This may seem a bit odd - but the fact that me and my siblings know all about our ancestors back until 1675 is thanks to Hitler and his "1000 Year Reign" which he promised when occupying Austria. Because - let's be honest - who would bother to search back as far as that? But our parents - born 1901 and 1912 respectively - had to do just that! It was to prove that you were not of Jewish ancestry! And for this - you had to bring-up christening certificates and church-marriage certificates an the full works - back to as far as it would go. That's the exact why our family tree is there - although we are not one of the "noble" kind - who do nothing else but searching their family tree.
So it came to light that one of my unmarried ancestors was Lady of Honour at the Austrian Court - since she was a trained hairdresser and hat-fitter. Makes reason that the "Kaiser" family had some practicle things in mind - too - when they made someone "Maid of Honour" which was normally reserved for those ladies from nobility. Another female ancestor - but she was married - was cook at one of the Imperial residences - where the family used to stay in Summer - in the country.
Some of my male ancestors had been called to Vienna by the Kaiser from far away - what is today Czechia- but was all Austria at that time - as they were gifted gun-makers with some patents to their name.
And what amazes and intrigues me most - some of those male ancestors gave their profession as "Privatier" - meaning - a private person - they had no profession at all but could make their living by their own private means - whatever they were - we cannot fathom - no stories have come down to us in that respect.
However- as far as the 18th and 19th century goes - we know very well that our ancestors were very hard working people - mostly involved in wine culturing, along the shores of the Danube which has this very special micro-climate and soil to allow the growth of the most exclusive wines on earth- back to Roman times. Later - and often simultaneously - wine growers sold their own wines in small pubs - either directly in the wine cellar or in open air - depending on the weather - to the public. As they prospered - they established pubs and restaurants in the capital - making a good living.
Wine growing and culturing in Austria could never be "industrialized" as it had been the case in many other parts of the word (South Africa, California, even France) and made fame and riches for those families who ventured into it. The stretch of soil along the Danube with this blessed micro-climate is very limited. Those who ventured to other places near the Hungarian border etc. still make some good living - some even ventured into Romania and cut their native wines with that - but quality of their wine is nowhere near the original "Wachau" (the stretch between Ybbs and Vienna along the Danube) wine. Still - since most consumer won't know the difference - they sell all the same- and why not. What intrigued me when looking at our family tree was - the marriage of two people living in adjacent villages - both owning vineyards - often the woman being older than the man. Which leads me to the conclusion that it was not exactly a marriage out of love and passion?! But rather of convenience. But it's only speculation , of course - we don't know the story....
All in all, my father and his brothers as well as my mother and her siblings were able to prove that there was never a trace of Jewish ancestry - all ancestors were duly christened and married by the blessing of the rom.cath. Church.
Although none of us here today are really church-goers on a regular basis, and by far not fundamentalists in a religious way- and many of us even had doubts to have our children christened - we all "bent" to the rules at the end of the day= had our children christened and married in church. By and all - although we don't approve of many things that His Holiness - the Pope says -
at least - you know where you belong to. The Roman Catholic Church is something that holds the promise of "eternal" if nothing else does. Maybe in the far future - someone will want to single out those sorcerers who stole those multi-multi- billions that have vanished from today's economy and caused the world-wide crisis. Some singled out persons stand in court and say "I'm sorry" but their fortunes are already well hidden and distributed somewhere - where no tax authority is allowed (or being able to) to look.
The Pope or the rom.cath. Church would never forgive such a person unless he pays everything back or make amends in any way he can. Civil justice is just a fake - a tiger without teeth - and nobody really takes it seriously any more - least of all the criminals. So I think - by and all - when one day the world's sorcerers will be persecuted yet again, whoever they are - Catholics will not be the ones.
All in all we can be most proud of our ancestors - with some doubt being shed on those 2-3 "Privatiers" they were all hard working people and some of them even ingenious. There's no story here "from beggar to millionaire - or rags to riches" except the one of my very own father. Aged 45 he was one of the last one drafted into Hitler's troops when WWII already was in its last breaths. After being wounded in battle in Ukraine - the remains of his battalion was taken captive by Russians and put into a camp - as yet not really organized or fortified. Although his right hand only had a rather slight shot wound - the surgeon wanted to amputate his hand the very next day. He and 2 of his friends, also with wounds - decided to flee camp. And they did - walking all the way home - by night - 1200km through the woods. When he arrived at home- the war was over - he was a beggar- because all his business and livelihood was destroyed - his fortune and savings gone. He started completely from fresh - but he still had his right hand intact (almost fully functioning). And he restarted business and made it to a millionaire! I was one of the children born after his return home - quite some years after the war- but they were by no way "fat" years - but years of struggle and suppression under a political regime that was democratic only by name. Our part of the country was under Russian occupation until 1955 - and nobody should forget that! By comparison - many business people in West-Germany had made fortunes since war-end already - while we were still struggling to make small change! However - with the Peace Treaty of 1955 at least we were as FREE country - deeply in debt - because we had to pay Russia a fortune in "reparation" still - but Free - and unlike the Eastern German Republic - which stayed under "Russian Occupation" - although it was called otherwise - until 1998- until the Berlin wall fell.
