WEBVTT NOTE 3. Life in Geneva 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.880 Chapter 3 Life in Geneva 2 00:00:02.880 --> 00:00:08.480 Lew was at the station in Zurich to meet us. In the 13 years we shared before our marriage, 3 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:14.320 I had never seen Lew cry, nor did I ever see him cry in all the 35 years of our married 4 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:22.040 life. He wept, unrestrained and unabashed. Tears were streaming down his face and he 5 00:00:22.040 --> 00:00:27.760 was not ashamed of them. He took me in his arms, he kissed Gitta, he embraced me again 6 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:32.560 Again and again, as if he would never let me go. The happenings of the recent weeks, 7 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:38.000 the horrible fate of Austria, the anxiety he had gone through, all this must have been 8 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:43.500 an unbearable strain on him, worsened by the distance between us and the feeling of helplessness 9 00:00:43.500 --> 00:00:49.400 at not being able to act. In Geneva, Lew had taken rooms for Gitta and me in a comfortable 10 00:00:49.400 --> 00:00:55.040 boarding house. It could have been less comfortable, and we would have enjoyed it. The terror of 11 00:00:55.040 --> 00:01:25.040 The past few weeks still lingered in my mind. Though nothing really had happened to me, I had been constantly conscious of the danger around us. Our freedom was at stake. I could not do what I wanted to do. There were spies everywhere, spies who watched you, misinterpreted the simplest of your actions, and reported you. Household employees who had grown old with families they lived with, suddenly became enemies. Children were taught to observe their parents and report on them. 12 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:30.160 The Germans had organized everything so thoroughly beforehand that it only took a few days for 13 00:01:30.160 --> 00:01:33.480 freedom to turn into tyranny. 14 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:36.400 But now we were free again and I felt easier. 15 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:41.560 Lew showed us the apartment he lived in and which, he thought, I could share. 16 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:46.320 The furniture was first class and beautifully kept, but the whole apartment looked to me 17 00:01:46.320 --> 00:01:48.920 like a display in a department store. 18 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:51.360 It was cold and impersonal. 19 00:01:51.360 --> 00:01:56.200 For the first time I saw our refrigerator. We did not have them yet in Vienna, and it 20 00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:02.120 was a real marvel to me. I loved Lew's sparkling kitchen, but otherwise I had my doubts. The 21 00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:06.560 apartment was small, just large enough for a bachelor. I would not have known where to 22 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:12.240 put my belongings. We soon arranged to send Gitta to a French boarding school in Lucerne 23 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:16.520 to learn the language thoroughly. She had studied French for eight years, and in the 24 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:30.520 In the past few years, I had retained a charming French lady to practice conversation with Gitta and me at home, but I wanted her to know the language as well as she knew English. Both Lew and I appreciated the power of languages. 25 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:36.520 I did not tell him my feeling about the apartment. There was too much on his mind right then. 26 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:49.520 He wanted to procure all the documents for our marriage certificate, and, if I remember well, he needed 19 documents, 5 lawyers, and 3 months and 10 days of preparation before we could marry. 27 00:02:49.520 --> 00:03:00.520 But these 3 months were a happy time for the three of us. Lew showed us Geneva and its lovely surroundings. Geneva may well be called one of the most beautiful cities of the world. 28 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:09.520 Here he overlooks Lake Geneva and the Rhone River and you can see the Cathedral of St. Pierre, built in the 12th century, from wherever you are. 29 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:16.520 It was in the cathedral that Calvin delivered his thunderous sermons more than 400 years ago. 30 00:03:16.520 --> 00:03:24.520 All around the lake are gardens and parks in which to promenade or to enjoy an afternoon snack at one of the coffee houses or pastry shops. 31 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:27.520 Geneva is also one of the cleanest cities I know. 32 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:35.520 I was amazed to see building superintendents hose the streets every morning until they were as clean and sparkling as linen sheets. 33 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:40.520 The frankness and honesty of the Swiss population was a steady source of wonder to me. 34 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:46.520 You could leave a baby for hours unattended in a perambulator in the street. Nothing would happen. 35 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:51.520 In Austria they would empty the baby carriage but leave the child undisturbed. 36 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:57.520 In America, according to my later experiences, they would most probably kidnap the baby. 37 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:09.520 Every Sunday, as all the Genovois did, we went by car, Lou owned a Ford, over the border into France, almost as easy a procedure as driving from New York City to Connecticut. 38 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:16.520 Although you had to stop at the border where a customs officer would look at your passport and your car and note down the license number, 39 00:04:16.520 --> 00:04:29.000 In Switzerland, the Guide Michelin played the same important part as it did in France. 40 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:34.380 Even among the many learned men I met in my two-year stay in Geneva, Michelin's recommendations 41 00:04:34.380 --> 00:04:38.520 were of great importance for the regular Sunday excursions. 42 00:04:38.520 --> 00:04:43.120 They were as indispensable to them as the thesauruses to the linguists. 43 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:48.760 It was sometimes amusing, and almost a relief for me, when these prominent scholars interrupted 44 00:04:48.760 --> 00:04:55.640 or ended their serious discussions with plans and suggestions for next Sunday's dinner excursion. 45 00:04:55.640 --> 00:05:01.120 But it was less amusing when Lew one day prepared me for our future social contacts and told 46 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:08.400 me, here in Geneva, when men talk, women have to be silent, they only listen. I would not 47 00:05:08.400 --> 00:05:19.400 It seemed most odd to me in a modern cultivated society, but it was like this with the professors of the institute, and I do hope it has changed by now. 48 00:05:19.400 --> 00:05:27.400 Lew gave me another piece of advice. Never ask an economist about his wife. He may already be divorced. 49 00:05:27.400 --> 00:05:35.400 One afternoon, Lew and I went to buy our wedding rings. He took as much time and care in choosing a small, thin, golden wedding ring 50 00:05:35.400 --> 00:06:05.400 In late June, shortly before our wedding day, while we were having tea at one of the restaurants on the lake, we met Prof. Hans Kelsen. Lew had spoken often of Kelsen and considered him a good friend. They were born in the same year, they went to primary school together, they had been classmates at the Vienna Academic Gymnasium, they had studied for some time at the same university in Vienna, and now they both taught at the same university. 