My Arrival / Meine Ankunft



My mother did not want any more children and was therefore very unhappy when she found out in 1909 that she was pregnant again. This time it was me. The whole family spent these summer months, before I was born, in Germany. They stayed in Hals, a little village on the river Ilz not far from Passau. After I was born I almost never cried, my mother told me. One day, when I was already several weeks old, I suddenly discovered that I could cry and it took a while before I finally had enough of it, much to my mother's relief. She must ahve had lots of fun with me. She said that I made her always laugh, because I supposedly was so funny. I was always serious smiling or laughing only rarely.


Lilly holding Stephanie

My mother told me often that while I was still very small, I could tell when I was not welcome to be around. I would retreat quietly when I felt that I was in the way of the cook or the busy maid, or, if my mother had a headache. I knew instinctively that I should leave them alone. 



My father made some home movies of us in Schuetz, where my parents lived when I was born. I remember only two of the movies; one, when I was still a little bagy, he put a handkerchief over my face, which I pulled down again and again. The other, when I was bigger, we four children entered a big travel basket which my fahter then locked and rolled down the wide steps of the terrace into th garden. There he opened it and we all disembarked unharmed! He liked to play tricks. Not for nothering he was declared the "Witze Koenig" (joke Kind) of Egypt.


The back of our house and garden could be seen in this movie. It was quite large, with big palm trees and bushes. A hedge surrounded it which concealed a wire fence tokeep off intruders as well as animals. Beyond was the desert. 

The property was close to the beach, where we went almost daily. We had a big cabin on wheels which could be moved when the tide came in. My nurse was an older Italian woman who took care of me as long as I was still very young. Later we had an English governess. 




Unfortunately, I do not remember many details of Egypt. We didn't ask questions and my mother only rarely talked about that time. My father talked still less. 

In 1910 my mother travelled to Palestine and joined there a friend who came from Munich, Germany, Mrs. Wolfsteiner. Together they visited Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jericho, and followed the orad Jesus took when he was on his way to be crucified. They both earned a big diploma for this deed. They also visited the river Jordan where my mother filled a bottle with water and had it blessed. She brought it back to Alexandria where it was used for my baptism. 

In 1911 we all spent the summer in Mornex, a resort in the French Alps, while my father travelled to England and stayed in Manchester. While there, he wrote that he was very satisfied with the results; probably from selling pictures or being comminssioned to paint portraits. During the following winter, Mrs. Wolfsteiner was our guest in Egypt to excape the rough Bavarian winter. 

My parent's social life in Egypt was very active. They had many friends, and their life was abundant with social gathering. They belonged to the German and the English Sporting Clubs and to other clubs as well. Among their friends was the German businessman Fritz Hess and his wife Klara. Hess owned the German import-export business which his father had started many years earlier in Egypt. They had a private bowling alley attached to their home and entertained their friends regularly through bowling matches. 


My mother loved bowling and showed me the trophies she had received at these bowling evenings; imported silver items from the German Krupp Works and from the Zwilling Works, and small gift porcelain dishes from other German companies. 

This friendship lasted for the rest of my parent's lives and to the next generation. The daughter Grete was about three years older than I. Her older brother Rudoph and Alfred, their wives and, later their children, became my best friends for life. 
Anoterh lifelong friend of my father was the Swiss business man, cotton, grower and exporter Mr. Reinhard who, in later years was of great help to our family. Other friends' names were the Lindemans, the Haeusgens, the Osborsn and other with whom my parents remained in contact for many years.



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