which my husband had 3 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:15.240 written in 1943 on behalf of Fritz Kaufmann. Fritz Kaufmann was, about twenty years ago, 4 00:00:15.240 --> 00:00:20.660 a student of mine at the University of Vienna, Austria. He has well succeeded in acquiring 5 00:00:20.660 --> 00:00:27.320 a broad knowledge of economics, and especially of the problems of currency, banking and finance. 6 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:32.240 After his graduation, he worked as a journalist with various newspapers and periodicals in 7 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:38.720 Vienna and in Berlin. His editorials and articles were highly appreciated by the most competent 8 00:00:38.720 --> 00:00:46.440 experts. It was with Dr. Fritz Kaufman at a dinner party in 1925 that I first met Ludwig 9 00:00:46.440 --> 00:00:52.680 von Mises. Lena, Kaufman's wife, was the daughter of our beloved pediatrician, who 10 00:00:52.680 --> 00:00:57.280 who, as long as Ferry was alive, used to come to the apartment every Saturday morning to 11 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:03.340 have a look at the children. These visits were the basis of a yearly honorarium, an arrangement 12 00:01:03.340 --> 00:01:10.000 one could not even imagine today. There were six guests that evening. One of them, as mentioned 13 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:16.320 before, was Ludwig von Mises, a 44-year-old professor of economics, a bachelor who also 14 00:01:16.320 --> 00:01:22.600 had a law degree from the University of Vienna. But that evening I had no idea who he was. 15 00:01:22.600 --> 00:01:32.600 What impressed me about him were his beautiful clear blue eyes, always concentrated on the person to whom he talked, never shifting away. 16 00:01:32.600 --> 00:01:39.600 His dark hair, already a little grayish at the sides, was parted, not one hair out of place. 17 00:01:39.600 --> 00:01:47.600 I liked his hands, his long slim fingers, which clearly showed that he did not use them for manual work. 18 00:01:47.600 --> 00:01:53.600 He was dressed with quiet elegance, a dark custom-made suit, a fitting silk necktie. 19 00:01:53.600 --> 00:01:57.960 His posture indicated that he must have been a former army officer. 20 00:01:57.960 --> 00:02:02.040 He sat next to me and the conversation was mostly about economics. 21 00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:04.340 I did not add much to the discussion. 22 00:02:04.340 --> 00:02:05.340 How could I? 23 00:02:05.340 --> 00:02:09.000 I did not know anything about the subjects discussed. 24 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:11.840 After dinner he stayed at my side and we talked. 25 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:16.660 That is to say, he made me talk, listened attentively, and when we left he offered to 26 00:02:16.660 --> 00:02:22.060 to take me home. But on the way he proposed to go to a bar opposite my house to have a 27 00:02:22.060 --> 00:02:27.860 drink and dance. He did not dance well, so I preferred to sit and talk with him. The next 28 00:02:27.860 --> 00:02:33.620 day when my host told me that he was considered to be the greatest living mind in Austria, 29 00:02:33.620 --> 00:02:40.340 it gave me quite a shock. He seemed so unpretentious and simple, so easy to talk to. That day 30 00:02:40.340 --> 00:02:45.620 he sent me a wonderful assortment of red roses, called me soon afterward and asked me to have 31 00:02:45.620 --> 00:02:52.620 from then on we met frequently and it was not long before we were meeting almost daily 32 00:02:52.740 --> 00:02:56.020 when he had no time to meet me he would always call 33 00:02:56.020 --> 00:02:58.860 he met my children and tried to make friends with them 34 00:02:58.860 --> 00:03:01.500 he never came without bringing them a little gift 35 00:03:01.500 --> 00:03:04.380 mostly books that were carefully chosen 36 00:03:04.380 --> 00:03:09.620 and one day he brought me a tiny flask of perfume also carefully chosen 37 00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:12.180 but not at all to my taste 38 00:03:12.180 --> 00:03:14.660 i soon felt he was in love with me 39 00:03:14.660 --> 00:03:20.280 But within me there was no fire burning. I was interested, I liked his company, I was 40 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:27.140 flattered by his attention, but I did not love him. It took quite a while before I responded, 41 00:03:27.140 --> 00:03:32.080 and it was a special event that made me realize I cared for him. 42 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:37.420 This was a time of political unrest in Vienna. Two socialists had been murdered by members 43 00:03:37.420 --> 00:03:43.660 of the Nationalistic Party, and the killers were acquitted. This led to riots in the streets. 44 00:03:43.660 --> 00:03:49.300 The Palace of Justice was burned down. Ludwig von Mises called me and warned me, don't let 45 00:03:49.300 --> 00:03:54.860 the children grow out today, the streets are not safe. We lived at the center of the city, 46 00:03:54.860 --> 00:04:00.980 as he did, a few steps away from Kartenerstrasse and Graben. It was this telephone call that 47 00:04:00.980 --> 00:04:06.180 made it clear how important he was to me. He cared not only about me, he cared about 48 00:04:06.180 --> 00:04:09.980 my children. He worried about them. 49 00:04:09.980 --> 00:04:15.680 In 1926 he went for the first time to America as a representative of the Austrian Chamber 50 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:21.260 of Commerce, and as soon as he returned he asked me to marry him. I cannot describe what 51 00:04:21.260 --> 00:04:27.820 I felt, but I know I was happy. From then on I always called him Lew, and this abbreviation 52 00:04:27.820 --> 00:04:32.660 of his given name, which seemed to me much warmer and more affectionate, was something 53 00:04:32.660 --> 00:04:37.900 quite new to him. He must never have been called by a pet name. When we came to the 54 00:04:37.900 --> 00:04:43.900 In the States, and made new friends, they all very soon called him Lew. I think he liked it. 55 00:04:43.900 --> 00:04:52.900 Shortly after his return from America, he got very sick. He had appendicitis and could not be operated on, as his appendix was already infected. 56 00:04:52.900 --> 00:05:00.900 It took him weeks to recover, and since I did not know his mother, it was very difficult for me to get news about his condition. 57 00:05:00.900 --> 00:05:30.900 I would have loved to know everything about him, starting with his childhood. But he did not talk much about himself. He remembered well his maternal grandfather and talked often about him. When Lew was two, his grandfather accidentally let him fall from his arms. As a consequence, Lew broke his collarbone and had to wear a neck brace for a long time. Lew spoke very little about his youth. Once, however, he told me that he had started reading newspapers at the age of seven and that 58 00:05:30.900 --> 00:05:36.500 And at the age of ten he wanted to write a history of the Crimean War. He wrote one 59 00:05:36.500 --> 00:05:41.140 page and then discovered in the newspaper that an English historian had published a 60 00:05:41.140 --> 00:05:45.780 ten volume history. That was the end of that book. 61 00:05:45.780 --> 00:05:50.700 Lew greatly admired his father, who had been a prominent railroad construction engineer 62 00:05:50.700 --> 00:05:57.700 in the Austrian government and who died tragically after a gallbladder operation at the age of 63 00:05:57.700 --> 00:06:17.100 The Early Loss of a Beloved Father was not the only sad blow Lew suffered. His youngest 64 00:06:17.100 --> 00:06:23.460 brother died of scarlet fever at a very tender age when Lew was only 12 years old. It was 65 00:06:23.460 --> 00:06:26.140 was a heavy blow for the whole family. 