51 00:06:05.400 --> 00:06:35.400 Hans Kelsen was a professor of international law and was world famous. In 1920 he had written the New Austrian Constitution, and from 1920 to 1930 he was the senior judge of the Austrian Constitutional Court. He was small and slim but well proportioned. His eyes, under sharp glasses, always had a humorous twinkle. He was kind and easy to talk to. Lew introduced me, told him about our marriage plans, 52 00:06:35.400 --> 00:06:38.100 and asked him to be one of our witnesses. 53 00:06:38.100 --> 00:06:41.600 Never have I seen anyone more surprised than Kelsen. 54 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:43.400 He was speechless. 55 00:06:43.400 --> 00:06:45.200 I can't believe it, he said. 56 00:06:45.200 --> 00:06:48.500 No one ever would have expected Mises to marry. 57 00:06:48.500 --> 00:06:50.500 He always spoke of Lewis Mises, 58 00:06:50.500 --> 00:06:53.500 apparently a reminiscence from their school years. 59 00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:56.700 Everyone expected him to be a bachelor for life. 60 00:06:56.700 --> 00:07:00.800 But Kelsen was a pleasant man, and I felt I had won a new friend. 61 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:04.200 Finally, Lew had the rings and the necessary documents. 62 00:07:04.200 --> 00:07:22.200 The marriage was fixed for July 6th at 11 am. The day before I told him that it was customary for the groom to give the bride a small bouquet of flowers. I knew he would not have known. The next day I received a beautiful bouquet of blue and pink sweet peas, my favorite flowers. 63 00:07:22.200 --> 00:07:33.200 Our second witness was Professor Gottfried von Haberler, also from Vienna, a former student of Luz, and at that time working as a financial expert at the League of Nations. 64 00:07:33.200 --> 00:07:46.200 Prof. Habeler had gotten his first job with Lew's help, as had many others. At a time when jobs were almost impossible to get, Lew had secured a job for Habeler with the Chamber of Commerce in Vienna. 65 00:07:46.200 --> 00:07:56.200 It was five minutes to eleven when we entered the registry office to be married. Lew, clad in a formal dark suit, was very quiet, his face almost emotionless. 66 00:07:56.200 --> 00:08:26.200 I wore a royal blue outfit made in Vienna for this occasion. My heart was beating so hard I thought everyone could hear it. The registry office was somber and dull as all public offices are. I was astonished that it did not smell of Lysol. My flowers brought the only touch of Gaiety and color to the disappointingly depressing ceremony. At 11.05 a.m. everyone had signed the certificate. I was Mrs. Ludwig von Mises. 67 00:08:26.200 --> 00:08:42.900 And then everyone congratulated us and kissed my hand. 68 00:08:42.900 --> 00:08:47.220 Lew had invited some friends for luncheon at the Hotel des Berges. 69 00:08:47.220 --> 00:08:51.120 Everything was carefully arranged and the little party was a great success. 70 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:55.540 For the first time I met more of the colleagues with whom he was in close contact. 71 00:08:55.540 --> 00:09:01.900 The Professors Gottfried von Haberler, Hans Kelsen, William Rappard, Wilhelm Röpke and 72 00:09:01.900 --> 00:09:03.700 their wives. 73 00:09:03.700 --> 00:09:07.660 Of all the people I met in Geneva, Professor Rappard was my favorite. 74 00:09:07.660 --> 00:09:10.580 He, like Churchill, had an American mother. 75 00:09:10.580 --> 00:09:12.040 His father was Swiss. 76 00:09:12.040 --> 00:09:16.060 He spoke four languages fluently, without the least bit of accent. 77 00:09:16.060 --> 00:09:21.380 He was the founder of the Institut des Autitudes, and a great thinker and writer, but also devoted 78 00:09:21.380 --> 00:09:22.900 family man. 79 00:09:22.900 --> 00:09:28.780 Everything about him was elegant, his movements, his appearance, his way of walking, his speeches, 80 00:09:28.780 --> 00:09:30.340 his way of living. 81 00:09:30.340 --> 00:09:33.260 It was an inborn elegance, a gift of nature. 82 00:09:33.260 --> 00:09:35.140 You have it or you don't. 83 00:09:35.140 --> 00:09:37.100 One cannot acquire it. 84 00:09:37.100 --> 00:09:41.900 He had a great admiration for Lew and showed it with frequent invitations for us to visit 85 00:09:41.900 --> 00:09:45.300 his lovely home far from the center of town. 86 00:09:45.300 --> 00:09:50.780 Madame Rothbard was the motherly type, a wonderful, warm personality, mostly interested in the 87 00:09:50.780 --> 00:09:53.380 and the well-being of her family. 88 00:09:53.380 --> 00:09:55.500 After our marriage, I moved in with Lou. 89 00:09:55.500 --> 00:10:01.600 Gitta, as already mentioned, had been enrolled some weeks before at La Marjolaine, un pension 90 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:04.380 de jeunes filles in Lucerne. 91 00:10:04.380 --> 00:10:08.700 Without a word, Lou took care of all financial matters concerning the children. 92 00:10:08.700 --> 00:10:12.740 Gitta liked her school in Lucerne, but she preferred to stay with us, and she came as 93 00:10:12.740 --> 00:10:14.820 often as possible. 94 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:21.980 When the time Lew first came to Geneva in 1934 he had a housekeeper, Tiny, whom he had inherited 95 00:10:21.980 --> 00:10:27.540 from the Kelson family. Lew had often told me about her before I left Vienna, what an 96 00:10:27.540 --> 00:10:32.940 excellent worker she was, and how she terrorized him. She came in the morning and left around 97 00:10:32.940 --> 00:10:38.480 five in the evening. She had a lover on whom she was completely dependent. The lover stayed 98 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:43.940 in the background, no one ever saw him or knew his name or occupation, but he was a 99 00:10:43.940 --> 00:11:13.940 There was a force with whom I had to contend. If he needed money, usually toward the end of the month, Tiny had a special method of attaining her end. She banged the doors from the moment she came in and never stopped using the vacuum cleaner, a terror to Lou when he was writing. Then he knew she would come and demand more money. Being alone and in need of her services, he always gave in. When we married, no one thought I would be able to get along with her, in spite of all her good qualities. 100 00:11:13.940 --> 00:11:43.940 I appreciated her. She was the neatest person I ever had working for me, and she was a perfect cook. I did not want to lose her, when, after a short time, I found she had been charging us quite a bit extra for household shopping purchases, I very kindly advised her that in the future I would help her with the shopping. After all, she had so much extra work now because of me. I would also try to get her off earlier in the afternoon, I told her, so she could have more of a home life herself. 101 00:11:43.940 --> 00:11:52.940 She was so frail and thin, so unattractive, that I could hardly imagine the relationship between her and a lover. It must have been a one-sided affair. 102 00:11:52.940 --> 00:12:04.940 When we were in New York during the war, I tried to reach her. I wanted to help, send her things she might need, but she had disappeared. No one, not even the police, could find a trace of her. 103 00:12:04.940 --> 00:12:09.780 Something terrible must have happened, and I still think of her with great pity. 104 00:12:09.780 --> 00:12:12.900 She stayed with us until our last day in Geneva. 105 00:12:12.900 --> 00:12:16.700 She even brought us to the bus that took us to France. 106 00:12:16.700 --> 00:12:21.260 The evening after our marriage, when Lew and I took our first dinner at home, Tiny, of 107 00:12:21.260 --> 00:12:22.900 course, was not in. 108 00:12:22.900 --> 00:12:26.240 From the day of our marriage, Lew was a changed person. 109 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:31.080 Not that he spoiled me with gifts or presents, he would not have known how to do that. 110 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:35.880 But he was relaxed, affectionate, and his eyes were sparkling with happiness. 