Never being one of those "filthy rich" - as my father was too honest and by far not "wise" enough for that - instead - always paid taxes - (unlike those Jews who came back and had a tax break for 10 years officially) - where is justice her??? but still - !
This story about our ancestors makes me think and troubled: while our family does not really look back with rancour and hate - although we have lost our inheritance and fortunes - what will others feel when looking back?
Although thinking + writing about ancestors is something popular - at the same time -we should remember that destiny is in our very OWN hands, and it's better to look FORWARDS rather than backwards. What should we take from our ancestors? Their power of endurance - of courage! Of never giving up against the odds!
When we want PEACE in this world - we should just try for some moments to walk in other people's shoes and consider - how THEY look at their ancestors. Take a Palestinian - take an Iraqi person - take any person who came for asylum in your country.
Now - while we all know that MOST of those people come to foreign countries for "economic" reasons and not because they are actually persecuted for political reasons - (officially only 2% of those people can actually prove it - the rest just tell a story which in doubt - is evaluated into their favour) and I'm the 1st one to say - hello - stop - we can't take them all on ----- still - take a moment and reconsider what these people may have in their brain regards to THEIR ancestry - and you can be sure that a lot of injustice - suffering - and endurance is there. Whenever we can - those of us - who are still living in our own country and can do so under "bearable" circumstances - should stretch out our hand to those others - who had to flee their country and their home. You can be biased about the real rights to asylum or not - but one thing is sure- NOBODY runs away from home without a good reason - and its mostly a painful reason. I'll also admit, that amidst those - there are - well it's hard to guess - and don't take me wrong - maybe 50 - 70% were - technically speaking - criminals already at home - but this may also be just 20% - who knows? But this does not mean these are BAD people as such. In a healthy environment - these may prove the best and most faithful pillars of society. What's against the law in "their" country is simple entrepreneurship in any other. But we also get a lot of rubble - like gypsies who never have or ever will work - or so called artists - that are just prostitutes of whatever sex and find that here is the better paying clientèle - no doubt. This in all would not be the worst - the worst - the modern "slavery" of gangster bands selling young girls from Eastern countries into EU - their work permit as being "artists" - young girls that were hoping to find work in the European Community as waitress, barmaid, nurse , nanny or cleaner - anything to get away from the misery at home - and find themselves locked into a room and forced into prostitution. People - bad people - will find any loophole they can - to make money! What happens to those slave-drivers when they are caught - which is seldom? NOTHING ! They have destroyed hundreds of lives - of young women who will suffer all their lives! Do they get vengeance? No. Civil Law - The toothless tiger!
I'm not a "green" person or one of them Charity matrons - saying "help them all" but rather I beg you : think twice!
Not all Pakis are rats , not all Russians are Mafia - not all Iraqis are Mullahs - and here I speak especially for Europe - not all black people are drug dealers, not all young Ukrainian girls are whores.
It's so easy to generalize - but please bear with me - putting people and races and nationalities into a drawer of prejudice is not worthy of you - if you are an intelligent and educated person with some - any kind of religious background. As ALL religions teach us - to respect human beings individually. Find out what's behind a person - before you bear judgement. Stretch out your hand - and encourage a dialogue. It's no time wasted!
One of these little gestures may save your son or grandson being drafted and go off to yet another senseless war and battle-ground. We are but pebbles in a pond - or ants in the wood - but you'll never know if is not just YOUR gesture, which makes the difference and the scale dip in favour of peace.
The great dictators of our century have returned - most of them - from European exile into their home country (Stalin, Khomeini etc.). Does this make you THINK ?
And here I also want to appeal on those young people who emigrated and now looking back to a line of ancestors who suffered injustice- with pain in their heart.
Read this story here - and know - that my parents who had no way to avoid our Russian occupiers in their business after WWII- even made some friends amongst them and did everything to make "their"- the occupiers - life as easy as possible in those difficult times. It was illegal to make "friends with the enemy" - and although war was over - Russians were somehow still "the enemy" - a contradiction in itself - however - nobody is your personal enemy unless you make him!
A practical example: in my fathers new restaurant - he had to take on Russian military as guests (whether he wanted them or not) and by becoming friends with them - catered for their special festivities in so far as letting one of their cooks teach our staff to cook special meals and recepies they liked. Of course - nor all ingredients were on the market - so the Kommandatura "helped" to get them, plus special rations of Vodka, Kaviar, and what else they wanted. When - in turn , when my father needed extra rations of sugar for his guests (which was not available on the market) he got them - too. With the help of his friends.
Life is always easier with FRIENDS!
You don't get what you want in life with murder and shooting (although my father had a gun hidden away somewhere for emergencies)
Life is never easy for most of us - the more friends you make - the more you "give" will come back to you - the more you contribute to peace and well-being within your very own small universe - will come back to you and your children!
The world is what you make of it. If your ancestors have given you a good example - fine - if not - do not carry any rancour and ill feelings of hate into your own life and future. It only serves to make it bitter and more difficult. As I'm one of the rare people to have a parent born in 1901 - and so have recent history on my fingertips - I think I can speak with authority on that subject. In short - it's still justified to have FAITH. Faith and hope.