66 00:06:26.140 --> 00:06:30.300 Lew as a grown-up still lives with his mother, whom I never met. 67 00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:34.380 He rarely mentioned her and never said a word of criticism for her. 68 00:06:34.380 --> 00:06:38.620 I soon realized that this silence was the result of a long and bitter struggle with 69 00:06:38.620 --> 00:06:39.980 himself. 70 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:43.780 He must have suffered in his youth, though he never complained. 71 00:06:43.780 --> 00:06:49.000 Three of the many letters he wrote to me around this time, which I have translated into English, 72 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:51.940 show how clearly lonely he was. 73 00:06:51.940 --> 00:07:01.660 Vienna, July 29th, 1927. My dear sweet Greta, many, many thanks for your dear letter. Since 74 00:07:01.660 --> 00:07:06.460 Tuesday I pondered much about you and your love. You have renewed in me what I lost a 75 00:07:06.460 --> 00:07:12.620 long time ago, the belief in the possibility of happiness. Do you know how much I have 76 00:07:12.620 --> 00:07:19.840 to thank you for, you, my beloved? I am sorry to say, I was so rushed the last days, from 77 00:07:19.840 --> 00:07:24.680 Early Morning to Late at Night, that I could not carry out my wish to go to Middling to 78 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:30.040 look after the children. I would have wanted to send you their love and their greetings. 79 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:36.400 I have some egoistic reasons, too. I wanted to touch Gitta's hair and think of you. That 80 00:07:36.400 --> 00:07:41.920 is all for today. I still have to do my packing and take care of various matters. I leave 81 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:47.320 tomorrow morning. I love you. I can't say more, and I believe it is the most important 82 00:07:47.320 --> 00:07:54.820 thing, Thousand Kisses, Bad Gastein, July 31, 1927 83 00:07:54.820 --> 00:08:00.520 My dear Greta, When I arrived here last night and found no letter of yours, when even today 84 00:08:00.520 --> 00:08:05.640 there was nothing in the mail from you, I realized fully how much I miss you, and that 85 00:08:05.640 --> 00:08:12.080 I cannot live any more without you. Now only do I know what longing really means, and that 86 00:08:12.080 --> 00:08:18.800 That I have only one wish, one thought, you. I have gone through bad experiences and again 87 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:24.840 and again I suffered severe disappointments. Your hands tenderly touched my cheeks and 88 00:08:24.840 --> 00:08:31.360 every remembrance of past harm has gone completely. I wish I could have had your slim hands here 89 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:37.220 to kiss them and hold them forever. Write to me again and again that you love me and 90 00:08:37.220 --> 00:08:43.020 You want to give me happiness. I cannot hear and read it often enough. Are you thinking 91 00:08:43.020 --> 00:08:48.140 of me sometimes in Hamburg? Can I win the battle with the remembrances of childhood 92 00:08:48.140 --> 00:08:54.260 and home? Isn't it true that the one who is absent is the losing one? I promise you never 93 00:08:54.260 --> 00:09:00.660 to be jealous. Now you can see the value of my promises. I am jealous even of the river 94 00:09:00.660 --> 00:09:06.660 Don't forget me and do love me. I kiss your mouth and your hair. 95 00:09:06.660 --> 00:09:20.660 Badgastein, August 14th, 1927. My dear Greta, many glowing thanks for your letter of August 11th and for your Sunday telegram. I found both when I came home from dinner. 96 00:09:20.660 --> 00:09:30.660 I deserved your reproaches, but I cannot change the facts. I told you before, you know you have to change me to get me to be the one that you want to love. 97 00:09:30.660 --> 00:09:39.660 It won't be easy. I would like to make a proposal. One always should start work as quickly as possible, and one should not delay the start. 98 00:09:39.660 --> 00:09:49.660 What about leaving Nordrany two days earlier than planned, and this way come two days earlier to Bad Gastein? That means on the 26th. 99 00:09:49.660 --> 00:09:59.660 We talk better face to face than by mail. We have to discuss a great many things. Please do say yes and come earlier than we originally planned. 100 00:09:59.660 --> 00:10:07.660 I feel more for you than I can say in writing, and if you knew me better you might read behind my clumsy sentences the real meaning. 101 00:10:07.660 --> 00:10:17.660 Please don't be angry, don't punish me by not writing and think of me without any anger or resentment. I believe in you and I love you. 102 00:10:17.660 --> 00:10:31.660 You are now everything I have. I know how rich and happy you make me, but I don't know how to thank you. I will try to become more worthy of you than I am. Thousand kisses. 103 00:10:31.660 --> 00:10:42.660 People who knew Lew's mother well told me she was a highly intelligent woman, but with the attitude of a general and a will of iron, showing little warmth or affection for anyone. 104 00:10:42.660 --> 00:11:09.660 Professor Hayek told me that while he was attending Lew's seminar in Vienna, Lew sometimes invited him to his house for lunch or dinner. The long table was always set immaculately, Lew sitting at one side and opposite him Mrs. von Mises. 105 00:11:09.660 --> 00:11:22.660 She never spoke a word, said Professor Hayek. She never participated in the conversation, but one always felt she was there. When the coffee was served, she quietly got up and left the dining room. 106 00:11:22.660 --> 00:11:30.660 She must have been a woman of distinction, otherwise she could not have brought up two sons who were both distinguished scholars. 107 00:11:30.660 --> 00:11:37.660 The only one for whom Lew's mother was said to have shown some affection was Richard, her second son. 108 00:11:37.660 --> 00:11:42.660 This might explain partly why the two brothers were never really close to each other. 109 00:11:42.660 --> 00:11:46.660 The situation changed, though, after Lew and I were married. 110 00:11:46.660 --> 00:11:51.660 I met Richard in Geneva in 1939, and I liked him immediately. 111 00:11:51.660 --> 00:11:53.660 There was a certain charm about him. 112 00:11:53.660 --> 00:11:57.660 He had the same unpretentious manner of speech that Lew had. 113 00:11:57.660 --> 00:12:14.660 When Lew and I came to the United States in 1940, Richard, who was then professor of aviation and mathematics at Harvard, immediately arranged a lecture for Lew, and never failed to come and see us whenever he was in New York, sometimes two or three times a month. 114 00:12:14.660 --> 00:12:17.660 I saw him for the last time in 1953. 115 00:12:17.660 --> 00:12:21.660 Lew was in California lecturing when Richard arrived from Zurich. 