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The trip to Vienna was an agonizing nightmare. The truck carried the few pieces of luggage that we were able to bring with us from Hungary . Dohnányi had packed only a small suitcase, into which he had placed nothing but his tuxedo, a suit, one or two of his manuscripts including his most recent symphony, and some other small items. He had also carefully placed his favorite book, Casanova’s memoirs of his travels through Hungary, into the suitcase. This book, which was the only keepsake that Dohnányi had intended to save, mysteriously disappeared at some point in our journey. It was probably thrown out by German soldiers who, in their anxiousness to help us, replaced it with food. Later in the journey, German military guards stopped the truck at every corner and tried to make us get off to make room for their troops. It took all our courage to defend ourselves against them. When the truck finally reached Vienna, Dohnányi received two rooms at the Collegium Hungaricum.1 It was decided that Dohnányi and Julius would stay in one room while I would share the other with Helen, our chambermaid Bözsi, and our dwarf spitz Csöppi, which we had saved from Hungary. Fräulein Hermine would leave her sister’s home near Karlsbad to join us two days later. The German soldiers carried our suitcases into the Collegium and put them in a corner. After they unloaded a box of bread, milk, and other provisions that had been packed at home by my mother, Dohnányi invited them to eat with us. The German soldiers just stood there, hesitantly waiting in the doorway to tell us goodbye. “No, sir,” one of the soldiers said roughly, to hide his emotion. “You and your family were most hospitable to us in Budapest, even though we were forcibly quartered in your home. Now you’re no SIX 1944–1946  1. This building had once housed the bodyguards of the Empress Maria Theresa. After World War I the Collegium Hungaricum had become the home of Hungarian artists and students who were engaged in research or studies in Vienna. 128 | Ernst von Dohnányi longer rich, your country is reduced to misery, and you’re here in Germanoccupied Austria at our mercy. We are poor, sir, but we’re still able to return at least a little part of your hospitality.” He beckoned to his friend and they rapidly unpacked a huge ham, a loaf of bread, and a bottle of wine, placing them on the table. “This time you’re our guests, sir. Bon appétit—and farewell.” Without waiting for our thanks, they hurried away. The loss of Dohnányi’s book broke my heart. Although he was obviously upset that he would not be able to finish the book, he still tried to console me. “Let’s not groan over what we have lost,” he said. “The important thing is that we are alive and together. We must start a new life. Let’s not look back any more, only forward. Always forward.” Dohnányi continued , “Wars always have been, and always will be. This one is the worst because humanity has developed so much technology and is using all its knowledge for murder. Perhaps the greatest crime of all mankind was to invent gunpowder. All these horrors are consequences of that.” Dohnányi buried himself in the manuscript of his Second Symphony in E Major, op. 40. He had completed the first and fourth movements in Hungary in full score. Now he was going to finish the two inner movements . He was so absorbed in his composition that he seemed absolutely unmindful of the thunderstorm raging around him. While composing the Symphony, he also had very little chance to make use of a piano. There was one in the room of a former pupil of his who also happened to be staying in the Collegium, but Dohnányi hardly ever used it. We spent our mornings in the cellar, where we were sheltered from the continual air attacks. Fortunately, these attacks consistently took place in the mornings, leaving our afternoons relatively safe. Dohnányi spent most of his free time in my room because my stove miraculously stayed warm for at least half the day, even though we were granted only a handful of coal each day. My room was also warmer because so many people, along with our little dog, lived in...

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