The Pete Quiñones Show - Pete Reads 'Blockade' by Anna Eisenmenger Part 4

Episode Date: May 27, 2024

46 MinutesPG-13Pete continues a reading and lite commentary on "Blockade: The Diary of an Austrian Middle-Class Woman 1914-1924."FoxnSons Coffee - Promo code "peter" for 18% off - https://www.foxnsons.com/VIP Summit 3-Truth To Freedom - Autonomy w/ Richard GroveSupport Pete on His WebsitePete's PatreonPete's Substack Pete's SubscribestarPete's GUMROADPete's VenmoPete's Buy Me a CoffeePete on FacebookPete on TwitterBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pete-quinones-show--6071361/support.

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It's a Black Friday secret. Keep it to yourself. I want to welcome everyone back to part four of my reading of Blockade by Anna Eisenmanger. Before I jump in, I want to remind everyone that Thomas 777 and I are going to start doing watch and comment parties on various movies. The first one we did is the 1976 Martin Scorsese classic written by the great Paul Schrader taxi driver. and that is for sale on Gumroad in video and audio. I think the video is better, but I know a lot of people can't sit down for three hours and watch a video.

So the audio is there. It's only $10.00. And if you go to freeman beyond the wall.com forward slash taxi driver. Taxi driver is one word. There's links to both, the audio and the video. And watch for our next movie dropping very soon. We already know what it is.

So, all right, I'm going to jump in. We left off on December 3, 1918. It says the hunger blockade to continue until peace is finally concluded. Needless inhumanity of the checks. The position of the housewives is becoming more and more difficult. Four weeks have elapsed since the announcement of the armistice, but there is not the slightest improvement or hope of improvement in the food situation. The entente knows no mercy.

The armistice conditions, which show, Germany, Bulgaria, and Austria had to accept unreservedly and without possibility of resistance are tantamount to a continuation of hostilities by the most subtle weapons, weapons which threaten the life of the whole civilian population. Germany's solution is infinitely tragic, and one must go back to remotest antiquity to find any parallel to the cruelty of the victors. For 50 months, the German army resisted the superior numbers of the enemy, with unagreled, exempled heroism and devotion. Now, during its retreat, Marshall Falk is trying to wear out and destroy this army utterly. The Germans have been deprived of all means of transport, and they are

expected to affect an orderly retirement of three million men in the shortest possible time at the most unfavorable season of the year. Fast numbers of brave men will perish of exhaustion and be taken prisoners during these forced marches. Marshall Folk is the brutal author of this despotic policy. In my eyes, he is neither a hero nor a true soldier, for if he were, he would not but feel respect for such a brave enemy as the Germans have proved. His treatment of them is neither chivalrous nor generous. Whether it is wise remains to be proved.

Even the newly founded League of Nations, which looks on unconcernedly at this malignant, persecution of the vanquished is seriously impaired by the inhuman armistice conditions dictated by folk. History will one day judge, history will one day pronounce judgment upon these conditions, which far exceed any normal powers of fulfillment. In addition to the physical sufferings imposed upon us by the victors, we now have to endure their moral offensive against everything German. The Italians have placard the walls with an

announcements that the occupation of German South Turrell, as far as the Brenner, is to be permanent. We have learned from bitter experience that Wilson's 14 points were only lime twigs designed to trap us through our longing for peace. I personally believe Wilson to be an idealist who was convinced that his peace points were practicable. The Entente merely used him as a welcome decoy bird. His message came to most of us like a message from heaven. It promised us peace upon the most human conditions. Why continue this barbarous war? Most people asked themselves.

Wilson's 14 points served to aggravate enormously the longing for peace among the population of the central powers. And when the war still went on because our leaders quite realized what the 14 points were worth, the ill will of the population was directed against these leaders. How convenient Wilson was to the untow. But what sad havoc has been made of Wilson's main point, the self-determination of nations? Three and a half million Germans, some of them in exclusively German-speaking territory under Czech rule. The frontiers of the new Polish state driven into the heart of Germany. The whole of German South Turrell, as far as Brenner, annexed by Italy.

