The complexity of my dissertation topic - in a nutshell

I recently met one of the most impressive and energetic women I've come across in all my years of working with Holocaust survivors. She is 92, lives alone, seems to be in great health, and is mentally quick and alert. She organizes weekly museum outings and social gatherings for friends, reads multiple papers, watches all the world news, and is on top of it all in a way I could never hope to be. She moves around the city, engaging and experiencing. I hope I am like her in some small way when I am that age. Hell, I hope I am like her NOW!

I won't use her name, but it's important to know that she returned to Vienna after the war from London as a communist, coming to take part in rebuilding a democratic Austria. I interviewed her last week and when I asked her, after 4 hours of very deep and in-depth discussion, to boil it down and answer the main, big, simple, break-it-down question - WHY DID YOU RETURN TO LIVE IN VIENNA? - she said:

"Why did we return? Because we were naive. We thought they wanted us, needed us. HA!"

I asked her if she'd ever thought of leaving and going back to England or to the US where she has family. "Not at all."

So, there it is, folks. Survivors came back to a place that did not welcome them nor expect them to return. They were slapped in the face with this reality very quickly upon arrival...but they'd never think of living anywhere else. And that is what I have to explain.

Oy vey.

Getting a little darker?

I've been thinking lately about sharing some of the things I am finding in my dissertation research because: (a) I want to scream to the world, "what the fuck?!" (sorry, Mom) when I read some of it, and (b) it helps to process. People also seem to be interested in some of it, so why not? You don't HAVE to look at my blog.

So, my dear 2 readers...I may intersperse horrific archival findings with my fun/funny stuff, too. If you know me, then you know that maybe this can work, too!

The Hoff is Back!

Needs no caption!

I love old people!

The other day in my English conversation group at the senior daycare center at the Jewish nursing home, one of the sweet little old ladies said, "I am so very sorry, but I must say that I prefer the British English to the American. The accent sounds so much nicer." This woman survived the Holocaust in England, and her accent reflected it - very proper!

The woman sitting next to me had lived in NYC from the time she fled in 1938/39 until just a couple years ago, and sounds like a native New Yorker. She hadn't heard the comment and said, "EH?? What'd she say??"

I tried to smile through it and said, "Well, Frau XYZ doesn't much like our accent; she prefers the British." The NY-er -- in effort to persuade her friend to enjoy the American delivery, I guess -- looked the other woman in the eye and said, "TOUGH SHIT!"

Addendum to the Wiener post below

I just saw "The Social Network." The picture below has a whole new meaning. And appropriateness.

See the movie. It's good -- but be prepared to feel like a manipulated moron upon leaving the theater. Especially when you immediately pull out your cell to check Facebook.

This will never get old. Never.

This is the men's magazine in Austria.

I'm not kidding.

Fulbright starts Tuesday!

Fulbright orientation starts Tuesday. I'll be sitting in on mandatory introductory sessions that include:

* Living in Austria: The Challenges of Everyday Life

* Austria: A User's Guide: A few points of historical orientation that may be of use when dealing with the "natives" in the coming months

I am especially looking forward to the session entitled, "The Austrian Condition!"

So, it might not be the most relevant information for me, considering I have my own little lab rat at home (!!), but it will be nice to meet the other Fulbrighters and to learn more about their projects and work in Austria. I do, of course, have the continued insecurity about my age and that I'll simply be the grandma of the group. But, oh, well. The price I pay, I guess.

On the upside, I will finally get to the Melk Monastery, as we have a little Fulbright field trip on Friday! It's one of those places "you have to see before you die" -- an hour from our apartment and it's taken me 6 years and a group of Americans to get there!!

Back in Wienerland

And I am going to blog. I am.

To update my 2 followers (who already know this, but still...), I'm finally ABD after 3 years of more or less 3/4 time in the US and 1/4 time in Vienna. I arrived last Friday (17 Sept) and am here full-time, researching and - theoretically, at some point - writing my dissertation.