111 00:12:35.880 --> 00:12:38.640 Every little thing I did was of interest to him. 112 00:12:38.640 --> 00:12:40.880 The world had changed for him. 113 00:12:40.880 --> 00:12:44.520 He once told me, You are like a kitten, so soft and tender. 114 00:12:44.520 --> 00:12:47.480 I only hope you won't show the claws later on. 115 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:49.280 How often he had teased me. 116 00:12:49.280 --> 00:12:51.760 I hope you are not like so many women. 117 00:12:51.760 --> 00:12:55.740 Once they get that certain little piece of paper, they give up. 118 00:12:55.740 --> 00:13:00.080 During our first month together, when we were invited out, he even chose the dress he wanted 119 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:06.080 But slowly he convinced himself that I could do no wrong, and he left the choice to me. 120 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:11.080 But there was one thing about him that I never understood and still don't understand. 121 00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:15.080 From the day of our marriage he refused to talk about our past. 122 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:19.080 If I reminded him now and then of something, he cut me short. 123 00:13:19.080 --> 00:13:24.080 It was as if he had put the past in a trunk, stored it in the attic, and thrown away the key. 124 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:33.080 In 35 years of marriage he never, never, not with a single word, referred to our life together during the 13 years before our marriage. 125 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:39.080 As the past was part of my life, part of the person I became, I could not forget. 126 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:47.080 His silence about the past remains in my mind like a crossword puzzle that one cannot solve because one needed letter is missing. 127 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:51.080 Lew was overpowering in his love and affection for me. 128 00:13:51.080 --> 00:13:57.320 never was he cross or dissatisfied with anything I did he could not nag there was 129 00:13:57.320 --> 00:14:01.960 not one day to the very end of his life that he did not tell me I love you 130 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:07.840 darling oh how I love you it seemed to me after our marriage that for the first 131 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:12.440 time in his life he really felt fulfilled and happy I often asked myself 132 00:14:12.440 --> 00:14:18.420 why does he love me so much the answer I felt was the contrast between us that 133 00:14:18.420 --> 00:14:48.420 I sometimes joked and said, I am the human touch in your life. And then he would say, you are more than that. And there are more reasons that I love you so much. One of the reasons is that you have an even temper. You are always in a good mood. It certainly is enough if one in the family is gloomy and loses his temper. And that was true. His temper was as astonishing as it was frightening. Occasionally he showed that his temper was not good enough. 134 00:14:48.420 --> 00:15:18.420 I do not really know what else to call them. I had already experienced them in Vienna on various occasions. Suddenly his temper would flare up, mostly about a small, unimportant happening. He would lose control of himself, start to shout and say things, which coming from him were so unexpected, so unbelievable, that when it happened the first few times I was frightened to death. Whatever I said would enrage him even more. It was impossible to reach him. 135 00:15:18.420 --> 00:15:22.420 I took no reason with him, so I kept silent or went out of the room. 136 00:15:22.420 --> 00:15:26.420 Sometimes I could not help myself and cried when I was alone. 137 00:15:26.420 --> 00:15:30.460 But it never took long, and he followed me to my room or wherever I was. 138 00:15:30.460 --> 00:15:37.420 He could not bear to see me crying. He took me in his arms, he kissed me again and again, and started to apologize. 139 00:15:37.420 --> 00:15:42.420 I stopped him. I could not be angry with him. I pitied him too much. 140 00:15:42.420 --> 00:15:47.420 I gradually realized that these outbursts had nothing to do with me. 141 00:15:47.420 --> 00:15:53.780 I belonged to him, I loved him, and in my presence he could find relief from his suffering, 142 00:15:53.780 --> 00:15:58.260 and I learned to understand that these terrible attacks were really a sign of depression, 143 00:15:58.260 --> 00:16:04.180 a hidden dissatisfaction, and the sign of a great, great need for love. These occurrences 144 00:16:04.180 --> 00:16:10.380 became less frequent after we were married, and after a few years they disappeared completely. 145 00:16:10.380 --> 00:16:15.580 In retrospect, I judge these attacks differently, and I believe I understand the reason for 146 00:16:15.580 --> 00:16:29.580 Lew wrote some notes in 1940, and I read them again and again. He wrote of Austria and of Carl Menger, who as early as 1910 recognized that not only Austria, but the whole world was getting nearer to a catastrophe. 147 00:16:29.580 --> 00:16:41.580 Lew, thinking alike, tried to fight this with all the means he had at his disposal, but he recognized the fight would be hopeless and he got depressed, as were all the best minds in Europe in the 20s and the 30s. 148 00:16:41.580 --> 00:16:52.580 Heen knew that if the world would turn its back to capitalism and liberalism, in the old sense of the word, it would tumble into wars and destruction that would mean the end of civilization. 149 00:16:52.580 --> 00:17:10.580 This terrible fight against corruption, against the foes of liberty and free market, had broken the spirit of Menger, had thrown a dark shadow over the life of Lew's teacher and friend, Max Weber, and had destroyed the vitality and the will to live of his friend and collaborator, Wilhelm Rosenberg. 150 00:17:10.580 --> 00:17:14.580 Theirs was a fight for a world that did not want to be helped. 151 00:17:14.580 --> 00:17:19.580 Few people recognized the danger, and even fewer were ready to fight alongside Lew. 152 00:17:19.580 --> 00:17:24.580 It was like being on a sinking ship on which people were dancing, though the end was near. 153 00:17:24.580 --> 00:17:29.580 Lew recognized the danger. He knew how to help his fellow passengers. 154 00:17:29.580 --> 00:17:35.580 He tried to lead them to the right exit, but they did not follow him, and now doom knocked at the door. 155 00:17:35.580 --> 00:18:05.580 When Lew and I came to the United States, he saw the greatness of the country, and he believed in the future of America. He hoped he would be able to resist socialists, communists, and inflationists alike. Inflation was the great peril he had always warned of. He got new hope. The attacks I mentioned above disappeared. The veil of depression left his soul, and with new hope and energy he took up his work in this country. How he would judge the situation today, I don't dare say. 156 00:18:05.580 --> 00:18:19.580 As astonishing as it may sound, Lew adapted more quickly to marriage than I did. For me, life had changed completely. I was living in another country in an environment completely different from my circle of friends in Vienna. 157 00:18:19.580 --> 00:18:29.580 I had to live in an apartment large enough for a bachelor but far too small for a couple. Lew actually never realized it. He had his studio, his books and his desk. 158 00:18:29.580 --> 00:18:35.580 from the beginning, his room was a sanctuary that could not and must not be changed. 159 00:18:35.580 --> 00:18:43.580 What made it so difficult for me was the awareness that I had to change my pattern of life completely if I wanted to make him happy. 