By the occupation of the German frontier territory, the Italians have sown the seed of future wars in German soil, and in German hearts. She's a more brilliant political thinker than pretty much 99% of the people presenting themselves as political thinkers today. The German border territory up to the German-Italian-language frontier, German bosun, which, with its many German castles, with its vineyards and meadows planted by Germans,

the Marin province dear to every German, the many-towered German Episcopal city of Brickson, the magnificent Pustoral, with its right, wrestling forests, the fertile vinch school vich gau, and the Sturza basin up to the source of the Isak. All

these are to be torn away from their German motherland and placed under Italian rule. Peace is not yet concluded, and despite the proclamations of the Italians, there is faint hope that at the peace negotiations, the better judgment of the victors may put a check on these disastrous

excesses. From Rudy, we hear that, even before her entrances to the war, Italy offered to sell her neutrality, demanding as part payment these German territories which she now occupies. At that time, the old Emperor Franz Joseph, in order to bring this murderous war to a speedy end, would have ceded to the Italians the territories wholly inhabited by Italians and where only Italian was spoken. But unfortunately, all these negotiations were rendered abortive by the stubborn exorbitance of the Italian diplomats, who were backed up by the representatives of the Entente. In my opinion, too little references made to the fact that Italy,

a member of the Triple Alliance, was guilty of the most flagrant treachery to her allies, Germany and Austria. It seems, however, to be a keynote of this hateful World War that all ordinary nations and sentiments of honor and decency between men and men are simply cast to the winds. Presumably in preparation for the peace to be concluded, we are to be. We are to be. be rendered even more incapable of resistance than we already are. The newspapers report that the checks have stores of coal which have caught fire owing to spontaneous combustion. They are, in fact, embarrassed by their enormous stocks of coal, and yet their frontiers are closed against the export of coal to Austria. What can be the reason for such a barbarous decree? Is the sole explanation of this

almost perverse closing of the frontier really to be sought in a thirst for revenge inspired by hatred of everything German? Or are these measures designed to break the spirit of the three and a half million Germans who have been forcibly incorporated in the Czech Republic and are openly opposed to their conquerors? Gee, I don't understand. Why would the Germans, why would Hitler... Czechoslovakia?

Poor Czechoslovakia! Poor innocent Czechoslovakia! I don't know. I only know that we housewives owing to the stoppage of supplies of Czech coal are plunged in new and serious difficulties. Hungry and underfed as we are, a well-heeded room has become more than ever a necessity. Ill-nourished and always half-frozen, we have not the strength to resist infectious diseases, such as influenza, tuberculosis, etc.

Our physicians who have fought so brilliantly and successfully against the war pestilences, plague, cholera, spotted typhus, dysentery, and so forth, are powerless against starvation and cold, which are now threatening the life of the nation. Again and again, they have appealed for help in the name of humanity, but up to now, alas, without success. The statistics show that food conditions in Vienna are impossible. The mortality among adults has increased by more than a third. Among children between one and 15 years of age, the mortality has increased by 50%. Among those suffering from or threatened by tuberculosis, the mortality has more than doubled.

Prominent scientists and doctors have pointed out the cruelty of the measure. is adopted by the checks, but we are helpless. The Entente controls the cable service and all means of communication by land and sea. The cry of distress sent up by millions of human beings is smothered and dies away unheard, as if in mockery, Stannock, the Czech minister, has declared that the full service on their railways has been resumed and that their coal supply is very satisfactory. A priest, who is a member of the Czech ministry, is said, to have personally kept back the coal which was waiting at the stations for dispatch to Vienna.

Is this fanatical hatred of Germans compatible with Christian love for one's neighbor, such as one might have expected to find in a man wearing priestly vestments? Germany, too, oh, I want E. Michael Jones to read about this part right here when he complains about Ducco. Germany, too, owing to the occupation of Silesia and the Rour district, no longer has the disposal of her coal and therefore cannot come to our aid. We are dependent on Austro and Brooks.

The scanty supplies of coal from the Austrian crown lands are insufficient to meet a 20th part of Vienna's need. The consequences of Czech cruelty have soon made themselves apparent. The public services such as power stations, gasworks, tramways, railways, etc., have been forced, going to the coal shortage, to reduce very considerably their output of light, power, and heat. We are now only allowed to burn one candle power electrical bulb in the whole flat. We get one candle and one quarter liter petroleum per week in household. The use of the gas heater has been cut down to one hour daily. If the legal allowances of gas exceeded, the supply is ruthlessly cut off. The heating of bathwater by gas is an impossibility and soap too is becoming

