We All Giggled

Thomas O. Hueglin

Description

We All Giggled tells the stories of two families that came together when the author’s parents met and married in 1945. The Hüglins had lost most of their fortune in the course of two world wars, and the Wachendorff s had survived the Nazi years despite their Jewish ancestry. The families’ roots are traced back to a vineyard in southern Germany, a jail in Geneva, the Conservatory in St. Petersburg, and the hometown of a Jewish merchant in Silesia.

This engaging book centres on the author’s recollections of his grandparents, his parents, and his own growing up in postwar Germany in an environment of bourgeois stability and comfort. As the author chronicles his family’s ups and downs and abiding love for music, food, and art across several generations, a rich tapestry of anecdotes unfolds—about opera singers, restaurants, and travels, and about family relations, romance, and the kind of “impromptu reactions to people, places, and situations that often result in uncontrollable giggles.”

Sujets

• Life writing

Informations

• Publié par: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Date de parution: 28 septembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781554587094
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

We All Giggled
LIFE WRITING SERIES
In the Life Writing Series, Wilfrid Laurier University Press publishes life writing and new life-writing criticism and theory in order to promote autobiographical accounts, diaries, letters, and testimonials written and/or told by women and men whose political, literary, or philosophical purposes are central to their lives. The Series features accounts written in English, or translated into English from French or the languages of the First Nations, or any of the languages of immigration to Canada.
From its inception, Life Writing has aimed to foreground the stories of those who may never have imagined themselves as writers or as people with lives worthy of being (re)told. Its readership has expanded to include scholars, youth, and avid general readers both in Canada and abroad. The Series hopes to continue its work as a leading publisher of life writing of all kinds, as an imprint that aims for both broad representation and scholarly excellence, and as a tool for both historical and autobiographical research.
As its mandate stipulates, the Series privileges those individuals and communities whose stories may not, under normal circumstances, find a welcoming home with a publisher. Life Writing also publishes original theoretical investigations about life writing, as long as they are not limited to one author or text.
Series Editor Marlene Kadar Humanities Division, York University
Manuscripts to be sent to Lisa Quinn, Acquisitions Editor Wilfrid Laurier University Press 75 University Avenue West Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.


Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Hueglin, Thomas O. (Thomas Otto), 1946- We all giggled : a bourgeois family memoir/ Thomas O. Hueglin.
(Life writing series) Also issued in electronic format. ISBN 978-1-55458-262-4
1. Hueglin, Thomas O. (Thomas Otto), 1946—Family. 2. Hueglin family. 3. Wachendorff family. 4. Germany—Biography. 5. College teachers—Canada—Biography. I. Title. II. Series: Life writing series
DD247.H83A3 2011 378.71’092 C2010-903902-5
ISBN 978-1-55458-315-7 Electronic format.
1. Hueglin, Thomas O. (Thomas Otto), 1946- —Family. 2. Hueglin family. 3. Wachendorff family. 4. Germany—Biography. 5. College teachers—Canada—Biography. I. Title. II. Series: Life writing series (Online)
DD247.H83A3 2011a 378.71’092 C2010-903903-3