160 00:18:43.580 --> 00:18:49.580 And that was what I wanted. He knew this could only be done if I could make his life my work. 161 00:18:49.580 --> 00:18:53.580 His work should be more important to me than anything I could do. 162 00:18:53.580 --> 00:19:13.580 I grew very close to Mrs. Rebke. Whenever she could help me with advice, she did so. We met the Rebkes socially, very often. Lew thought highly of Professor Rebke. He had shown the courage to resist the Nazis openly, though he knew very well that he could never return to Germany until the war was over. 163 00:19:13.580 --> 00:19:33.580 The Rebkes had twin daughters, very pretty young girls, who were always moving around on their bicycles, even going to the border into France to shop for their mother. Never before had I seen so many bicycles. At lunchtime, when the people went home from office in the morning, the Rebkes were very happy to see them. 164 00:19:33.580 --> 00:19:38.500 Bicycles, even going to the border into France to shop for their mother. Never before had 165 00:19:38.500 --> 00:19:44.860 I seen so many bicycles. At lunchtime, when the people went home from offices, shops and 166 00:19:44.860 --> 00:19:50.080 schools, hordes of bicycle riders were moving over the bridges and around the lake. Lovers 167 00:19:50.080 --> 00:19:54.460 would often ride together, the boy holding his arm around the shoulder of the girl, a 168 00:19:54.460 --> 00:19:59.940 terror to the motorists. Driving was more dangerous in Geneva than it is at rush hour 169 00:19:59.940 --> 00:20:06.020 in New York. Besides the professors Rappard, Kelsen and Ruppke, there were many famous 170 00:20:06.020 --> 00:20:11.900 scholars teaching at the Institute. Professor Paul Manteau, co-director of the Institute, 171 00:20:11.900 --> 00:20:18.700 whose son Etienne was Lew's special favorite. Then there were professors Louis Baudin, Guglielmo 172 00:20:18.700 --> 00:20:25.120 Ferraro and Pitman Potter. Most of these scholars seemed to me a newcomer and complete stranger, 173 00:20:25.120 --> 00:20:30.340 Like the gods in Greek mythology, distant, remote, and impenetrable. 174 00:20:30.340 --> 00:20:33.560 In retrospect, I am sure that I was completely wrong. 175 00:20:33.560 --> 00:20:37.880 I simply looked upon them with the same awe that students who did not know Lew looked 176 00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:39.200 upon him. 177 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:44.640 I was wrong because, like all human beings, these men had gone through suffering. 178 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:47.960 All of them had their share of personal disappointments. 179 00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:53.720 Professor Ferraro, the famous historian and author, was very tall, with a tiny goatee, 180 00:20:53.720 --> 00:20:58.880 Always impeccably dressed in a dark gray or black suit. He had not only lost his country 181 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:04.880 when Mussolini had come to power, he had lost his only son. Neither he nor his wife would 182 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:10.780 ever smile again. Then there was Professor Maurice Bourquin, who was head of the International 183 00:21:10.780 --> 00:21:16.880 Department of Law at the University of Geneva and who taught diplomatic history at the Institute. 184 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:21.520 His marital difficulties were known to everyone at the Institute, but they were discreetly 185 00:21:21.520 --> 00:21:26.520 were fully concealed until he and his beautiful elegant wife were finally reconciled. 186 00:21:26.520 --> 00:21:31.520 Often well-known politicians and scholars were invited for lectures at the Institute. 187 00:21:31.520 --> 00:21:36.520 Among them was Professor Lionel Robbins, and he made a special impression on me. 188 00:21:36.520 --> 00:21:41.520 Not only his interesting face, crowned by a beautiful head of hair shining like silver, 189 00:21:41.520 --> 00:21:49.520 and his vigorous and spirited speeches, but also his reverence for Lew and his ideas affected me deeply. 190 00:21:49.520 --> 00:22:02.520 In 1934 he had written a brilliant foreword for my husband's Theory of Money and Credit, which was published in Germany in 1912, and was republished in 1981 by the Liberty Fund in Indianapolis. 191 00:22:02.520 --> 00:22:11.520 Whenever we came to London and met Lionel Robbins, later Lord Robbins, he always proved himself to be a specially charming host. 192 00:22:11.520 --> 00:22:16.520 Two weeks after Lew and I were married, we invited the students in Lew's summer course for tea. 193 00:22:16.520 --> 00:22:22.520 There were many Americans among them. I remember one of them was the niece of Christopher Morley. 194 00:22:22.520 --> 00:22:28.520 It was a gay afternoon, and the windows were open to let the warm summer breeze flow through the rooms. 195 00:22:28.520 --> 00:22:32.520 When the lights were turned on, all the young people were still with us. 196 00:22:32.520 --> 00:22:35.520 Some neighbors called up to complain about the noise. 197 00:22:35.520 --> 00:22:41.520 In the four years he had lived in his apartment, that had never before happened to Professor von Mises. 198 00:22:41.520 --> 00:22:48.520 I was amused about it, but I knew I had to be more careful in the future, for Lew was not amused at all. 199 00:22:48.520 --> 00:22:53.520 In spite of the gay parties, the atmosphere in Geneva was becoming more gloomy. 200 00:22:53.520 --> 00:22:57.520 Every night we listened to the radio and followed the political events in Germany. 201 00:22:57.520 --> 00:23:03.520 Austria had been swallowed up, and Hitler made no secret of his intentions toward Czechoslovakia. 202 00:23:03.520 --> 00:23:08.520 I got letters from people all over the world asking me to send tea, coffee, or chocolate 203 00:23:08.520 --> 00:23:22.520 to their relatives and friends in Germany and Austria. Sometimes we even sent hard-boiled eggs. We helped whenever we could. Our living room looked like a miniature Red Cross office. I was always writing, packing, shipping. 204 00:23:22.520 --> 00:23:34.520 In August we went on vacation, first to Plombier in France, a beautiful summer resort where Gitta stayed with us, then via Nancy to Paris, where Lew had to attend a meeting. 205 00:23:34.520 --> 00:24:04.520 Lew drove all the way, and as much as I love him and admire his genius, I must confess I never felt safe with him in a car. He was not a good driver. He was so tense at the wheel that a conversation was impossible. His lips were firmly pressed together as if he were about to challenge the most dangerous obstacle. Heavy traffic made him nervous, but he would never confess his difficulties or let me drive, though he knew I had a license. Believe it or not, he loved to drive. 206 00:24:04.520 --> 00:24:08.800 And I did not want to take this pleasure away from him, though sometimes we were in real 207 00:24:08.800 --> 00:24:14.640 danger. I remember once when we went up a narrow curving road to the top of a mountain. 208 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:20.720 The car suddenly was half hanging over a precipice, only the back part still on the ground. Trembling 209 00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:27.180 we got out of the car. Other people had to help us back up. We drove on. Lew never said 210 00:24:27.180 --> 00:24:31.720 a word about the danger we had been in. Neither did I. 211 00:24:31.720 --> 00:24:36.000 On the trip through France everything went well. When we came to Paris, Lou parked the 212 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:41.360 car on the outskirts of town to avoid the traffic. Here for the first time I met Dr. 213 00:24:41.360 --> 00:24:46.980 Lucy Friedman, a former professor of French in Vienna, who later became a very close friend 214 00:24:46.980 --> 00:24:53.360 of mine and who, three years later, married Professor Louis Rougier, an outstanding scholar 215 00:24:53.360 --> 00:25:00.080 in personality, one of Lou's closest friends. Lucy is one of the most feminine women I know. 216 00:25:00.080 --> 00:25:05.500 With clear blue eyes, her face bears the expression of a naughty Madonna. I had met Professor 217 00:25:05.500 --> 00:25:11.420 Rougier before, in Geneva, when he came to see Lew, and I quietly listened when he spoke 218 00:25:11.420 --> 00:25:18.040 to Lew about Benjamin Constant and the book he was writing about