more and more difficult to procure. I have to heat up small quantities of water for my family on the little iron stove or on the small kitchener. We have said goodbye to baths. The office and shops have been ordered to close at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. All businesses have been forced to deploy demobilized soldiers no matter whether they need workers or no. The disastrous effort of this unwanted burden combined with a compulsory closing at 4 p.m. can easily be imagined. Bankruptcies are the order of the day and the crone is depreciating rapidly. Looking through my housekeeping books, I find that in the year 1914, I paid 44 Heller for one kilogram to $2 per pound of the best wheat flour. Today, wheat flour is wholly unobtainable and the often indefinable mixture,

which calls itself flour costs if purchased from an illicit dealer, 22 cron, i.e. $4.5 per pound. Another result of the terrible shortage of coal is that all places of amusement have had to be closed. The cafes are only allowed to keep open after 8 p.m. on condition of using acetylene lamps, and I, too, have had recourse to the maladorus means of illumination. In order to economize in the street lighting, the gas lamps are only lit at considerable intervals. The gay, Vienna of years ago now lies wrapped in black morning after the fall of dusk, and rogues who shun the light take advantage of this fact to commit burglaries and highway robberies. Of course, there are still illicit places of amusement with well-lighted and well-heeded rooms in some of the private

houses where, without the knowledge of the authorities, the proprietors rake in vast fortunes until they are tracked down by police and have to transfer themselves elsewhere. The Italian army of occupation, which is in agreement with the Entente, is entrusted with the supervision of Vienna, is now in a position to convince itself of our terrible need and distress. And the Italian commander-in-chief is said to have already demanded a trainload of food supplies for Vienna. I do not share that sentimental adoration of the Italian officers stationed here exhibited so remarkably by some of our population, above all by the women of certain circles. nonetheless, I feel heartily grateful to the Italian commander-in-chief for this truly humane suggestion.

Yeah, you know, the National Socialists, they didn't like the Czechs just because, you know, they were crazy National Socialists. Trying to sound like these fagguses. December 15, 1918. Wolfie has scurby, Lysbeth Adeland, re-stamping of the Cron notes, flight from the Crone, no end to the Armistice. 12 days have passed without my having any opportunity to be alone with my diary. Moreover, there is no longer any question of being really alone. In order to be able to occupy ourselves on these long December evenings, we are all forced to sit around one electric light allowed us.

Only Ernie, as he himself remarks with bitter irony, suffers less from this than the rest of us. He is independent of light shortage, and for that reason, he always seeks our company. When he still had the sight of his beautiful blue eyes, Ernie often liked to be alone. I remember that my husband used to scold him when he wandered about alone and apart from his brothers absorbed in his thoughts or sat where he could dream into the blue distances. Now it often seems to me the poor boy finds it painful to be alone for a short time.

When Lisbeth began to get high temperatures 10 days ago, Dr. Hoffman insisted on sending her immediately to the sanatorium at a lawn, where she is to have a rest cure. I took here there myself. I took her there myself. The sanatorium lies on the southern slope of a wooded height in the midst of the Vineland and has completely cured many Viennese of the plague of big cities, tuberculosis. The doctor, who had been one of my husband's intimate colleagues, gave Lysbeth a very kind welcome, but told us at once that work at the sanatorium was very much hampered, if not threatened, with extinction owing to the acute coal shortage. The central heating furnace can only be stoked with coal and the rooms are not adapted for separate heating. Also, the obtaining of food supplies is becoming more and more

difficult. A letter received from Lysbeth today confirms the fears of the sanatorium doctor for the institution is really to close down on December 20th, owing to the shortage of coal and food supplies so that Lysbeth will be home again in a few days. Ernie is delighted, before he has missed his sister a great deal. Rudy, who is very much worried about lives' best state of health, rails against the hard-heartedness of the checks, which is responsible for all this. That comes of turning servants into masters.

Up to now, the checks have been a nation of lackeys, and so they will remain for a long time. A servant is a remorseless ruler when he is set in the place of his master. Rudy is not altogether wrong. formerly the menial class in the Austrian monarchy consisted mainly of checks. Czech domestic workers, housemaids, cooks, men's servants, were very much sought after, and at court almost all the lackeys were checks. There were only a comparatively small-educated Czech middle class in Bohemia and Moravia,

and this is now sovereign. Rudy, who is clever with his fingers, has with the aid of a locksmith, made a pair of quite serviceable aluminum artificial legs, by means of which he is able to move about the room very fairly satisfactory. Now, too, he has invited something that promises to be very helpful to Ernie. Ernie has always needed someone to write down the notes for him when he is composing, and although Lisbeth and I, and even Edith were quite well able to do this, Ernie's dependence on us obviously worried him. Rudy realized that under these circumstances, Ernie would soon lose all his delight in composing, and he devised a

