Living a long life was a gift

Before COVID-19, most of us in the USA had been spared being affected by diseases and conditions that led to premature death. It was very different for earlier generations. Helene experienced a great deal of loss in her life. The prospect of living to a ripe old age was not an expectation. Helene’s mother had 13 pregnancies, 8 of whom led to successful births. Only Helene and her brother lived into middle age. One sister died very young and we do not even know her name. Other sisters survived into young adulthood. Her sister Ida died in childbirth at 32 and her sister Mathilde/Mattl died at 31. According to her story about the influenza epidemic of 1889 which was posted on January 17, although only her uncle died at the time, two of her sisters were quite sickly for the rest of their lives, dying in their early 20s. Of her 5 Zerzawy nieces and nephews, only Helene’s nephews Robert and Paul survived past age 20.

Helene apparently experienced no ill effects from the 1889 influenza epidemic and survived the 1918 influenza epidemic with no problem. According to her childhood stories, she had inflammation of the inner ear as a young girl, which affected hearing in her left ear. Because of this, she never learned to swim, but otherwise she seems to have been very healthy.

One common disease for which there was no cure was tuberculosis. Helene came down with TB by 1913. By the late 1800s, sanatoria were created for patients to recuperate in a suitable environment. A German Jewish family established a sanatorium in Merano (or Meran), Italy for poor Jews who could not otherwise afford to stay in a sanatorium.

Although my grandmother didn’t write about her experience in Merano in February of 1913, we have several photos of her there. At the time, she was 26 years old and had been working and living on her own in Vienna for about 10 years. It appears she enjoyed herself immensely in Merano while regaining her strength and health.