him. Lew had asked Lucy, 219 00:25:18.040 --> 00:25:22.520 who knew Paris almost better than she knew Vienna, to reserve a room for us in a good 220 00:25:22.520 --> 00:25:28.940 hotel. She made a reservation in a hotel the like of which I never thought existed. It 221 00:25:28.940 --> 00:25:34.360 It had a...bathroom, which was not a real room with closed walls and doors. It was only 222 00:25:34.360 --> 00:25:40.580 a tub and a toilet, separated by a thin partition with no ceiling above it. This was supposed 223 00:25:40.580 --> 00:25:46.700 to be our honeymoon apartment in Paris. Even worse were the beds. I was frightened to undress 224 00:25:46.700 --> 00:25:51.820 and lie down. After a sleepless night we moved out at nine the next morning and went to the 225 00:25:51.820 --> 00:25:58.100 Hotel Montsigny, where we felt more comfortable. Lucy's explanation for recommending the other 226 00:25:58.100 --> 00:26:03.620 Another Hotel was that, with the view of the Palais Royal, with the geraniums right before 227 00:26:03.620 --> 00:26:10.100 your eyes, history will come to life for you right where you are. In this case, even Lew 228 00:26:10.100 --> 00:26:16.320 renounced history for a good clean bed and a real bathroom. The conference in Paris was 229 00:26:16.320 --> 00:26:24.000 arranged by Professor Rougier for August 26-30, 1938, and its main purpose was the discussion 230 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:29.040 of Walter Lippman's The Good Society, which had just been published in France under the 231 00:26:29.040 --> 00:26:35.080 title La Cite Libre. In this book, Walter Lippman tried to explain the shortcomings 232 00:26:35.080 --> 00:26:39.880 of the Manchester School. The main purpose of the meeting was to show that the free market 233 00:26:39.880 --> 00:26:46.680 economy, if completely unhampered, would well satisfy the needs of the present world. As 234 00:26:46.680 --> 00:26:53.200 a result of the conference, La Centre Internationale pour la Innovation de Liberalisme, the International 235 00:26:53.200 --> 00:27:00.200 The Federal Center for the Revival of Liberalism was founded, but because of the war it was forced to close in 1940. 236 00:27:00.200 --> 00:27:04.200 This meeting was attended by many economists and journalists. 237 00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:11.200 There I first met Walter Lippmann, with whose views, then and in the future, Lew did not always agree. 238 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:15.200 For the first time I also met Professor F. A. von Hayek. 239 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:19.200 He was already famous and was teaching at the London School of Economics. 240 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:45.200 In January 1927, when Lew founded the Austrian Institute for Business Research in Vienna, das Österreichische Konjunkturinstitut, he did so not only because he thought it would be imperative for Austria, but, according to Mrs. Wolf Teberger, Lew's secretary, because he had to help Hayek find the right start in life, and so he nominated him to be director of the institute. 241 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:52.200 Lou's interest in Hayek never waned, and Professor Hayek's affection and regard for Lou have always warmed my heart. 242 00:27:52.200 --> 00:28:01.200 Hayek is the Vienna scholar who, more than any of the others who studied there with Lou, kept his views and writings close to Lou's teachings. 243 00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:09.200 As the years passed, Hayek and Lou became very good friends, a natural result of their mutual congenial convictions. 244 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:16.200 Years later in 1962, when Hayek left the University of Chicago to go to the Freiburg University in Germany, 245 00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:20.200 Lew was invited to attend a banquet in Chicago in Hayek's honor. 246 00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:27.200 My husband could not attend, but he sent a written contribution which, giving as it does so much credit to Hayek, 247 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:30.200 I feel is a credit to Lew's own modesty and humbleness. 248 00:28:30.200 --> 00:28:36.200 This speech, Professor Hayek told me, was never read, nor was it ever given to Hayek. 249 00:28:36.200 --> 00:28:39.200 He had no idea it even existed. 250 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:42.200 I cannot find any explanation for this incident, he said. 251 00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:44.200 Neither can I. 252 00:28:44.200 --> 00:28:48.200 The reader will find it as appendix 2 at the end of this book. 253 00:28:48.200 --> 00:28:52.200 We return to Geneva in September when Lew's seminar started. 254 00:28:52.200 --> 00:28:57.200 He taught only two hours weekly every Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. 255 00:28:57.200 --> 00:28:59.200 The rest of the time he was busy writing. 256 00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:03.200 At that time he still had the habit of working late at night. 257 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:09.760 Often it was after 1 a.m. when he went to bed, very, very carefully, not to disturb me. 258 00:29:09.760 --> 00:29:11.760 But I heard him anyway. 259 00:29:11.760 --> 00:29:19.920 In 1938 he was not only working on National Economy, the German predecessor of his monumental treatise, Human Action, 260 00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:26.400 he was also reading the galley proofs of the French translation of de Gaiman-Werschaft, Socialism. 261 00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:30.560 He still wrote in German, though his lectures were held in English and French. 262 00:29:30.560 --> 00:29:44.560 Everything he wrote was first done in longhand. He never used a typewriter. Since he had a very efficient secretary at the Institute, his tremendous correspondence and the copying of his manuscripts were done at the office. 263 00:29:44.560 --> 00:29:53.560 From the very beginning, Lew showed me what he had written, but at that time I was still too conscious of my lack of economic knowledge to dare to make any suggestions. 264 00:29:53.560 --> 00:30:00.120 Only once, I remember, did I make a remark which must have had some meaning to him. When 265 00:30:00.120 --> 00:30:05.240 I read his reviews about free enterprise and the free market, I told him that I felt that 266 00:30:05.240 --> 00:30:10.920 the most important fact about the free market was that it helps poor people. They are able 267 00:30:10.920 --> 00:30:15.120 to get more consumer goods and they make a better living this way than under a socialist 268 00:30:15.120 --> 00:30:20.840 system. Therefore, this fact should be emphasized and brought out as clearly as possible. He 269 00:30:20.840 --> 00:30:27.840 He looked at me, thought for a moment, and then he said, I guess you are right. I can't say, of course, how far it influenced him. 270 00:30:27.840 --> 00:30:40.840 Though I had nothing to do with his work, I was fully occupied at all times. I was taking courses in French literature at the university and had a lot of reading to do for my classes, and we were seeing many guests. 271 00:30:40.840 --> 00:30:47.840 At least twice weekly we had dinner guests, or, what was more customary in Geneva, luncheon guests. 272 00:30:47.840 --> 00:30:57.340 That was no difficulty for me then. We had a cook and a dining room. I only had to prepare the menu, do the shopping, set the table and arrange the flowers. 273 00:30:57.340 --> 00:31:06.840 These gatherings were really international. Sometimes the discussion was in three or four languages because many diplomats and journalists had joined our circle. 274 00:31:06.840 --> 00:31:15.340 The Austrian ambassador, Baron von Flügel, later in exile, was a frequent guest at our table and as much as Lew loved to talk to him, 275 00:31:15.340 --> 00:31:37.340 In May 1939, Lew went to Paris for a few days, without me, to deliver a lecture about the non-neutrality of money at the École Pratique des Autitudes, and in the first days of July he gave a much-discussed lecture at the Student Union Institute of the World Affairs about the economics of autarky. 276 00:31:37.340 --> 00:31:43.340 At that time we could still travel, and often, if only for a short trip, we went to France. 277 00:31:43.340 --> 00:32:05.340 Traveling with Lew was, for me, a private course in history and art. His intellectual curiosity was boundless, what he had not known before he had to dive into. But he never consulted a Beidecker or a Fodor, these things he knew. The only guide he ever referred to was the guide Michelin, for he was a great lover of good French cuisine. 278 00:32:05.340 --> 00:32:13.340 Often on a Sunday, when we stayed in Geneva, we climbed to the top of Mount Salève, the so-called House Mountain of Geneva. 279 00:32:13.340 --> 00:32:19.340 You can either walk up, go by car, or use the téléphérique, a sort of cable car. 280 00:32:19.340 --> 00:32:24.340 From the top you have a wonderful far view over the Alps and the Jura Mountains. 281 00:32:24.340 --> 00:32:30.340 The whole excursion takes only three hours by foot, and you can easily be back home for lunch or dinner. 282 00:32:30.340 --> 00:32:38.340 Lew's seminar started at 9 a.m. He was always very punctual, so we had to get up each Saturday at 6.30 a.m. 283 00:32:38.340 --> 00:32:42.340 Shaving, bathing and dressing took him almost an hour and a half. 284 00:32:42.340 --> 00:32:48.340 I get my best ideas while I shave, he used to say. I have written books during that time. 285 00:32:48.340 --> 00:32:54.340 I too was punctual and still am. Punctuality gets into one's blood once one has been on the stage. 286 00:32:54.340 --> 00:32:56.340 The responsibility is too great. 287 00:32:56.340 --> 00:33:00.340 And, being married to Luke, this was indeed helpful. 288 00:33:00.340 --> 00:33:06.340 Whatever he had to do and wherever he had to be, he was always ready before the appointed time. 289 00:33:06.340 --> 00:33:10.340 I remember only too well when we met in Vienna for our dinner appointments. 290 00:33:10.340 --> 00:33:19.340 Our rendezvous place was usually the Stock im Eisen, a landmark building at the corner of Graben and Kartnerstrasse, two minutes from my home. 291 00:33:19.340 --> 00:33:25.340 Once in a while I would beat him to the rendezvous and then hide and watch him arriving and waiting at the corner. 292 00:33:25.340 --> 00:33:30.580 at the Corner. He would look around impatiently, take a few steps to one side, go back from 293 00:33:30.580 --> 00:33:35.820 where he came, look to the other side, inspect his watch, fiddle with his necktie, and walk 294 00:33:35.820 --> 00:33:41.780 again a few steps to the other side. But when I appeared, he was suddenly completely composed. 295 00:33:41.780 --> 00:33:47.040 Not the slightest gesture would betray his former impatience, nor did he say anything, 296 00:33:47.040 --> 00:33:50.120 but he surely did not like to wait. 297 00:33:50.120 --> 00:33:54.580 When we went out for dinner in Geneva, as early as I started, Lew was always waiting 298 00:33:54.580 --> 00:34:24.580 We often went to the theater in Geneva, and though I felt the standard of the local productions was low, once in a while a famous French company came over from Paris. These performances were really great. Whenever I went to the theater in Geneva, I would hear a lot of French people singing. 299 00:34:24.580 --> 00:34:28.540 Whenever we were in the theater or in the opera and the curtains went up, Lew at once 300 00:34:28.540 --> 00:34:33.900 became so concentrated, so absorbed, there was an immediate communication between him 301 00:34:33.900 --> 00:34:39.620 and the stage. I would say he even forgot about me. He was the ideal public for all 302 00:34:39.620 --> 00:34:45.040 actors and singers. This tremendous power of concentration, which he also showed while 303 00:34:45.040 --> 00:34:50.440 reading or writing, was for me an explanation not only of his remarkable memory, but also 304 00:34:50.440 --> 00:35:09.440 and also his health. As concentrated as he was in his work, so he was in his sleep. If Lew wanted to rest wherever he was, in a car, in an airplane, in his bed, at night or during the day, he lay down, put a handkerchief over his eyes, and the world was gone. He was asleep. 305 00:35:09.440 --> 00:35:18.440 Blue's capacity for sleep whenever he needed it was, in my opinion, one of the reasons for his physical well-being and his amazing intellectual output. 306 00:35:18.440 --> 00:35:23.440 Our life in Geneva was steadily involved in and influenced by politics. 307 00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:34.440 The signing of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in August 1939, Hitler's so-called Peace Speech to the Germans on the evening of August 31st, 1939, 308 00:35:34.440 --> 00:35:38.440 in which he claimed that all his peace proposals to Poland had been rejected 309 00:35:38.440 --> 00:35:42.440 were followed by us on the radio with the greatest excitement. 310 00:35:42.440 --> 00:35:48.440 We knew Hitler lied. While he spoke, his SS men dressed in Polish uniforms 311 00:35:48.440 --> 00:35:55.440 were blowing up the German radio stations in Poland, and the German artillery was crossing the border. 312 00:35:55.440 --> 00:36:00.440 This trick, German soldiers dressed in foreign uniforms, was used everywhere. 313 00:36:00.440 --> 00:36:06.440 Hitler's bombers were flying over Polish landing fields, destroying Polish planes on the ground. 314 00:36:06.440 --> 00:36:13.440 The German troops moved with such unbelievable speed that Poland was, in fact, defeated in a few hours. 315 00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:17.440 The Western powers clearly knew the next decision had to be theirs. 316 00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:25.440 When, on September 3rd, Chamberlain told the British Parliament that Great Britain and France were from this day on at war with Germany, 317 00:36:25.440 --> 00:36:55.440 Switzerland immediately prepared for the worst. The Swiss are a peace-loving people. For three centuries they had lived in harmony with three neighbors, three languages, and three regions. They had an excellently equipped, small, modern army, a sort of standing militia. Every Swiss citizen had to report for military duty once yearly, and the general had to report for military duty twice a year. 318 00:36:55.440 --> 00:37:03.440 The general feeling was enthusiasm for peace, a hatred for aggression, and the knowledge that only a well-equipped army could protect them against war. 319 00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:09.440 One of the first actions of the Swiss government was the requisitioning of all foreign-made cars. 320 00:37:09.440 --> 00:37:13.440 Lew was one of the first who got the order to deliver his beloved Ford. 321 00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:15.440 He never saw it again. 322 00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:22.440 Though the Swiss government paid him a small remuneration for his car, on the whole the automobile investment was a loss. 323 00:37:22.440 --> 00:37:28.440 From the moment of the French and English declaration of war, the atmosphere in Geneva completely changed. 324 00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:36.440 Refugees from the newly occupied countries arrived daily. Hotels and apartments were filled, and streets and coffee houses were crowded. 325 00:37:36.440 --> 00:37:44.440 But along with the newcomers came Hitler's spies. The atmosphere, once so tranquil and peaceful, was now filled with rumors. 326 00:37:44.440 --> 00:37:49.440 Fear touched everyone. The Sunday excursions to France had to stop. 327 00:37:49.440 --> 00:37:55.440 People also avoided going to restaurants for dinner and taking afternoon tea in the beautiful gardens at the lake. 328 00:37:55.440 --> 00:38:00.440 One did not know who might be sitting at the next table to overhear the conversation. 