composition apparatus, as he called it. He made a wooden case with two sets of five parallel grooves, representing the five lines of the base and treble, and treble, and these grooves were wooden notes, which could be moved to and fro at will. Ernie set his notes in position, and Rudy then photographed the apparatus so that anyone could play the composition from the photograph. Ernie was delighted with his contrivance and did not know how to be grateful enough to Rudy. We all admired Rudy, who, with his innate optimism, would have been not only quite resigned to his present lot, but even hopeful as to the future, had it not been for his grave anxiety concerning Lisbeth's state of health. We had been so pleased when he succeeded in persuading her to go to Alon for a few months,

and now our hopes of her speedy and complete recovery are shattered by the closing of Alond. Rudy has got his caution money, amounting to about 35,000 Kronin, which, As an officer, he was obliged to put by when he was obliged to put by when he married for the purpose of safeguarding his economic position. Now he can do what he likes with the money, for the Republic does not recognize such institutions. Rudy talks of sending Elizabeth to a sanatorium in Switzerland, for he wants to ensure her recovery at any price. But the crone is now worth only 25 Swiss centimes, so we must wait until it improves again. pieces concluded, everything is bound to take a turn for the better, and surely we shall not have to wait for this day very much longer. We decided to send lies bet to some distant relations, a married couple who have a farm not far from Linz.

We are having all kinds of trouble with our paper money now. The six new states, which have been split off from the old monarchy, began by rigorously closing their frontiers against one another. They have now begun to stamp a new value on the old Austro-Hungarian notes, which are in circulation everywhere. We too have been obliged to print Deutsche Storike on our paper money in order to avoid burdening our little country

with too large a note circulation. For an enormous amount of money is required for making purchases. This measure naturally excited great alarm among the population. I too was obliged to take to the bank the remainder of the 20,000 cronin which I had drawn out seven weeks before

and have them stamped. In addition, to the necessary and now so costly articles of food, I have been obliged to get shoes for Carl, Ernie, and Wolfie. These were absolutely unprocurable in Vienna through legitimate channels, and those across the Czech frontier cost 300 to 400 kronin a pair, so that I had only 11,000 kronin left out of the 20,000. I was filled with horror, 9,000 kronin in seven weeks. Where was it going to end? Would my little fortune suffice to tithes over the period of starvation and cold, the ill-starred armistice had brought about us.

When would there be a return to normal times, and was it right just to fight for the life and health of my children without regard to the future? Bitter doubt suppressed me as I set out for the bank in order to have my remaining 11,000 cronins stamped. Rudy had already, Rudy had asked me to sell 10,000 cron of his war loan. He had converted the whole of the 35,000 Kronin cautioned money into war alone, in order that he might have the money to pay for Lysbeth State in Switzerland. On the way to the bank, I was struck by the number of pale ragged children who kept asking me for bread. They were the results of the closing of the schools for lack of coal. As the train service was suspended, and there was no other means of conveyance to the center

of the town, I was obliged to make my way to the hangaras herringas on foot. There were very few vehicles to be seen in the streets. Here and there, a motor car in which Italian officers or other foreigners were seated. Or one of the elegant royal motor cars familiar to every Viennese and now containing only our new rulers. On the other hand, the streets were crowded with people, all of whom looked pale and sickly and were obviously not in a hurry. These were the many who had been thrown out of employment by the closing down of the industrial undertakings owing to the coal shortage. The government has tried to arrange free or cheap dinners for this half-million unemployed. Kitchen and coffee houses have been open everywhere.

As I had to pass one of these places, I went in to see what was being served. The unemployed, upon showing their cards, got a brown liquid described as coffee and a piece of bread and jam free of charge. They could also get bean soup and a piece of bread. Many betrayed their hunger by avidity, with which they devoured this wretched fare. The rooms were overcrowded, unventilated, and unheated except for the heat of the body. The floors and tables were dirty, but so were the people seated. there. Just as at the present day, only millionaires and war profiteers are in a position to eat their fill and live in heated rooms, so too only millionaires and war profiteers have the wherewithal to be well washed. They are able, no doubt, to change their linen and have it washed as often as they like. For us housewives with no soap and no hot water, the household washing has already become a problem. I bought the ten pieces of household grain soap, which I had procured from a tradesman at a very high price. I was sewed a delighted at having soap in the house again. As this soap still seemed rather moist,