116 00:12:21.660 --> 00:12:29.660 A friend of his, the famous professor Hermann Nissen of Zurich, had advised an immediate and urgent cancer operation. 117 00:12:29.660 --> 00:12:36.660 But Richard refused to have it done, returned to the States, and a few weeks later died in Cambridge. 118 00:12:36.660 --> 00:12:41.660 I never really understood why Lew stayed with his mother until he left for Geneva. 119 00:12:41.660 --> 00:12:47.220 for Geneva. There was no financial reason for it. The only explanation I could find 120 00:12:47.220 --> 00:12:51.820 was that his mother's household was running smoothly. Their two maids had been with them 121 00:12:51.820 --> 00:12:57.560 for about twenty years, and Lew could come and go whenever it pleased him and could concentrate 122 00:12:57.560 --> 00:13:02.100 on his work without being disturbed. There was certainly no inner need for him to stay 123 00:13:02.100 --> 00:13:08.580 with her. The First World War, as much as he hated the loss of time, was a duty he had 124 00:13:08.580 --> 00:13:14.400 to Fulfill, and not for a minute would he have ever disregarded it. On the first day 125 00:13:14.400 --> 00:13:20.060 of the war he had to travel to Primitzel to join his regiment. He foresaw the consequences 126 00:13:20.060 --> 00:13:25.020 of the war for Austria and for the world. He lost almost five years of his life and 127 00:13:25.020 --> 00:13:31.140 his work, but he never complained. The last two years in the Carpathians, those icy winter 128 00:13:31.140 --> 00:13:36.900 days, brought real suffering and hardship to everyone. Often they did not even have 129 00:13:36.900 --> 00:13:51.900 For some time in the mountains, Lew had as comrade-in-arms his second cousin, Dr. Rudolf Streisauer, an army doctor, who also had the rank of captain. For a while they had their lodgings together. 130 00:13:51.900 --> 00:14:09.900 One morning, when it was bitter cold, they peered through the ice-covered window and saw the ten-year-old daughter of the farmer's wife with whom they lived take a completely naked baby of perhaps one year outside and hold her up until she had relieved herself. Lew was horrified. 131 00:14:09.900 --> 00:14:16.900 Louis was proud of his ability to provide for his men. By chance, a first-class cook from a good Austrian hotel had joined his company. This man was able to bake the famous Viennese pancakes. They are like the French crepes suzette, for all the men while the company was minding their own business. 132 00:14:39.900 --> 00:14:45.100 Marching, and the kitchen, of course, was on the move too. He adored Lew and proved 133 00:14:45.100 --> 00:14:51.460 this by always giving him an extra portion. But he was never satisfied with Lew's appetite. 134 00:14:51.460 --> 00:14:57.220 The first lieutenant is eating like a woman in child-bed, he complained. To please Lew, 135 00:14:57.220 --> 00:15:02.140 he also fed a little colt, which had been born during a battle and was loved by all 136 00:15:02.140 --> 00:15:07.900 the men of the company. They often went without food for themselves, but they still fed the 137 00:15:07.900 --> 00:15:15.900 Then one day the army took the colt away. They needed meat. That was a black day for all of Lew's men. 138 00:15:15.900 --> 00:15:28.900 Lew got typhoid in 1917 and, after a few months, was called back to Vienna where he worked, still in uniform, with the general staff in the Ministry of War until the last day of the war. 139 00:15:28.900 --> 00:15:36.900 In the first years of our relationship, Lew was almost an enigma to me. I never had seen such modesty in a man before. 140 00:15:36.900 --> 00:15:43.940 He knew his value, but he never boasted. Different from all men I had met before, he felt deeply 141 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:48.580 without the need to talk about it all the time. I had never trusted the feelings of 142 00:15:48.580 --> 00:15:54.580 actors. Men who love professionally every night, project their feelings constantly to 143 00:15:54.580 --> 00:16:00.420 the outside, and have to tell the whole world about themselves, never seemed real men to 144 00:16:00.420 --> 00:16:06.280 me. They're only steady love affairs with themselves. I think it was the extreme honesty 145 00:16:06.280 --> 00:16:12.400 and Lose Feelings that attracted me so strongly to him. Those feelings were so overpowering 146 00:16:12.400 --> 00:16:17.800 that he, who wrote thousands of pages about economics and money, could not find the words 147 00:16:17.800 --> 00:16:23.480 to talk about himself and explain his feelings. Before we married, this love must have been 148 00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:28.840 a very distressing factor in his life, so upsetting that he knew he could fight a battle 149 00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:34.440 in the Carpathian Alps, but he could never win the battle against himself. He became 150 00:16:34.440 --> 00:17:04.440 I became frightened. I was the only woman he wanted to marry from the first moment he met her. He never changed his feelings or his mind about this decision. I knew that there were many young women who were desperately in love with him. His private seminar in Vienna had several female participants who tried their best to get his attention. He was interested in their careers, in their intellectual development, but completely indifferent toward them as women. 151 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:08.440 If you would not have been, I could have married a very rich heiress. 152 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:13.440 Why didn't you, I asked him? We both would have lived very happily after. 153 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:17.440 He rejected both my flippancy and my proposal. 154 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:29.440 Another time I told him, do you know that people revealed to me that you at one time were engaged to marry Dr. Lina Leister, a former student at his seminar? 155 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:30.940 He laughed and said, 156 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:32.540 Did you really believe it? 157 00:17:32.540 --> 00:17:36.440 Could you ever imagine me married to an economist? 158 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:38.040 I really could not, 159 00:17:38.040 --> 00:17:42.540 though I know many happily married couples who have the same profession. 160 00:17:42.540 --> 00:17:45.940 The wish to have me near him was constantly in him. 161 00:17:45.940 --> 00:17:48.540 He knew I needed a father for my children. 162 00:17:48.540 --> 00:17:53.340 He was aware of the fact that I gave them all the love and affection I was capable of. 163 00:17:53.340 --> 00:17:56.740 But children need more than a loving and doting mother. 164 00:17:56.740 --> 00:18:05.740 They need guidance and direction for their development, and I, as a mother alone, was well aware that I was not strong enough to give them what they deserved. 165 00:18:05.740 --> 00:18:13.740 Lew thought of the task he had set himself, the tremendous work that was ahead of him, all the writing he wanted to do. 166 00:18:13.740 --> 00:18:24.740 He bore the burden of making a frightening decision, the choice between his work and duty to his intellectual ideals on one hand, and a life of love and affection on the other. 