My Years with Ludwig von Mises.pdf - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

again with Moissi as a guest. But one evening there was trouble in
the theater. Moissi-in doctor's garb-had attended, with permission
of the resident physician, a child's birth in a hospital, and
students and women revolted against him. There was such a commotion
at the end of the performance that the actors could not take
their bows; the stagehands did not dare to raise the curtain, and
Moissi never again came to Hamburg.
I was very lucky; I found a furnished apartment, modern,
heated, in a good neighborhood. When the train situation improved-it
was around Christmas-Feri accompanied our child
and the nurse to Hamburg. Feri stayed with me for four months.
He was very upset that he could not work in Vienna, and I felt
guilty about it. But I still was not ready to give in.
When he left I soon discovered that I was pregnant again, and
now Feri implored me to come back to Vienna when my contract
expired. He finally had found an apartment and it was to be ready
bythe time we returned.
The apartment was beautiful, located on the sixth floor of one of
the few buildings that had central heating, at that time still a great
luxury in Austria. From the windows we looked far over the roofs
of the old buildings to the tower of St. Stephen's Cathedral. At all
times we heard the big clock chiming, and on Sundays and holidays
the bells were ringing. I loved that apartment. For the first
time I had a home. Finally I was at peace with myself. For some
time at least.
When my daughter Gitta was born I took care of her myself. And
when I caught our cook cheating us by selling our eggs and groceries-which
were so hard to get-for lots of money to other people,
I dismissed her and started cooking myself. I had plenty of help
otherwise, of course. We travelled a great deal, but always in Austria,
and the children were with us wherever we went. Feri was a
wonderful father, happy and proud about his family.
In the summer of 1923 I took the children to Travemunde, a
bathing resort on the Baltic Sea. Feri could not get away immediately,
but was supposed to come a few weeks later.
This was the worst year of the run-away inflation in Germany
and Austria. I carried a suitcase with me, containing money for one
day. Every evening my husband had to cable fresh money, for the
value of the krone decreased daily.
One day 1 got a telegram from Feri's secretary asking me to come
back immediately: Feri was seriously ill. I rushed home and
hardly recognized him. He died at home a few weeks later, of a
lung sarcoma. He was a chain smoker. His physician was Dr. Rudolf
Strisower, a second cousin of my future husband, Professor
von Mises.
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