Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.

Today’s post is something different — a gift from Helene’s cousin Hilda to Harry.

For much of December, we’ve seen letters and cards acknowledging the holiday season. Like many Jews in Europe, Helene and her family were secular Jews, celebrating a nonreligious version of Christmas that included gift giving, family gatherings, food, and festivity. As I mentioned in the post on Harry’s birthday, our family has our own version of such celebrations today with our “Family Unification Rituals” - “Furry” Events, a term coined by Harry’s wife.

The gift of this biography of Mahler is a perfect snapshot of a family that loved classical music and being together. Hilda’s inscription says:

San Francisco, Calif
Dec. 19, 1944

No merry Christmas!
No happy New Year!
No happy Birthday!
No anything!

Hilda

Hilda and Harry’s birthdays were a day apart (some of Hilda’s vital records show them having the same birthdate). In her inscription, Hilda acknowledges that they don’t officially celebrate anything – holidays, birthdays, etc. And yet they did! In the December 16th post, at the time Hilda was sending this book, Harry was asking Eva to send her a birthday bouquet on his behalf. 

As with many things that my family kept, this book has more meaning than it might seem at first glance. The San Francisco Chronicle has many articles and advertisements about Bruno Walter being a guest conductor with the San Francisco Symphony. Hilda was married to Nathan Firestone, who was a violist in the San Francisco Symphony. I would guess that Hilda, and perhaps Harry, had met Walter. They certainly would have seen him conduct. Although I could not find a video of him in action, I found a video of Mahler’s 5th Symphony conducted by Walter which shows photos of him and of Mahler. According to Wikipedia, like Eva and Harry, he came to the United States in late 1939 to escape Nazi persecution. In the 1930s, he regularly conducted the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera, so they would have seen him before coming to the U.S.