Aristocrash

This novel encompasses romantic, loving and lifelong relationships, but also those which fell apart. The 1st World War. Between the wars: Abolition of aristocratic titles, escape, adventure, concentration camps. The 2nd World War. Then the peaceful times after the war with the need to rebuild and recover a sense of belonging. Christine’s eventful youth, as a Red Cross child in Switzerland, in the nunnery, as an acrobat in the circus, back home in her father’s company, the rock and roll years in the 50s and the day she, still a teenager, emigrated to Switzerland. The events in this book are factual and historically correct. The lives of the characters in this novel reflect the Zeitgeist. I spent a long time pondering all these experiences before I finally decided how to tell the story. By that, I mean that anyone who tries to write a fictional story about 5 generations of one family has to draw from a Fundus and this Fundus came from the lives of many people; in particular from notes, voice recordings, reports and photos which I discovered during my research. Every character, every generation looks for its own way to come to terms with society. One tries with conformity, another with resistance. In writing this, let's say, cultural history, I discovered the characters and their stories by research which I then developed little by little, because, in all cases the line of action was not clear at the beginning. The life of Franz von Dorn, who was born in 1900, was the starting point and his story led me to write this novel. Since he, himself, wanted to write a book, he left behind much of the material which I have used. It has taken me 5 years of lengthy, historical and biographical research to complete this book. A one hundred and fifty year family history! Starting with the aristocratic great great grandfather, over the great grandfather who unacceptably married a serving girl, the grandfather a brush maker with eight children, to the father who took an Hungarian artiste as his second wife and, with her, had one child after another; his first daughter Christine who would have loved to have had a higher education but instead because of her gymnastic talent was forced to work as a circus acrobat with three of her siblings and still as a teenager managed to escape and emigrate to Switzerland. Two families of completely different backgrounds come together here; the aristocratic land owners and the travelling performers and artists; the blue blooded communist who believed in freedom, equality and justice, who fought in the underground against fascism and through betrayal landed in a concentration camp. The people and their destinies pass in front of the reader as if in a film so vivid is the description in this book. The author presents a completely personal story of her family over five generations. It took her years to put together the whole story from what her father and mother told her and what she found in letters, documents, tape recordings, photographs etc. Some names of people and places where changed to protect the author and the people still living but the historical facts have been accurately reflected. Quote from the original German lector: Heide Reyer: “A huge undertaking and an enthralling read”.