My grandmother on my mother's side. She lived in Vienna and fled the Nazis in 1938 on the Kindertransport. We've collected quite a bit of information on her side of the family (many letters, genealogy, etc) but it would have been great if I could have asked her questions about that time... In that theme: I would love to be able to visit (with no lasting effects) Cafe Central in Vienna, near the start of the 20th century. Just take this extract from the Wikipedia article:The café was opened in 1876, and in the late 19th century it became a key meeting place of the Viennese intellectual scene. Key regulars included: Peter Altenberg, Theodor Herzl, Alfred Adler, Egon Friedell, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Anton Kuh, Adolf Loos, Leo Perutz, Alfred Polgar and Leon Trotsky. In January 1913 alone, Josip Broz Tito, Sigmund Freud, Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Lenin, and Trotsky (the latter two being regulars) were patrons of the establishment.
How fabulous that you have letters from you mother's mother. What language are they written in?The café was often referred to as the "Chess school" (Die Schachhochschule) because of the presence of many chess players who used the first floor for their games.
Wow - I'd love to visit there as well. My grandfather played chess with Trotsky in Switzerland between the wars - or so I was told - but maybe they first hung out in Vienna.
Vienna is a lovely city, I visited last week but didn't have time to visit the Cafe Central. I'm definitely going to revisit it. The letters were in German, although they were later translated into English by one of my relatives. Unfortunately I only have the English copies. I would love to try translating them myself.