167 00:18:24.740 --> 00:18:41.740 Soon after we became engaged, he grew afraid of marriage, the bond it would mean, the change that the children would bring to a quiet home, and the responsibilities that might detract him from his work. So it was a stormy relationship, the old problem of Adam and Eve. 168 00:18:41.740 --> 00:19:08.740 But we did not live in paradise, far from it. We never had a fight between us. Lew fought himself and then made me suffer. I was deeply in love with him now, a love so different from what I had ever felt before that I hardly knew myself anymore. Until then I had always taken, I had been spoiled. Now I only wanted to give, give, give, and I deeply felt it was exactly what he needed. 169 00:19:08.740 --> 00:19:38.740 We spent most of our vacations together. I usually rented a cottage in the country for the children and my mother, and Lew and I went mountain climbing. Other sports did not mean much to him. He played tennis, always with a trainer, but without enthusiasm. Once I watched him, when the ball was easy for him to reach, he returned it, otherwise he did not bother. When I asked him, why don't you put a little more effort into your game, he replied, why should I? 170 00:19:38.740 --> 00:19:47.300 He was a member of the Athletic Club in Vienna, and dutifully went fencing once a week, but 171 00:19:47.300 --> 00:19:52.500 mountain climbing was the sport he really loved and excelled in. Before he went to Geneva, 172 00:19:52.500 --> 00:19:57.480 he also did some skiing. He had grown up in the mountains, and he spent four long years 173 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:03.040 of war in the mountains, while I came from the sea. But I shared his love for hiking 174 00:20:03.040 --> 00:20:07.880 and climbing, and we were never nearer to each other than when we stood together at 175 00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:20.880 the top of a mountain. He had the correct training for climbing. Sometimes the sun would burn so hard that I would get tired and thirsty, but Lew allowed me no rest until we reached a certain goal, or even the top. 176 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:38.880 The beauty of the view, the wide open spaces that lay before our eyes, the difficulties of climbing we had overcome together, the loneliness around us that never seemed depressing when we were together, gave us both a deep inner feeling of completeness and happiness. 177 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:47.880 It was then, he told me later, that I first knew what a good comrade you would be, but he was still not able to set a date for our marriage. 178 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:53.560 Sometimes I did not see him for weeks, but I knew very well that he was in town. At least 179 00:20:53.560 --> 00:20:58.160 twice daily the telephone rang, and when I answered there was a silence at the other 180 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:05.220 end of the line. Not a word was spoken. I knew it was Lew. He wanted to hear my voice. 181 00:21:05.220 --> 00:21:10.720 I also knew I should not make the first move if I really wanted to help him. I longed for 182 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:17.720 him. His silence hurt me. I was miserable. But I did not call. And finally, after a while 183 00:21:17.720 --> 00:21:41.720 Without any explanation, he came to see me again. I knew by then that if he could not decide, I had to take the initiative. I had to act since he could not. It was necessary also on account of the children. I was so tormented, so torn to pieces that the children must have felt it. I urgently needed to find work that would take my thoughts away from myself. 184 00:21:41.720 --> 00:22:04.720 About this time, George Martin, the publisher, who was always interested in my work, I had done one or two translations for him, advised me to go to London for a while to get better acquainted with authors and writers, to get new plays for him, and to start translating as a career. At the same time, I could refresh my English. I followed his advice. 185 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:10.720 Martin got the necessary letters of introduction and in 1929 I sublet my apartment and left 186 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:16.400 Vienna. I took Gitta to Hamburg to stay with my mother and left Guido with a professor's 187 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:21.400 family in a suburb of Vienna. It was hard on the little boy and he suffered under the 188 00:22:21.400 --> 00:22:24.600 separation as much as I did. 189 00:22:24.600 --> 00:22:30.800 In London I lived all alone in a bleak second-rate boarding house which always smelled of food. 190 00:22:30.800 --> 00:22:35.800 That winter I experienced for the first time what it meant to be hungry. Often I didn't 191 00:22:35.800 --> 00:22:41.240 have the money for a sandwich or for a cup of tea for lunch. To save money I walked to 192 00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:47.420 most of my appointments. Once I walked all the way from Bayswater to the Tower of London. 193 00:22:47.420 --> 00:22:52.840 When it was cold I went to the National Gallery or into another museum to warm up. All the 194 00:22:52.840 --> 00:22:57.880 time I met new people, was introduced to writers and publishers, and succeeded in laying the 195 00:22:57.880 --> 00:23:00.880 and the Groundwork for a Future for the Children and Myself. 196 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:03.880 But I never succeeded in forgetting Lew. 197 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:10.880 I never wrote to him, but one day he came to London as the Austrian representative of the Chamber of Commerce 198 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:17.880 to open an exposition of graphic illustrations on the progress of production in Austria since 1922. 199 00:23:17.880 --> 00:23:26.880 Lew himself had brought about this exhibition, and Hayek, as director of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research in Vienna, 200 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:29.580 Compile the Tables 201 00:23:29.580 --> 00:23:32.860 How Lew found my address I never knew. 202 00:23:32.860 --> 00:23:37.600 He immediately called me after his arrival and the same evening we met again. 203 00:23:37.600 --> 00:23:43.340 From the first look, from the first moment, everything was as it had been before. 204 00:23:43.340 --> 00:23:46.820 We both knew it never would change. 205 00:23:46.820 --> 00:23:50.720 After a few months I went back to Vienna, relieved to have my children staying with 206 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:52.100 me again. 207 00:23:52.100 --> 00:23:57.060 I found that the work, together with my children, filled my days so completely that I had very 208 00:23:57.060 --> 00:24:03.200 little free time. I translated and adapted one or two plays a month. The work was always 209 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:07.900 terribly urgent, and afterwards the plays were shelved and the poor authors had to wait 210 00:24:07.900 --> 00:24:14.180 for months, years sometimes, before the plays were produced. I had a contract with Martin 211 00:24:14.180 --> 00:24:20.080 for every play, royalties in advance of production, and immediate cash for every rough translation 212 00:24:20.080 --> 00:24:25.320 and I finished. I now needed a secretary to help me and things looked better for the children 213 00:24:25.320 --> 00:24:32.080 and for me. Among the plays I translated were Mary of Scotland by Maxwell Anderson, Distaffside 214 00:24:32.080 --> 00:24:38.160 by Van Druten and Rebound by Donald Ogden Stewart, which was produced by Reinhardt at 215 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:46.040 the Deutschtheater in Berlin and at the Vienna Akademie Theater. In 1932 I also wrote short 216 00:24:46.040 --> 00:24:51.040 Report Stories for Newspapers, which were printed in der Weiner Tag. 217 00:24:51.040 --> 00:24:54.200 Work was in every way a lifesaver for me. 218 00:24:54.200 --> 00:24:57.480 This is a fact that I found to be true all through my life. 219 00:24:57.480 --> 00:25:02.600 Now it helped me to take care of my children, it helped me to keep hold of myself, and it 220 00:25:02.600 --> 00:25:06.920 helped me to regain my pride, which had suffered greatly during those years of uncertainty 221 00:25:06.920 --> 00:25:09.280 in my relationship with Lew. 222 00:25:09.280 --> 00:25:14.020 Maybe, once in a while, I should have refused to see him. 223 00:25:14.020 --> 00:25:16.000 But what would this have changed? 224 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:20.000 My stay in London was proof enough that there was no way out for me. 225 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:26.700 I loved him, and the longing to be with him was so strong I could not fight myself anymore, 226 00:25:26.700 --> 00:25:31.680 and I knew only too well that he needed me also, in the way that a man dying of thirst 227 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:33.900 needs a drink of water. 228 00:25:33.900 --> 00:25:36.120 Not that I could not have married again. 229 00:25:36.120 --> 00:25:41.960 There was Oskar Lovenstein, the always cheerful, elegant owner and publisher of the Neue Weine 230 00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:47.920 Journal, whose sister-in-law was Gita's godmother and who was in love with me for years. There 231 00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:54.000 was Sir Leonard Costello, then Chief of Justice in India, whom I had met in London and who 232 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:59.240 came to Vienna to see me as often as his time allowed, waiting only for my word to get a 233 00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:05.560 divorce in spite of his high position. But I had told him how the situation was. He understood 234 00:26:05.560 --> 00:26:10.600 and we stayed friends for life. After Lew and I were married, Sir Leonard flew from India 235 00:26:10.600 --> 00:26:16.060 I went to Paris to meet Lew. Both men understood each other very well. Though I liked these 236 00:26:16.060 --> 00:26:22.020 other men, there was nothing I could do. I just had to wait until Lew was ready. He had 237 00:26:22.020 --> 00:26:28.980 given me his books Gemein Wirtstaff, later translated as Socialism, and Theore des Geldes 238 00:26:28.980 --> 00:26:35.020 und der Umlaufsmitte, The Theory of Money and Credit, and I tried my best to get familiar 239 00:26:35.020 --> 00:26:49.020 It was difficult for me. I had lived in another world. It took years and much reading and many tears, intermingled with feelings of inferiority, before I understood the meaning of his teaching and his writings. 240 00:26:49.020 --> 00:26:59.020 But his most devoted students could not have been more convinced of the advantages of free enterprise and of freedom for the individual than I became. 241 00:26:59.020 --> 00:27:07.020 In those years, Lew traveled a great deal to foreign countries as the representative of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. 242 00:27:07.020 --> 00:27:14.020 Never did he leave without first coming to see me and sending me the most beautiful arrangements of flowers. 243 00:27:14.020 --> 00:27:18.020 And as soon as he returned, the first thing he did was to see me. 244 00:27:18.020 --> 00:27:23.020 All those years he had held a secret superstition, which he later confessed to me. 245 00:27:23.020 --> 00:27:33.020 He must see me, he must be with me on January 1st each year, for that gave him the assurance that he would not lose me that year. 246 00:27:33.020 --> 00:27:40.020 Housing conditions in Vienna after the First World War, and even before, were especially unfavorable. 247 00:27:40.020 --> 00:27:45.020 To help people who were looking for an apartment, they introduced a new law. 248 00:27:45.020 --> 00:27:50.020 No family was to occupy more rooms than there were members of the family. 249 00:27:50.020 --> 00:28:05.020 The kitchen was not counted. If the apartment was too large, people were forced to let some rooms. Therefore, we who owned a large apartment faced the danger of having people living with us, people whom we did not even know. 250 00:28:05.020 --> 00:28:12.020 In my case, living alone and working at home, it would have been a special ordeal, but I was lucky. 251 00:28:12.020 --> 00:28:17.300 A friend of mine, coming back by boat from a visit in the United States, met Myra Finn 252 00:28:17.300 --> 00:28:24.180 with her little daughter Alice, age 11. Mrs. Finn had just been divorced from Oscar Hämischstein, 253 00:28:24.180 --> 00:28:28.740 wanted to travel, and was looking for a suitable place in Vienna for Alice to stay and learn 254 00:28:28.740 --> 00:28:34.900 German. My friend recommended me, and Mrs. Finn called on me. We liked each other, and 255 00:28:34.900 --> 00:28:39.940 after a while she left Vienna and Alice stayed on with us for more than a year. Since she 256 00:28:39.940 --> 00:29:00.940 When she was the same age as Gitta, I arranged for her to be in Gitta's class. The two girls became inseparable. A friendship developed that has lasted all through the years. Alice had suffered greatly from her mother's divorce. She adored her famous father, and it took all my love and care to make her smile again and relieve her from her depression. 257 00:29:00.940 --> 00:29:09.940 The summer after Alice left to join her mother in Switzerland, I sent Gitta to England to a boarding school in Kent, where she stayed for almost 18 months. 258 00:29:09.940 --> 00:29:14.940 When she came back, she wrote and spoke English as fluently as she wrote and spoke German. 259 00:29:14.940 --> 00:29:20.940 At that time, Gitta could not know how important the knowledge of languages would be for her future. 260 00:29:20.940 --> 00:29:28.940 One day, Lew told me that he had been offered a high position at the Creditanstalt, the foremost banking institution in Vienna, 261 00:29:28.940 --> 00:29:38.940 When I asked him the reason for his refusal, he told me that a great crash would be coming, and that he did not want his name to be in any way connected with it. 262 00:29:38.940 --> 00:29:41.940 He preferred to write and teach. 263 00:29:41.940 --> 00:29:47.940 If you want a rich man, he told me, don't marry me, I am not interested in earning money. 264 00:29:47.940 --> 00:29:51.940 I am writing about money, but will never have much of my own. 265 00:29:51.940 --> 00:29:54.940 I did not need to answer, he knew how I felt. 266 00:29:54.940 --> 00:30:00.940 I did not need to answer. He knew how I felt. It was only him who I wanted. 