Language:
English
Pages:
136
,
typescript (photocopy).
Year of publication:
1978
Keywords:
Actors.
;
Education, Primary 1871-1918.
;
Education, Secondary 1871-1918.
;
Families.
;
Pianists.
;
Theater 1918-1933.
;
Women authors.
;
World War, 1914-1918.
;
Cologne (Germany)
;
Magdeburg (Germany)
;
New York (N.Y.)
;
United States Emigration and immigration.
;
Autobiographies
;
Biographical sources
;
Memoirs
Abstract:
The memoir was written 1978 in New York. Recollections of the author's childhood in Cologne. Hilda Albersheim was the youngest and overly protected daughter of four. Her father was a physician, who had his practice in the spacious house of the family near the center of Cologne. Description of the large household of the well-to-do family, including a governess, a chauffeur, a cook and two maids, as well as the weekly laundry woman and two seamstresses, who sew dresses for mother and Hilda. Memories of Easter celebrations. Salon of her aunt Emma, who had famous guests such as the conductor Wilhelm Furtwaengler and the pianist Edwin Fischer. The family valued cultural activities highly, and the children were introduced to operas at an early age. Each of the children had piano lessons. Hilda was sent to a private school. She grew up never exposed to politics and did not know of her Jewish origin until the second year of school. Summer vacations in the mountains and at her cousins in Den Hague. Recollections of World War One and its aftermath. Hilda was enrolled in the newly established Girl's Gymnasium in Cologne. After graduation, during the peak of inflation times, she was assigned for a homemaking school in Rothenburg, where she was confronted with antisemitism for the first time. Skiing trips in the mountains. Hilda had a passion for theatre from an early age on. Her father especially opposed the idea, as he feared the vicissitudes of the profession. Fencing lessons at the club of university students. Private instructions from an assistant of Max Reinhardt. Engagement at the Salzburg Reinhardt Festival in "Jedermann" ["Everyman"], where she was among famous actors such as Alexander Moissi. Apprenticeship at the Bavarian State Theater in Munich. Encounter with the famous Russian-Jewish theatre troupe "Habima" during an engagement in Constance. Solidarity and intrigues among actors.
Abstract:
Rise of national socialism. Dismissal of the Jewish theater director and growing awareness of the political threat in Germany. Rejection of further engagements. Affidavit from her brother in New York, who had recognized the danger of National Socialism in time. Emigration to the United States in 1933, where Hilda Albers-Frank worked as a piano teacher and music therapist after a brief career in acting.
Note:
Available on microfilm
,
Synopsis in file
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