Kathy put it in the cupboard to dry. When the day before yesterday, we wanted to do some washing and went to fetch a piece of this precious possession, we found in the place of the beautiful, thick pieces of soap, nothing but thin, misshapen objects, which look far more like pancakes than soap. The soap was adulterated and diluted in every imaginable way, and in order to wash my linen, we were obliged to use all ten pieces which did not behave at the least like soap. Yes, it is easy to make money out of the distress of others. That is what far too many people have discovered at the present day. In the large banking hall, a great deal of business was being done, and I had to wait some time before I was attended to. All around me, animated discussions were

in progress concerning the stamping of currency, the issue of notes, the purchase of foreign money, and so on. There were always some who knew. exactly what was now the best thing to do. After my money had been stamped, I went to see the bank official who always advised me. Well, wasn't I right? He said. If you bought Swiss francs when I suggested, you would now not have lost three-fourths of your fortune. Lost, I exclaimed in horror. Why don't you think the crone will recover again? Recovery, he said with a laugh. Recovery, he repeated, leaning across the oak counter, behind which stood his writing table. our crone will go to the devil. That's certain. He had spoken the last sentence very softly so that the people standing near me could not hear. Good heavens, I said, I must have looked very dismayed. Will you follow my advice this time before? He did not finish a sentence. Come into my room for a moment. He beckoned to a messenger and told him to take me into his room. There he began to explain to me that the monarchy was compelled to issue war loans and that the description to those loans was often compulsory.

This was done because the state had already used up its gold reserves and had no money left for carrying on the war. With the money from the war loans, the war was continued, but there was practically no cover for notes at present in circulation. Just test a promise made on this 20-crown note and try to get, say, 20 silver-crone in exchange for it. He said holding out a 20-crown in note. I know, I said timidly, that there is no metal money in circulation now. first they gave us iron money instead of nickel and copper, and now they have withdrawn that too. Here I have a whole purse full of notes, all for small amounts. Is it possible to buy anything with them? There you see, you have grasped the position already. And now you will understand me when I tell you that at the present time is well to possess a house or ground or shares in an industry or mine or something else of the sort, but not to possess any money.

or at least no Austrian or German money. Do you understand what I mean? Yes, but minor government security, surely there can't be anything safer than that. I answered, I answered, but my dear lady, where is the state which guaranteed these securities to you? It is dead, and do you imagine that its successor will or can take over all the liabilities of its predecessor? This is absolutely out of the question. My head was in a whirl, but as my advisor had been right on the previous occasion, and as, moreover, he was looked upon as an extremely clever businessman. I decided to do what he advised me. He gave me an introduction to a friend who had a private banking business,

whom he recommended as particularly trustworthy and experience. This man would exchange my government securities for corresponding industrial securities. I should, of course, lose money in this transaction, but I should at least have something safe. In reply to my inquiry, why I would not do the business, through his bank, my advisor told me that the private bank would do it far more cheaply. The big banks had heavy expenses and were obliged to charge more. He telephoned to his friend and instructed him to buy me the industrial securities, which he had suggested.

When I told him of Rudy's wish to sell 10,000 Kronin worth of war loan, he shook his head. War loan at the present time is unsaleable. No one knows whether it is worth anything at all. very depressed, alarmed, and utterly I see, owing to my ignorance of banking business, I went home. On the way, I saw a woman fall in the street down from exhaustion, and this did not contribute to raise my spirits. At home, I found Wolfie dissolved in tears. His father had scolded him because he had refused to eat his lunch, which consisted of two dried plums and a boiled egg. Wolfie complained of pains in his mouth, and I thought of toothache, but I noticed that

the mucus membrane of his mouth was red and swollen. Rudy regretted his hastiness and said he was afraid that Wolfie had an attack of scurvy as his experience at the front and familiarized him with the disease, which was caused by lack of vitamins. During the last stage of the war, a number of soldiers had contracted scurvy as a result of living almost entirely untinned foods. I resolved to take Wolfei at once to the Carolinian Children's Hospital, the head of which was a friend of my husband's. Rudy's diagnosis was correct, and the doctor reassured me by saying that the attack would soon pass off with proper dieting. But where I could get this diet, he was unable to tell me. He thought Wolfie quite passably nourished compared with other children, and he showed me

little children whose health had been terribly impaired by the food shortage. I saw a large number of children of 12 to 14 years of age whose development had simply been arrested during the war years, so that physically they had the appearance of eight-year-old children. as it is particularly important for children at the age of puberty to be well-nourished, the injurious effects of undernourishment were specially noticeable in the case of these children. In other cases, tuberculosis had worked terrible havoc as a result of the diminished power of resistance of its victims. The head of the hospital told me that 95% of all children examined by him were seriously undernourished. Of the children born during the war years, hardly one was free from rickets.