267 00:30:00.940 --> 00:30:06.940 When the stock market crashed in New York in October of 1929, the effect was worldwide. 268 00:30:06.940 --> 00:30:11.940 An international depression followed. World trade was seriously affected. 269 00:30:11.940 --> 00:30:17.940 And in 1931, on May 11th, the Austrian credit unstalt went into bankruptcy, 270 00:30:17.940 --> 00:30:20.940 exactly as Lew had told me beforehand. 271 00:30:20.940 --> 00:30:27.060 before hand. The Austrian government tried to save the bank and appealed for help abroad. 272 00:30:27.060 --> 00:30:33.020 France promised support but under impossible conditions. At the last moment England helped 273 00:30:33.020 --> 00:30:40.020 Austria with a loan of 150 million Austrian shillings to the Austrian National Bank, but 274 00:30:40.020 --> 00:30:45.860 the credit unstalled could not be saved. This newest crash led to a financial crisis and 275 00:30:45.860 --> 00:30:51.020 and a panic in all Central Europe. It was the beginning of the end. 276 00:30:51.020 --> 00:30:56.500 From then on there was hardly a quiet day in Vienna. Hitler had used the fear, the despair, 277 00:30:56.500 --> 00:31:02.660 the insecurity in Germany to follow his own devilish purposes, and he succeeded so well 278 00:31:02.660 --> 00:31:09.660 in his evil designs that in January 1933 he became Chancellor of Germany. 279 00:31:09.660 --> 00:31:14.220 The consequence was a growing anti-government movement in Austria. 280 00:31:14.220 --> 00:31:20.340 In March 1933, Engelbert Dolfuss, the Austrian Chancellor, whose government consisted of 281 00:31:20.340 --> 00:31:27.100 a coalition of Christian socialists and agrarians, prohibited parades and assemblies and restricted 282 00:31:27.100 --> 00:31:29.160 the freedom of the press. 283 00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:34.500 In spite of this, the Austrian Nazis, who now, unsuppressed, dared to come out in the 284 00:31:34.500 --> 00:31:38.220 open, staged a great riot in Vienna. 285 00:31:38.220 --> 00:31:43.300 The city looked like a fortress. The streets were full of soldiers. Shops and schools were 286 00:31:43.300 --> 00:31:48.900 closed. No one dared to go out. The entrance doors of all buildings had to be closed at 287 00:31:48.900 --> 00:31:55.620 eight o'clock p.m. After that hour, no citizen was allowed in the streets. There was Standreich 288 00:31:55.620 --> 00:32:00.140 in Vienna, which meant that the police had the power to shoot anyone who did not obey 289 00:32:00.140 --> 00:32:06.340 orders. Lew was very concerned about us. He called three and four times daily and asked 290 00:32:06.340 --> 00:32:12.340 He asked me not to go out, but he himself went out in spite of everything and came to see us. 291 00:32:12.340 --> 00:32:16.340 I never knew how he found the time for all the work he was doing. 292 00:32:16.340 --> 00:32:22.340 He was by then the full-time legal advisor and financial expert of the Chamber of Commerce. 293 00:32:22.340 --> 00:32:30.340 He had his lectures at the University of Vienna, he had his seminar, he had conferences and luncheons with visiting authorities, 294 00:32:30.340 --> 00:32:37.220 He had to travel, he did a tremendous amount of reading and writing, and he always had time for me. 295 00:32:37.220 --> 00:32:47.260 He was so interested in my work, he read every play I was doing, constantly urging me to do some writing of my own, proposing one idea after the other. 296 00:32:47.260 --> 00:32:58.580 In later years, when I attended his seminar at New York University, there was not a single meeting when he did not suggest to his students the title of a new paper or an idea for a thesis. 297 00:32:58.580 --> 00:33:04.580 I remember I once advised Bettina Bien, take the titles down, they will make a book one day. 298 00:33:04.580 --> 00:33:12.580 In Vienna he just poured out new ideas to me. He once told me to write a film of one of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales. 299 00:33:12.580 --> 00:33:20.580 Even today only one or two of these beautiful stories have been filmed, and they certainly would be a delight to children all over the world. 300 00:33:20.580 --> 00:33:27.580 Early in July 1934, Lew went to Gastein, as he did every year, to take the baths. 301 00:33:27.580 --> 00:33:40.580 Shortly after he left, a group of Nazis in Austrian uniforms seized the radio station in Vienna and forced the commentators to broadcast the resignation of Dolfus, which of course was a lie. 302 00:33:40.580 --> 00:33:46.580 Then they entered the Chancellery, shot Dolfus, and refused medical help to him until he died. 303 00:33:46.580 --> 00:33:53.580 Dolfus was immediately succeeded by Dr. Kurt von Schussnigg, who fervently tried to keep Austria independent. 304 00:33:53.580 --> 00:34:11.580 Lew followed the political situation in Germany and Austria with passionate interest. He saw the slippery road the Austrian leaders were forced to take. He knew Hitler's rise to power would endanger Austria, and he knew exactly what the future would bring. Only the date was unknown to him. 305 00:34:11.580 --> 00:34:31.580 Lew was a typical Austrian. He loved his native country, the mountains, the city of Vienna, the beauty of the old palaces, the crooked streets, the fountains, but this too was something so deeply embedded in his soul, he rarely would talk about it. But I knew how he felt and how deeply he was hurt. 306 00:34:31.580 --> 00:34:39.420 In August 1934, I met Lew in Friliten, Tirol. From there we took excursions into the mountains. 307 00:34:39.420 --> 00:34:46.500 One beautiful morning, it was August 23rd, 1934, we took the autobus into Hochmeis and 308 00:34:46.500 --> 00:34:54.060 then climbed via the Tuschertorl up to Edelweisskopf, a mountain about 8,000 feet high. On top we 309 00:34:54.060 --> 00:34:59.580 rested and enjoyed the beautiful view, the wide range of the Alps before our eyes and 310 00:34:59.580 --> 00:35:04.280 and the peace and quiet around us. The sun was shining brightly, but we did not feel 311 00:35:04.280 --> 00:35:10.140 any heat. The strong wind cooled us. I had trouble keeping my wide dirndl skirt from 312 00:35:10.140 --> 00:35:17.300 blowing over my face and had to use both hands to keep it down. Lew laughed about my efforts. 313 00:35:17.300 --> 00:35:22.700 Then suddenly he said, You asked me recently why I am working here so much, against my 314 00:35:22.700 --> 00:35:28.780 habit of not working while on vacation. I want to tell you the reason. And he told me 315 00:35:28.780 --> 00:35:43.780 It seemed to me that he would leave Vienna in the beginning of October, for he had received an invitation from Professor William Rappard to join the faculty of l'Institut des Autitudes, the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. 316 00:35:43.780 --> 00:35:56.780 Since this meant a great opportunity for him, he had accepted the appointment. When I heard him say that, it seemed as if the sun had suddenly gone down. My hands dropped. I could not speak. 317 00:35:56.780 --> 00:36:14.780 This was a blow that hit me harder than any chilling wind. I never thought he could leave like that. He took me in his arms, held me firmly and went on. I'll see you often. Give me time. Trust me. I love you. I love you so much. Stay as you are. I need you. 318 00:36:15.780 --> 00:36:25.780 It took a long time before I could pull myself together. I felt the tears rushing to my eyes. I did not want to cry. I knew how unhappy it made him to see me crying. 