329 00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:10.440 Friends met at private houses where, as early as September 1939, dark shades had to be installed and not a gleam of light was allowed to show through the windows. 330 00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:17.440 Geneva gradually became a haven for many well-known refugees, among them many German and Austrian authors. 331 00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:23.800 Robert Mussel was one of them, and he often came to see us. He was a novelist, too, though 332 00:38:23.800 --> 00:38:29.040 born in Austria, preferred to live in Berlin. Ruined by inflation, he went from Berlin to 333 00:38:29.040 --> 00:38:35.320 Vienna, but when the Nazis came in 1938, he had to emigrate again. He died in Geneva in 334 00:38:35.320 --> 00:38:42.880 1942 in utmost poverty. Only now his importance is fully recognized. Again and again his books 335 00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:53.880 The books are reviewed and analyzed. Among them was The Man Without Qualities, a novel in three volumes, the last of which was published as a fragment after his death in 1943. 336 00:38:54.880 --> 00:39:11.880 Rhoda Rhoda was another of the refugee authors who frequently visited with us. Originally an officer in the German army, he was well known for his political satires and witty short stories, formerly published in the German magazines Simplissimus and Jugend. 337 00:39:11.880 --> 00:39:15.880 He always wore a red vest. No one had ever seen him without it. 338 00:39:15.880 --> 00:39:22.880 More than ever, his stories were laughed at all over Europe and feared in Germany, where they were considered forbidden literature. 339 00:39:23.880 --> 00:39:27.880 A frequent guest was Dr. Helene Leena Leiser. 340 00:39:27.880 --> 00:39:31.880 She needed no invitation. She came and went when she felt like it. 341 00:39:31.880 --> 00:39:37.880 She was Viennese-born and educated and one of the gifted participants in Lew's seminar in Vienna. 342 00:39:37.880 --> 00:39:53.380 She was highly intelligent, practical-minded, and very efficient. When Hitler came to Vienna and she had difficulty in leaving, she married a man almost unknown to her. Such marriages were very common. They were marriages in name only and were never consummated. 343 00:39:53.380 --> 00:40:06.380 The man who married a woman in this way asked a high price for giving her his name and the opportunity for her to leave Austria. He also consented to immediate divorce once his wife was safely out of the country. 344 00:40:06.380 --> 00:40:11.820 Frequently, the consequences of these marriages were blackmail and extortion. 345 00:40:11.820 --> 00:40:15.380 When I met Lena Lyser, she was past the prime of her life. 346 00:40:15.380 --> 00:40:19.620 She must have been good-looking when she was young, but times and circumstances had greatly 347 00:40:19.620 --> 00:40:21.040 changed her. 348 00:40:21.040 --> 00:40:22.040 She was never well-groomed. 349 00:40:22.040 --> 00:40:26.860 A button of her blouse might be missing, as if her might be broken, or her slit might 350 00:40:26.860 --> 00:40:28.220 be showing. 351 00:40:28.220 --> 00:40:30.580 These things were not important to her any more. 352 00:40:30.580 --> 00:40:33.240 Her main interest was helping other people. 353 00:40:33.240 --> 00:40:39.400 She had an enormous correspondence, and no one ever asked her in vain for help or assistance. 354 00:40:39.400 --> 00:40:44.640 For many years she was the secretary of the International Economic Association in Paris. 355 00:40:44.640 --> 00:40:48.040 She died of cancer in 1962. 356 00:40:48.040 --> 00:40:52.440 Despite the increasing threat from the Nazis, Lew worked more than ever before. 357 00:40:52.440 --> 00:40:56.800 When he sat at his desk, lost in his thoughts, he could forget what was happening around 358 00:40:56.800 --> 00:40:57.800 him. 359 00:40:57.800 --> 00:41:02.140 He loved Geneva, the freedom of teaching, the atmosphere of apartheid created within 360 00:41:02.140 --> 00:41:07.060 in the Institute, and the steady friendly contact with the other professors. He still 361 00:41:07.060 --> 00:41:11.540 had no fear for the future. He believed the French would fight and could resist the German 362 00:41:11.540 --> 00:41:17.860 attacks. Hitler's defeat, Lew was sure, was just a matter of time. He never believed in 363 00:41:17.860 --> 00:41:23.260 the tausend Jahre Reich. Lew's judgement about France's moral and combat strength was the 364 00:41:23.260 --> 00:41:28.460 only political error I have ever known him to make. His other judgement, in politics 365 00:41:28.460 --> 00:41:35.460 or Economics, always proved to be true. Professor Hayek confirms this in his speech, see Appendix 3. 366 00:41:35.460 --> 00:41:45.460 But his trust in France was wrong. The famous Maginot Line, the construction of which was started in 1930 and finished in 1935, 367 00:41:45.460 --> 00:41:53.460 was considered by the French to be impregnable. But great errors were made. One was that the line ended at the Belgian frontier, 368 00:41:53.460 --> 00:42:02.460 So the way into Belgium was open. The second was that too many soldiers were behind the lines for defense, and too few outside for battle. 369 00:42:02.460 --> 00:42:08.460 This was a weak and critical point, which Hitler, from the beginning, had taken into consideration. 370 00:42:08.460 --> 00:42:14.460 When Poland was conquered, Hitler ordered that no action whatsoever be taken along the Western front. 371 00:42:14.460 --> 00:42:20.460 The responsibility to open the fight must rest solely with England or France, he declared. 372 00:42:20.460 --> 00:42:26.300 All winter long there was neither war nor peace, hardly any hostilities, no battles. 373 00:42:26.300 --> 00:42:30.700 This situation greatly weakened the morale of the French troops, and the mood of France 374 00:42:30.700 --> 00:42:33.500 became the mood of Switzerland. 375 00:42:33.500 --> 00:42:39.220 One night in October or November 1939, I do not remember the exact date, all Geneva was 376 00:42:39.220 --> 00:42:43.780 peacefully asleep when suddenly a terrible uproar woke everyone. 377 00:42:43.780 --> 00:42:46.900 Sirens were screaming, fire engines came shrieking. 378 00:42:46.900 --> 00:42:52.900 We rushed to the window, carefully lifted a bit of the curtain, and saw the darkness of the night pierced by searchlights. 379 00:42:52.900 --> 00:42:56.900 Shortly afterwards, squadrons of Swiss fighters were in the air. 380 00:42:56.900 --> 00:43:01.900 What had happened? The Royal Air Force apparently had made a geographical error. 381 00:43:01.900 --> 00:43:09.900 They were supposed to bomb Hitler's retreat in Bavaria, and they mistook Lake Geneva for the Königssee near Berchtesgaden. 382 00:43:09.900 --> 00:43:13.900 I doubt that this will be found in any history book. 383 00:43:13.900 --> 00:43:26.900 Winter came and still there was peace at the Western Front. It was December 9th, a cold, bleak winter day. The streets were full of snow. Lew had his seminar and I had to do some errands. 384 00:43:26.900 --> 00:43:39.900 When I came home and went as usual to his studio to greet him, he sat very quietly at his desk and did not get up to kiss me as he usually did. I looked at him and saw immediately that something was wrong. 385 00:43:39.900 --> 00:43:43.900 He was very pale and just sat there, neither reading nor writing. 386 00:43:43.900 --> 00:43:45.900 What's wrong, darling? I asked him. 387 00:43:45.900 --> 00:43:53.900 And then he told me that in the morning, on his way to the Institute, he had slipped on the icy snow and fallen and hurt himself. 388 00:43:53.900 --> 00:43:58.900 I asked, where? He showed me his right hand, the joint of which was terribly swollen. 389 00:43:58.900 --> 00:44:01.900 Have you seen the doctor? I asked. 390 00:44:01.900 --> 00:44:07.900 No, he said. I went to the Institute, delivered my lecture, and directed the discussion afterward. 391 00:44:07.900 --> 00:44:15.900 I had no time for the doctor. I was shocked. He must have experienced terrible pain to judge by the swelling of his hand. 392 00:44:15.900 --> 00:44:22.900 I suspected a fracture, called a taxi, and went with him to the hospital, where they took x-rays and confirmed the fracture. 