the severest form of which is osteomelis malacia or bone softening, and from the latter, a number of elderly people in Vienna were also suffering. At the present time, at the present time, the ordinary disease of infancy, owing to the almost complete lack of fresh milk, and the mothers are too underfed to be able to nurse their children. The mothers whom I saw sitting or standing with their children almost all looked as if they themselves were hospital cases. One six-year-old child was suffering from acute bone softening. His mother, who had brought him to Vienna to have treatment, told me that the food situation

in the rural districts of Upper Austria was no better than in Vienna. Many of the children were so weak that they could only lie in bed until some good Samaritan conveyed them to the hospital. They are dying like flies and winter, said the woman. And if things don't get better, we shall all die. The doctor is, unfortunately, helpless in almost every case. He tells us, his patients, for instance, that they are in urgent need of their invalids milk ration. He recommends them to the special attention of the authorities, but of what use is that. The food minister has officially declared that he does not know where he is going to get the food supplies from January until next August. Milk is only obtainable for children up to one year of age, and even for these,

the quantity, to say nothing of the quality. For in normal times, children were never fed on tinned milk. In any case, the ration of one-eighth liter, less than one-quarter pint per day is insufficient, and substitutes such as flour and flour products are unattainable, so that at the present day it is a serious problem to guard an infant against death from starvation. I thought with horror of the time when Lisbeth will be a mother for the second time, seeing that with all my care and pains, I have not been able to shield Wolfie from scurvy. The physician told me that 40% of all the two-year-old children he had examined this year had lost weight as compared with the previous year. Why don't we invite doctors and mothers from the entaunt countries to come and see the children's

hospital in Vienna? They could then make clear to the leading statesmen and the field marshals what a moral responsibility they are incurring by continuing this terrible hunger blockade. And reply to my question, the physician handed me a daily newspaper pointing to a particular paragraph. I read with amazement. The president of the national council. Council of French women has decided to send the negative replies to the German women who have

begged them to intervene for the purpose of alleviating the severe armistice conditions. Since, in view of the disloyal methods of waging war adopted by the central powers, these conditions were wholly justified. Yeah. What has become of humanity and love for one's neighbor? Have they been utterly destroyed in this horrible war? The hunger blockade, which is inflicting ever deeper and deeper injuries on the population of our country is maintained in order to punish us. Yet the bulk of those who have to suffer this heavy

punishment are poor, helpless beings who were humbly and harmlessly following the path that life had marked out for them. As citizens of their country, they were thrust into the war, whether they willed it or no. And because of that are these defenseless men, together with their wives and children, to suffer the most brutal punishment even after the war is ended. Your grandson needs vitamins, Nadeesh Fra. Then he will soon be all right again. Fresh vegetables, fresh milk, fresh fruit, said the physician, and he stretched out his hands and bid me goodbye.

On the way home, I reflected what was to be done now and how I could procure the necessary vitamins for Wolfie. Fruit was practically unattainable in Vienna. One saw it in a few delicatessen shops, where quite ordinary apples were sold at exorbitant prices. This was owing to difficulties of transport. Goods traffic was almost entirely suspended as a result of the coal shortage. There were no motor lawyers available, and the farmers had no inducement to drive into the Vienna market, since they had none too much for themselves and would no longer supply anything for money. They used their fruit for making spirit and fed their pigs on it.

But necessity is the mother of invention. Years ago, when I accompanied my husband on a visit to England, In connection with his medical studies, I brought back some English Cress seed, which the English housewives used to grow Cress for their daily requirements. I sewed Cress and all the available flower pots, and when the first plants were ready, I was delighted to find that Volfi enjoyed them. Some cod liver oil, which I had, meanwhile, succeeded in procuring, also help matters. And now Volfi is well again, and has a vegetable garden to look after in addition to his hen and rabbit farm. Who do they talk about like this now? Talk about white Americans like this. They would...

This is what they want to do to you. It's the same people. It's the same ideology. It's the same attitude. This is what they want to do to us. You need to protect yourself against this. I will say once again, cities are no place. There are no place to be.