319 00:36:26.780 --> 00:36:32.860 For Lew this had been an unusually quick decision. He was usually so slow in deciding important 320 00:36:32.860 --> 00:36:40.060 matters that I once jokingly called him Fabius Concutter. In taking leave of absence from 321 00:36:40.060 --> 00:36:45.800 the Chamber of Commerce, the University and of me, he found the courage to tell me about 322 00:36:45.800 --> 00:36:51.860 it only after he had decided. But I believed and trusted him as I always did. He had never 323 00:36:51.860 --> 00:36:58.860 In Vienna we met every day until the day he left, October 3rd 1934. He wrote often from Geneva telling me about the new apartment he was going to build in Vienna. 324 00:37:21.860 --> 00:37:30.860 The years went by. He came very often, sometimes in the middle of the week for only a day or two. It was a blessing for me that I had so much work to do. 325 00:37:30.860 --> 00:37:37.860 Kurt Boas, the well-known Austrian actor, had acquired the rights for a play by Massingham, The Lake. 326 00:37:37.860 --> 00:37:41.360 It was a blessing for me that I had so much work to do. 327 00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:48.860 Kurt Boas, the well-known Austrian actor, had acquired the rights for a play by Massingham, The Lake. 328 00:37:48.860 --> 00:37:55.360 He planned to produce the play himself and play the lead, and he asked me to do an adaptation for him. 329 00:37:55.360 --> 00:37:57.860 He was very happy about my work. 330 00:37:57.860 --> 00:38:02.860 Martin was also satisfied about another play that I had adapted from the French. 331 00:38:02.860 --> 00:38:08.460 It was done from Sardou's play Dora, and I called it Diplomacy and Love. 332 00:38:08.460 --> 00:38:21.660 It was accepted by the Akademietheater in Vienna and came out in a very good production with excellent reviews and, most pleasing for me, of course, commendations for the translator. 333 00:38:21.660 --> 00:38:29.220 On April 18, 1937, Lew's mother died. Lew came for the funeral and left soon afterward. 334 00:38:29.220 --> 00:38:45.220 That summer we spent again in the Austrian mountains. Everywhere we felt a change. When we were climbing a mountain near the German border, the villagers, who usually greeted us with Gruß Gott, may God be with you, now raised their arms and said Heil Hitler. 335 00:38:45.220 --> 00:38:53.220 At the top of the mountain, Germans and Austrians would not dine in the same room of the restaurant. It was a frightening experience. 336 00:38:53.220 --> 00:39:00.220 Earlier that summer, Lew had given me a wonderful birthday present, one that made me happy for the rest of my life. 337 00:39:00.220 --> 00:39:10.220 He had arranged with an auto driver's school in Vienna for me to take a driving course, to get a driver's license, and he told me he had ordered a car. 338 00:39:10.220 --> 00:39:17.220 That Christmas he spent with me, and the first night he was in town he took me to a very good restaurant for dinner. 339 00:39:17.220 --> 00:39:24.020 Suddenly he reached over the table, took my hand, and said so softly I could hardly hear him. 340 00:39:24.020 --> 00:39:30.220 I cannot go on further. I cannot live without you, darling. Let's get married. 341 00:39:30.220 --> 00:39:39.220 At first I thought I was dreaming. I had waited so long for this moment. Now it had come. I could not believe it. 342 00:39:39.220 --> 00:39:46.220 I remembered that in the other corner of the restaurant sat a couple, longtime friends of mine, who knew about Lew and me. 343 00:39:46.220 --> 00:40:16.220 I felt like rushing over to them shouting what had happened, I felt like a child who longs for Christmas and finally sees the tree lighted, and then everything became very quiet within me, I felt very small, I could not say a word as usually happens to me when I am excited, I just sat and listened while he told me his plans, he set the wedding day in early April of the following year during the Easter recess of the Institute in Geneva so we could go on vacation together. 344 00:40:16.220 --> 00:40:32.220 In February 1938 he came again to Vienna to arrange the bands, an old Austrian custom that requires every couple intending to marry have their names and the date of their wedding publicly announced for six weeks at the doors of City Hall. 345 00:40:32.220 --> 00:40:36.220 But everything turned out differently than we had planned. 346 00:40:36.220 --> 00:40:47.220 Shortly after Lew left, the situation in Austria worsened. Bombs in telephone booths and Nazi demonstrations in the streets, combined with violence, were daily events. 347 00:40:47.220 --> 00:40:56.220 Schushnig made an appointment to see Hitler in Berchtesgaden, hoping to be able to arrange for better relations with Germany. 348 00:40:56.220 --> 00:41:19.220 It was in vain. Hitler would not even listen to Shushnig. He shouted constantly and accused Austria and Shushnig of high treason. He put up a grand act. In the end, Shushnig was forced to sign an agreement, the famous Berchtesgaden Accord, which a few weeks later became the basis for the end of Austria as an independent nation. 349 00:41:19.220 --> 00:41:25.180 To give every Austrian citizen the opportunity to decide for himself whether he wanted to 350 00:41:25.180 --> 00:41:32.060 belong to Germany or keep his independence, Sushnik announced on March 9th a general plebiscite 351 00:41:32.060 --> 00:41:34.160 for March 13th. 352 00:41:34.160 --> 00:41:40.300 Hitler was afraid of the result and in order to prevent it, he sent German troops into Austria. 353 00:41:40.300 --> 00:41:44.220 When the Germans marched into Vienna, I sent Lew a cryptic telegram. 354 00:41:44.220 --> 00:41:47.220 Everything quiet here, no need to come. 355 00:41:47.220 --> 00:41:52.220 I was afraid that Lew might not realize how dangerous the situation had become for him. 356 00:41:52.220 --> 00:41:58.220 On the night the Nazis came to Vienna, they had rushed into the apartment where he had lived with his mother, 357 00:41:58.220 --> 00:42:04.220 had taken his valuable library, his writings, his documents, and everything they found of importance, 358 00:42:04.220 --> 00:42:09.220 packed it all into 38 cases, and drove away. 359 00:42:09.220 --> 00:42:13.220 Worse still, Lew was also on the Russian blacklist. 360 00:42:13.220 --> 00:42:23.220 Lew's writings were hated by socialists of every type, Nazis, communists, fascists, and, as I later found out, American socialists as well. 361 00:42:23.220 --> 00:42:33.220 It would have been impossible for him to return to Vienna. He sent me a carefully worded telegram asking Gitta and me to come to Geneva as quickly as possible. 362 00:42:33.220 --> 00:42:42.220 Cautiously I started my preparations. I told no one that I intended to leave, for I knew how dangerous even friends could become. 363 00:42:42.220 --> 00:42:57.220 I packed as many of our belongings as possible. Before we left, I had to see the judge who took care of my children at the Court of Guardianship. I asked him to release as many of our funds as possible, which he did. 364 00:42:57.220 --> 00:43:06.220 How I envy you that you can get away from here, he said, shaking my hand warmly as I departed. I never got back what was left of the money. 