393 00:44:22.900 --> 00:44:28.900 For almost six weeks his arm was in a cast, but he never complained. He just went on working. 394 00:44:28.900 --> 00:44:36.900 By this time Hitler had already set the date for an attack on the West. Of course, we did not know it then. We only felt the mounting tension. 395 00:44:36.900 --> 00:44:43.780 Attention. On April 9, 1940, Hitler invaded Norway, and on the same day German troops 396 00:44:43.780 --> 00:44:49.780 marched into Denmark without finding any resistance. The English wanted to help with air attacks 397 00:44:49.780 --> 00:44:55.580 on Norway. They started on April 15, much too late to be of any help. Too little, too 398 00:44:55.580 --> 00:45:01.140 late was Churchill's judgement later. The tension in Geneva was growing. The Haberleurs 399 00:45:01.140 --> 00:45:06.820 had left for the United States, and Professor Kelsen had made plans to go there too. Professor 400 00:45:06.820 --> 00:45:11.980 Mr. Potter, an American citizen, had just lost his wife, a great friend of mine, and 401 00:45:11.980 --> 00:45:17.100 had accepted a new position at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C. He, too, wanted 402 00:45:17.100 --> 00:45:23.380 to leave as quickly as possible. When Hitler invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, I 403 00:45:23.380 --> 00:45:29.020 really became frightened. I had to talk to Lew. He did not want to leave. He never had 404 00:45:29.020 --> 00:45:34.580 been so happy as he was in Geneva, and he did not feel any fear. I reminded him of the 405 00:45:34.580 --> 00:45:39.300 Tonight the Nazis came to Vienna. I told him the Nazis would never take him off their 406 00:45:39.300 --> 00:45:44.500 blacklist. I begged him, I implored him to leave, to think of me if he would not think 407 00:45:44.500 --> 00:45:51.580 of himself. It took the breakdown of the Maginot Line, the occupation of Paris on June 14th, 408 00:45:51.580 --> 00:45:56.060 and the raising of the German's Vastica on the highest point of the Eiffel Tower to make 409 00:45:56.060 --> 00:46:02.340 Lew aware of the danger. Finally, he gave in and promised to make the necessary preparations 410 00:46:02.340 --> 00:46:32.340 In his heart, of course, Lew was reluctant to leave, not only because of his love for the work at the Institute, but because he feared how America, the home of young people, the paradise of youth, would receive him, a man of almost sixty. He was also afraid of language difficulties. At that time he was more at ease with French than with English. He had studied French for at least six years in the academic gymnasium, and he spoke it fluently in English. 411 00:46:32.340 --> 00:46:38.340 with almost no accent. English he had first learned by reading, and that, he always insisted, 412 00:46:38.340 --> 00:46:43.700 was the wrong method. Often he said, jokingly, if you don't learn a foreign language as a 413 00:46:43.700 --> 00:46:49.340 child, you later have to learn it with a sleeping dictionary. The change of languages meant 414 00:46:49.340 --> 00:46:54.800 more to him than it would to an average citizen. Language was his most important tool, his 415 00:46:54.800 --> 00:47:00.540 essential device for communicating his ideas, his means of earning his living. I was not 416 00:47:00.540 --> 00:47:17.540 From the moment German troops moved into France, every line of communication between Switzerland and that country were closed. 417 00:47:17.540 --> 00:47:27.540 Starting June 11th, no cars were allowed, no trains were running, no planes were flying, no buses were moving, no letters or telegrams came through. 418 00:47:27.540 --> 00:47:29.540 This was another source of worry for me. 419 00:47:29.540 --> 00:47:35.540 I knew we could not hear from Gitta, and in no case could we manage to get her on our visa to take her with us. 420 00:47:35.540 --> 00:47:42.540 She would have to stay in Bessincon, where we had taken her a few months before to study at the university. 421 00:47:42.540 --> 00:47:47.540 She was living with friends, but she was so young, and now she had to be on her own. 422 00:47:47.540 --> 00:47:56.540 On June 21st, the armistice between France and Germany was signed, at Hitler's demand, in the same railcar where, in 1918, 423 00:47:56.540 --> 00:48:06.540 The Germans had to accept the armistice and the conditions directed by General Fock, an armistice that gravely wounded their pride and aroused much hatred in Germany. 424 00:48:06.540 --> 00:48:17.540 Finally, Lew started to act. He got in touch with Professor Benjamin Anderson, a good friend of his, who at that time was the chief economist at the Chase Bank in New York. 425 00:48:17.540 --> 00:48:25.540 Professor Anderson immediately took the necessary steps and got both of us a non quota visa, which allowed us to enter the United States immediately. 426 00:48:25.540 --> 00:48:31.540 Louis had his library packed, and whatever else we planned to take along with us was prepared for shipping. 427 00:48:31.540 --> 00:48:39.540 Every day we went to the various agencies to hear whether and when we could leave, but Switzerland was surrounded by German troops and no one could move. 428 00:48:39.540 --> 00:48:44.540 The airlines as well as the bus authorities had promised us seats on their first trip out. 429 00:48:44.540 --> 00:48:50.540 Since we had to cross through France, Spain and Portugal, we had to get all the necessary visas. 430 00:48:50.540 --> 00:49:20.540 The news from the shipping agencies never changed. It was nerve-shattering. The Repkes also pondered whether they should leave. Repke even went so far as to travel with Lew to Zurich to get his American visa from the American consul there, but in the end they decided to stay because of their three young children, and besides this, a good while before, they had applied for Swiss citizenship. The uncertainty and tension grew from day to day. We tried to get passage on the American export line from Lisbon, 431 00:49:20.540 --> 00:49:26.540 But they could not promise anything. The only thing they could do for us was to put our names on the waiting list. 432 00:49:26.540 --> 00:49:30.540 On June 18th, Lew received a telegram from Dean Robert Calkins. 433 00:49:30.540 --> 00:49:38.540 Invite you to accept position lecturer and research associate professor, University of California, July to December. 434 00:49:38.540 --> 00:49:44.540 Lew was in no way happy about this offer, but it meant a possibility and a way out. 435 00:49:44.540 --> 00:49:54.540 A few days later, Professor Potter received a letter dated June 18, 1940 from E. F. Penrose, Professor of Economics at the University of California. 436 00:49:54.540 --> 00:50:07.540 It read, He, Mises, has been accepted as an American non-quota immigrant and his arrival to take up position in the United States is eagerly awaited at the University and other American universities. 437 00:50:07.540 --> 00:50:13.120 Universities. I trust that in the present unsettled state of Europe he will not be obstructed 438 00:50:13.120 --> 00:50:18.340 or in any way interfered with in reaching the United States. If he should be interfered 439 00:50:18.340 --> 00:50:24.040 with in any way, the fact will become known in the United States and would certainly influence 440 00:50:24.040 --> 00:50:31.040 public opinion strongly against whatever persons or whatever country prevented him as an accepted 441 00:50:31.040 --> 00:50:54.040 On July 1st we were told still no planes. On July 2nd we again went with Professor Potter to the French Consulate since we still did not have the visas required to cross France, but again we were turned down. The next day, in response to a letter from Darius Milhad to the French Embassy, we got our visas. 442 00:50:54.040 --> 00:51:00.160 Mises. Milhad, the well-known composer, was married to a famous French actress who had 443 00:51:00.160 --> 00:51:05.160 been teaching ghettas. On the same evening our luggage left and we got the news that we 444 00:51:05.160 --> 00:51:10.160 would have seats the following day on the first bus leaving Geneva for France.