December 23, 1918. Since November 27th, the evening on which Carl objected Soviet Millie to Ernie's dabbling with music, and distressed us all by his whole conduct, a certain tension had subsisted between us and Carl, which not even Edith's tactful and soothing influence could alleviate. I had secretly hoped that Carl's communistic attitude were only a transitory and perhaps even a natural result of all the privation and misery he had endured in the trenches, and that after he had been some time with his family in the home where he had spent his youth, the old traditions would gain the ascendancy in his heart. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

It seemed to me indeed, as if the close and constant companionship of his family, inevitable under present conditions, had intensified Carl's antagonism. All that he had once respected and valued, the fruits of his education, the memory of his father, seemed to have been erased from his memory or, at any rate, buried beneath a mountain of fantastical political projects. Formerly of a thoroughly good-natured, rather docile disposition, Carl had become harsh, impatient, and quarrelsome. I had discussed this great change with the other members of the family and with Edith,

and we were all of the opinion that the head wound, though it appeared to have healed satisfactorily, was mainly responsible. Rudy and Ernie were inclined to think that Arunstom, was exercising a disastrous influence on Carl and perpetually inciting him against us bourgeois. I begged Rudy, Lisbeth, and Ernie to be tactful and patient with him, but Rudy and Ernie were of the opinion that two great forbearance would make the relations between us worse rather than better. We agreed that Edith should be asked to persuade Carl to respect our views so long as he lives with us and avoid all disapproving comments and polemics, just as we, too,

would all avoid anything that might irritate or provoke him. My conversation with Edith failed to achieve anything. Edith told me that, too, was grieved by the change in Carl, and that a few days ago, in a discussion with her father, Carl had expressed himself in such violent terms as to cause a complete breach between the two men. She now found herself in the very difficult position of having to decide between keeping faith with her lover or obeying her father, who had insisted that she should break off her engagement immediately. The brave, honorable girl, who had been silently bearing the pain of this quarrel for some days, was on the brink of despair. Her father, a colonel of the Vienna House Regiment and Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order, is sprung from an old family of officers, and though a pleasant companion in casual social intercourse,

he has all the ingrained and engrafted virtues and failings of his cast. He is as intolerant of other people's opinions as Carl has now, to our regret, become, and I am not at all surprised that a clash of the diametrically opposite views of these two men should produce sparks. Edith is tenderly loved by her father after his fashion. He looks upon her as precious inheritance from his wife, who had died young and is said to have been fair and gentle like her daughter. Edith knew her mother only from portraits and from her father's descriptions. Although brought up under the care of a good-natured aunt she had, as she confessed to me, after we became acquainted, never ceased to yearn for her mother.

This circumstance, no doubt, was largely responsible for the rapid development of affectionate relations between us, as Edith declared with loving enthusiasm that I was in her eyes the pattern for all mothers who took their duty seriously. As I have no difficulty in sympathizing with the joys and sorrows of the younger generation, I have been successful in maintaining relations of friendships between myself and my children. Edith is a shrewd and sensitive observer, and has adopted as her rule in life, the beautiful motto to understand all is to forgive all. A few days ago, she protested in her gentle, tactful way when Carl declared in her presence that the older generation, by whom he meant myself, all wore blinkers and were incapable of seeing, and still

less of understanding the rapid changes and improvements of our age. Edith said, You do not know your mother if you can say such things. Mother is a happy blend of a quiet wisdom of age with a quick intelligence and resolution of youth. Whereupon Carl, a little shame, muttered, perhaps mother is an exception, but she, too, is full of prejudices. I have wandered from the point and must now return to Edith, who in her despair leans against my shoulder, sobbing violently. Tears cloud the vision and exaggerate the misfortune from which we are suffering. A grown-up person giving way unrestrainedly to his or her tears is suffering much the same emotions as a weeping child. I saw an Edith, a weeping child, who must be treated with the same caution and objectivity as

other weeping children when their little souls are afflicted by some misfortune. Angry, defiant tears should be promptly suppressed or else left to cry themselves out. But tears shed in pain call for sympathy and consolation. It is possible if one has the gift to enter into the pain of others. I saw that a conflict was being waged in Edith's soul between filial attachment, on the one hand and loyalty to her betrothed on the other. I saw that the one sentiment counterbalance the other, and that for the time being it was only a struggle between two mutually incompatible obligations that was tormenting her.