Cover design by Sandra Friesen. Cover photos from the collection of Thomas Hueglin. Text design by Catharine Bonas-Taylor.
© 2011 Wilfrid Laurier University Press Waterloo, Ontario, Canada www.wlupress.wlu.ca
This book is printed on FSC recycled paper and is certified Ecologo. It is made from 100% post-consumer fibre, processed chlorine free, and manufactured using biogas energy.
Printed in Canada
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions called to the publisher’s attention will be corrected in future printings.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
The stories are for Hannah and Jacob The book is for Gerda
A map I drew of Lake Starnberg in grade 3 under the watchful eye of Herr Kopp.
Contents
Thanks
What This Is About
P ART I: T HE HÜGLINS
1. Tango
2. A nearly missed wedding
3. Madonnas and Buddhas
4. Diaspora
5. Les artistes
6. Nationalökonomie
7. Rhenish humour
8. Genealogy of men
9. (Some) artists again
10. The villa(s)
11. Christmas
12. Mucki
13. The Planter
14. Nemesis
15. Zauberberg
16. Varasdin on the Isar
17. Nüssli mit Likör
18. The surroundings
19. Kids
20. School
21. Cars
22. The Jewish question (I)
23. Black Forest
24. From music to medicine
25. War
P ART II: T HE W ACHENDORFFS
26. A sombre beginning
27. A macabre anniversary
28. Back stairs
29. The photographer
30. The factory director
31. The gardener
32. Tyrant and charmer
33. Possible encounter
34. Another Chile connection
35. Hattenheim
36. The Rhine
37. Freie Heimat
38. Books and poems
39. The Jewish question (II)
40. Same subject continued
41. Postscript
42. In from the cold
43. Favourite aunt
44. Hans-Erich
45. Family reunions
46. Gamelan meets baroque
47. Reborn
48. Middle names
49. Middle ground
50. Skin of our teeth
51. War again
P ART III: R ENATE AND HANS
52. Presto agitato
53. Courtship
54. The crossing
55. Occupation
56. Wings
57. Degrees of separation
58. Presto agitato again
59. Interlude
P ART IV: T UTZING (1950s)
60. Little house on the lake
61. On the town
62. Boys and girls
63. Catholics and Communists
64. The hotel
65. Erika
66. Piano lessons
67. Music, caviar, and space
68. Star-struck
69. Beaulieu-sur-Mer
70. Disaster
71. A few months later, back to the memoir
72. Geneva
73. On the radio
P ART V: M UNICH
74. Esmeralda
75. The apartment
76. The doctor
77. The piano
78. Dallas
79. School again
80. The group
81. Girls
82. Ambach
Thanks
I was surprised when everyone seemed to think that these stories should be published. The first one to suggest it was Brian Henderson, director of WLU Press, to whom I had mentioned only in passing that I had put together a kind of family memoir. Then Rob Kohlmeier, managing editor at WLU Press, very diligently and congenially reviewed the first draft and made a number of great suggestions for revision. I still could not quite believe my luck and therefore sent the manuscript to Alison Wearing, a former student, a good friend, and a successful author. It was her supportive enthusiasm that convinced me that, yes, perhaps this could be published after all.
But it probably wouldn’t have all come together without Gerda, my aunt who is a vigorous ninety-one years old now and who still lives in the old house on the Rhine. According to her own count she read the manuscript no less than three times in its various stages. I made several trips back to Germany, and together we rummaged through piles of old photos, letters and diaries. As always, we also had endless conversations, while I was visiting as well as over the phone.
We had some disagreements over how this, that and the other really happened. I suppose that she would be mostly right at least with regard to those stories that were about her in the first place. Sometimes I relented but for my own sense of authenticity I mostly I kept to my own recollections, the way I had heard it first, mainly from my parents, and the way I had remembered it. Regarding one particular episode, Gerda exclaimed: “Well, I really don’t’ think that it could have happened this way!” And then she added: “But it’s such a good story!” Here and there, I have simply acknowledged our disagreements in the book.
My daughter Hannah also read various portions of the manuscript, and she corrected a few details her daddy had gotten wrong. Although she grew up far away from me in Europe, Hannah has always been a regular participant in my Canadian life. When I finally became a Canadian citizen last year, she sent the following note, which was read to me during a surprise party organized by Sherry Howse, the indispensable human anchor of the political science department I belong to:
“You showed me moose, beavers and loons. You taught me the J-stroke and let me hold the steering-wheel while you cleaned your glasses—what were you thinking?! You have given me Canadian fiction to read, you’ve taught me about the history of that country, and through you I’ve learned about the multi-cultural and exciting place it can be. So—next time you drive down the strip in Grand Bend (towards a horizon that could be anywhere), in your Bavarian car, blasting British hits and wearing your Cuban hat, with a trunk full of Italian wine and Spanish cheese, and a Canadian steak to throw on the BBQ, I think that yeah, you’ll fit right in … and I’ll be happy to know that you’re at home.”
My son Jacob will read the book some time later. He is sixteen and mostly preoccupied with the unfolding of his own life. But when he sometimes puts his hand on my shoulder I know that he cares.
The last year has been very difficult for me. But I also found out how many true friends I have. Especially, I want to thank Sherry, Ay-ling, Gerry, Wendy, and Jerzy for seeing me through it.
What This Is About
The plan was simply to write down the old stories for my children, Hannah and Jacob. My father had been the storyteller in our family, and we had urged him many times to write it all down. But he was nearly incapable of writing. He said it hu