365 00:43:06.220 --> 00:43:30.220 I never had a feeling of danger for Gitta and myself. Our Hungarian passport was still considered a good protection, but I realized that if anyone might have occasion to read the marriage ban for Lew and me, which according to the Austrian laws was publicly advertised, they might take more interest in Gitta and me than would be good for us, and we might have difficulties getting away. 366 00:43:30.220 --> 00:43:52.220 It may sound like irony of fate that just then, shortly before the tragic events of the month of March 1938, the last play I had adapted from the French for the German stage was accepted by the Deutsch Volkstheater in Vienna. The play was Liberté by Denis Amiel. It was never produced. 367 00:43:52.220 --> 00:44:03.220 I won't ever forget those last days in Vienna. The first day the Nazis marched into Vienna, they began tormenting and torturing their political enemies, as well as the Jews. 368 00:44:03.220 --> 00:44:16.220 One day I walked along the Graben, one of the most elegant streets in Vienna. I saw how young people had climbed to the top of the Pestiole, a monument, to watch the Jews washing the streets. 369 00:44:16.220 --> 00:44:26.220 Whenever a German soldier or officer passed, the poor people had to step down into the gutter, accompanied by howling, roaring laughter of the crowd. 370 00:44:26.220 --> 00:44:38.220 Each day the situation in Vienna worsened. The Austrian Nazis, who before Hitler's appearance had not dared to show their sympathies openly, now proudly displayed their party badges. 371 00:44:38.220 --> 00:44:48.220 In St. Stephen's Cathedral, a huge picture of Hitler was hung, and the Catholic Church, led by Cardinal Inniter, swore allegiance to the Nazis. 372 00:44:48.220 --> 00:44:55.220 The Nazis, fearing the decision of the Austrian population, prevented the plebiscites scheduled for March 13th, 373 00:44:55.220 --> 00:45:01.220 assembled German troops at the frontier, and Schuschnigg, unable to resist, had to resign. 374 00:45:01.220 --> 00:45:08.780 to Resign. Seis Inkwart, a former Viennese lawyer, took over the government. He was ordered 375 00:45:08.780 --> 00:45:14.080 by the Nazis to send a telegram to Berlin demanding the entrance of additional German 376 00:45:14.080 --> 00:45:21.520 troops to prevent further riots. On March 14th, Hitler marched into Vienna, the city 377 00:45:21.520 --> 00:45:27.980 where he had lived as a pauper in a flop house, painting and selling postcards. That night 378 00:45:27.980 --> 00:45:47.980 That same night he made his first speech over the radio. His voice still rings in my ears. I shall never forget it. It was rough, throaty and vulgar, but it had an almost unbearable strength combined with a hypnotic power of persuasion. As much as his voice frightened me, I listened to the very end. 379 00:45:47.980 --> 00:45:59.300 That same night, Chancellor Schushnig spoke for the last time to the Austrian people with a simple and touching broadcast, his voice trembling with unwept tears. 380 00:45:59.300 --> 00:46:07.900 Tonight, he said, I take leave of the Austrian people with only a few words of farewell coming from the depth of my heart. 381 00:46:07.900 --> 00:46:11.700 May God help and protect Austria. 382 00:46:11.700 --> 00:46:22.700 The last visit I made in Vienna was to a friend of Lew's in mind, Dr. Weiss von Wallenstein, Secretary General of the Central Association of Austrian Industry. 383 00:46:22.700 --> 00:46:29.700 I had known him and his beautiful elegant wife, who had died a few years before, since my first days in Vienna. 384 00:46:29.700 --> 00:46:39.700 In spite of his great loss, Dr. von Wallenstein kept the household running as smoothly as before, for their three maids had been with them for years. 385 00:46:39.700 --> 00:46:45.940 Though Lew and I had never met at their house, they had a very large social circle. Dr. von 386 00:46:45.940 --> 00:46:52.880 Wallenstein knew about Lew and me, and I felt it my duty to bid farewell to him before parting. 387 00:46:52.880 --> 00:46:58.060 He was very lonely at that time. People abstained from visiting each other, for they had to 388 00:46:58.060 --> 00:47:03.420 avoid going into the streets. He was happy to see me and happy to hear about our forthcoming 389 00:47:03.420 --> 00:47:04.420 marriage. 390 00:47:04.420 --> 00:47:10.420 You are going to marry the greatest mind Austria has produced in this last century, he told me. 391 00:47:10.420 --> 00:47:14.420 But I don't believe you are fully aware of the difficulties that lie ahead of you. 392 00:47:14.420 --> 00:47:22.420 Ludwig von Mises is not easy to handle. He is obstinate, will never change his mind once he is convinced he is right. 393 00:47:22.420 --> 00:47:27.420 And he will rather have an enemy than make concessions or deviate from his convictions. 394 00:47:27.420 --> 00:47:31.420 Your life won't be easy. I do wish you luck. 395 00:47:31.420 --> 00:47:36.420 Little did he know how much I already knew, and more. 396 00:47:36.420 --> 00:47:44.420 A few days after Schuschnig's farewell, Himmler's SS troops and the Gestapo arrived, and a real holocaust started. 397 00:47:44.420 --> 00:47:55.420 Communists, social democrats and liberals were arrested by the police and Gestapo agents, taken into prisons and police stations, tortured and often beaten to death. 398 00:47:55.420 --> 00:48:10.420 Shushnig himself was put into prison and later sent to a concentration camp, where he was lucky enough to meet his future wife. He never went to trial. Years later, when he came to New York, he came to see us several times. 399 00:48:10.420 --> 00:48:19.300 He taught for 20 years at an American college, St. Louis University, retired in 1968, settled 400 00:48:19.300 --> 00:48:25.740 down in Innsbruck, Austria, and died in a small village, Mütters, near Innsbruck, on 401 00:48:25.740 --> 00:48:29.460 November 18, 1977. 402 00:48:29.460 --> 00:48:34.780 During all this turmoil, I had been in constant communication with Lew, who urged me to leave 403 00:48:34.780 --> 00:48:36.780 as quickly as possible. 404 00:48:36.780 --> 00:48:40.060 This was not as simple as we would have liked it to be. 405 00:48:40.060 --> 00:48:44.900 Everyone who wanted to cross the border needed permission from the government. Austria was 406 00:48:44.900 --> 00:48:49.700 always a bureaucratic country, but now the difficulties placed in the way of a would-be 407 00:48:49.700 --> 00:48:57.200 traveler were unimaginable. Luckily, I managed to get all the necessary documents. When, 408 00:48:57.200 --> 00:49:03.340 on March 26th, Gitta and I came to the Vienna of Bethvenhof and took our seats in the express 409 00:49:03.340 --> 00:49:09.960 train for Zurich, I felt relieved as never before. Guido, my son, had been in an English 410 00:49:09.960 --> 00:49:23.960 He went to a Polish boarding school for a year, always somewhat adventurous. He later went to Caracas, Venezuela, married and settled there. He would have been perfectly happy if it had not been for the separation from me. 411 00:49:23.960 --> 00:49:29.960 But now I did not want to think of anything, though evidently the excitement was not over. 412 00:49:29.960 --> 00:49:40.960 Police officers, Gestapo agents, SS men, one after the other, came into the compartments of our railway coach to inspect our passports and examine our documents. 413 00:49:40.960 --> 00:49:52.960 When finally the wheels began to move, when the train left the station and gathered speed, I took a deep breath. We had made it. We were free.