I had to find out very tactfully whether Edith's love for Carl was still strong enough to outweigh and possibly thrust permanently into the background, her devotion to her father. The violence of Edith's sobbing subsided. Still, I said nothing, but only stoked her, fair, silky hair. She was the first to speak. Mother, you understand me. Help me. Edith's appeal for help touch me to the heart. I understand you, my child, and I will help you as well as I can. Sit down and listen to me. I had taken Edith into my bedroom, which contained Ernie and Volfi's bed as well as my own.

There I seated myself on the small, croton covered sofa, which separated Ernie's bed from mine, and made Edith sit down beside me. As the temperature of the room was very low, I gave Edith a large wool and wrap and put on my own winter jacket. It was forbidden by legal to create a heat rooms after four o'clock and our oil stove was in use in the common sitting room. I will help you as well as I can, I repeat it. In order to alleviate or get rid of a sorrow and illness or any other vexation, one must first be clear as to its cause. Our reason is very often consciously or unconsciously governed by our feelings, and we are often quite content to let ourselves be guided by the latter. Yet in the doubtful cases, for instance, in such as a case as yours, we ought first to appeal to our reason.

Then we shall also be able to find the right solution of your trouble. Oh, mother, said Edith, seizing my hand gratefully. I knew that you would help me, and now I said, you must answer my questions, quite frankly, and without any sort of shyness. Yes, mother, just ask me. And the look in her candid blue eyes told me that I should not need to subject her to a long and detailed cross-examination. And now I put my questions, the first of which was aimed straight into the heart of the matter. Do you love Carl as much now as you did at the time when you became

engaged? By love out of the many and various notions comprised under the term, I meant that purely psychological ideal love, which prepares the way for the physical union of two human beings. Such a love is as a rule expressed in excessively enthusiastic terms and is deaf to any rational criticism. To the best of my observation, the betrothed between Carl and Edith had originated from such a love based on a purely ideal, only on purely idealistic notions. If Edith's love for Carl had not undergone any change, Edith's answer would be a brief and emphatic. It was not. Edith replied evasively. She said that hithers-to she had believed that her love for Carl was strong enough to overcome every obstacle until their marriage. A year ago, at the time of their betrothal, Carl had been a

different person. Up to now, she had tried in vain to fight against this alteration. Carl was often domineering and obstinate with her. The very circumstance that this change in his nature was thought to be the result of his head wound aggravated the conflict to her heart. The wound was also perhaps responsible for the fact that Carl's love for her had assumed a more violent and passionate form. Carl, who was always harsh and unyielding towards himself, probably suffered in silence more than he was willing to let us see. Edith and her steadfast sense of duty concluded that now, above all, she ought to stand by Carl and try to help him regain the mental poise,

which he seemed to have lost, for at the present time, separation from her would be more than he could bear. Now I had the answer to my question. Carl had quite alienated Edith by his altered disposition. It was not love but supreme unselfishness that prevented her from giving him up. I had listened to Edith's explanation and silence. Now I put my second question. And your father?

I shall try to explain to my father that I cannot and will not break off my engagement to Carl at this moment. At the same time, I shall promise him that I will gradually try to bring our engagement to an end and that I will never consent to adopt Carl's political views. And if your father refuses to give way, then I shall leave him to his observation. and do what I think right. Now tell me, Mother, whether you approve my point of view, for I want to follow your advice. I had nothing more to advise. Edith had once more given proof of her faculty of clear and energetic thought and action. I was only apprehensive in one respect. I could not quite conceive how she could gradually break off her engagements of Carl, and yet, as Carl's mother, and in view of

Carl's an overstrained nervous condition, I could not be, I could not but be grateful to her for her consideration and avoiding such a breach just now. At the same time, I saw the dangerous which might arise from both of them as a result of Edith's well-meant plan of releasing herself from her engagement gradually. As at that moment, however, I had no better advice to offer. I could only concur with Edith and promise to help her in every possible way. I'm going to stop right there. There's so much that can be said about this. It's just knowing that this was, this was forced upon them,

that this is just revenge, this is just hatred. This is, when you see the way the Austrian and the German people were treated after World War I and then you see how they were treated after World War II, it's impossible to not realize that there is. There's a group of people out there very powerful that wants to see them destroyed and wiped off the face of the earth. There were ads during this episode. You can get the episodes early and ad-free if you want to support the show. Free Man Beyond the Wall.com forward slash support. He can support me there on my website.

You can do it at Subscribe Star, Gum Road, where else, Substack, Patreon, and you'll get the episodes early and ad-free. All right, until episode five, thank you for tuning in. I really appreciate it. Take care. Bye.