domenica 9 febbraio 2014

Emozioni: ritrovare la nonna


La mail arriva inaspettata. “My dear, I was deeply affected when I opened your e-mail and found myself suddenly looking at my very beloved Großmama…We had the same Photograph of her, one in Vienna, one in Baden. The one in Vienna was destroyed by the bombs that destroyed our flat, the one in Baden, destroyed by the Russians”. Chi scrive è la zia Eva, la cugina di mio padre. Per me è sempre stata la zia Evi, perché così la chiamava la mia nonna. Insomma, la foto della bisnonna Rudolfine, con cui ho cominciato questo Album di famiglia, non esisteva più per la zia Evi. Distrutta dalle bombe nell’appartamento di Vienna, dai russi nella casa di Baden.

La zia Evi va avanti: “I don't think the photo was taken at the occasion of your grand parents wedding. As far as I remember it was taken a few years later at the occasion when Tante Hilda and Onkel Guido came to Baden with their two little boys Luigi and Mario”. E racconta con emozione della sua nonna: “Großmama , by the way she was always called RUDJE ( that is the Dutch version of Rudolfine ) died in 1930 in tragic circumstances. They were giving a great musical party in the Christallniggasse, at which my father was going to sing . In the morning Großmama went to the hairdresser's and said to the girl who did her hair: ‘Today you must make me look very beautiful, because my son is going to sing at our musical party’. She left the Hairdresser's Salon and collapsed in the street. ........she was taken to a hospital, but as she had no identification papers on her, no one knew who she was. Meanwhile, in the Christalniggasse, the preparations for the party were in full swing........ but Großmama did not come home and no one knew where she was ..... Late at night, I was lying in my bed in Vienna (I was 7 years old) my father came back from Baden, where they had at last found out what had happened. He sat at my bed, with tears running down his face and said: ‘Your Großmama has died’".

Evi ha ritrovato l’immagine della nonna con grande emozione: “I am very happy with Großmama's photograph and shall print it out and put it in a frame”. Arriva una mail e la foto distrutta settant’anni fa torna davanti ai tuoi occhi. Perché una era in Italia…

John Mitchell, Eva Mitchell von Rupprecht e il piccolo Oliver
 
Avevo già raccontato qualcosa della zia Evi in Ischia nel 1939 . Eccola bellissima in una foto rimediata nella solita cassa da cui attingo. Dietro l’immagine è riportato a matita probabilmente dalla mia nonna: “John Mitchell, Eva Mitchell von Rupprecht e Oliver – Kairo(?) 1953”. Evi e il marito John, insieme ai quattro figli, hanno attraversato paesi e cambiato continenti. Una vita avventurosa. Come un romanzo.
 

 
Evi tra l’altro ha scritto un libro sulla storia di famiglia. Mi dice infatti: “If you are interested in all this family history, you could read about it in the little book I wrote years ago; ‘From Yesterday to Tomorrow’ - I think your father has a copy of it. Chapter 3 tells you about the marriage of Rudje and Friedrich, the Naval officer ; and there is quite a lot about the ‘Franzenstraße’ too and all the aunts the so-called ‘Cousinage’".
Scrivo a stretto giro per chiederle se posso usare le sue parole. Nessuna risposta. Un po’ mi preoccupo. Avrò innescato emozioni forti con la foto? Dovrò stare più attenta a mettere in rete immagini che possono riaprire cassetti chiusi a chiave da tempo? Mio padre intanto ha chiesto ad un fotografo una copia restaurata dell’immagine e l’ha inviata ad Evi. Mi aggancio a queste mail e torno a chiedere: posso usare questa storia. Ancora nessuna risposta. A questo punto sono quasi sicura…devo aver sbagliato qualcosa.  Poi arriva una mail: “I can't tell you how BEAUTIFUL ! the picture is ! I put it in a silver frame - it looks stunning. Am so grateful to you! It really has given me more joy than I can say”. Insomma, la foto è arrivata. E a margine della mail un piccolo post striptum: “I just realized, that you are using my OLD E/MAIL ADDRESS. Please use the new one”. Avevamo solo usato la vecchia mail… .
 

Nessun commento: