Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.
As we have seen over the past several months, Helene loved the works of Goethe, often quoting him in her letters. In addition, she believed she had a personal connection to him. First we see a copy of a letter that Helene sent to Goethe Haus in Frankfurt, Germany on Goethe’s birthday in 1955. Goethe was born on August 28, 1749 and died in 1832.
On Goethe’s birthday, 1955
To Professor Dr. Eugen Beutler,
Goethe Haus, Frankfurt am MainDear Professor!
Since Dr. Alfred Warner of New York was so kind as to give me your address, I am taking the liberty of turning to you with a request. Neither in the San Francisco library, nor in the more extensive library in Berkeley, where I rummaged around looking for a reference book, could I find even one book about what I want to find out. I want to know if Ulrike von Levetzow’s castle was in Weseritz or Trblice, two neighboring towns in Czechoslovakia. All I could find out is that Professor Sauer wrote a book about U. v. L’s life, but I could not find this book in either library or in any bookstore. I was told at one of the bookstores that the book is no longer available and that publication of a new edition is very unlikely.
The reason for my interest is that my grandmother lived in both of these towns and that, according to tales my mother heard as a child, Goethe’s last love was an eccentric woman who had very little human contact, if any.
My grandmother was an aesthetically inclined woman who earned a living as a milliner.
One of her clients was Ulrike von Levetzow. After the latter found out through conversation with my grandmother, that my grandmother was an enthusiastic reader of Goethe, and, through further conversation, learned that her milliner’s second hobby was playing chess, a certain camaraderie developed between the two women, the details of which, dear Professor, I will not bother you with.
I don’t think there is any point in my asking Czech authorities about this matter, so I ask that you forgive me for taking the liberty of turning to you with such an unusual request.
At age 68, I thought it would be nice to leave something behind for my children that tells them about a better world, rather than just my memories of a concentration camp.
I hope that you will forgive my boldness, and I thank you very much in advance.
Sincerely,
Frankfurt, September 5, 1955
Frankfurt Goethe Museum
Dear Mrs. Cohen,
We are happy to answer your question and let you know that the castle of Ulrike von Levetzow is in Trblice. There is information about this in the following books:
Hedda Sauer, Goethe and Ulrike, Reichenberg 1925.
Adolf Kirchner, Memories of Goethe’s Ulrike, Aussig 1904.
A. Schams, At the home of Ulrike von Levetzow; a remembrance. In: German Homeland, Year 8, volume 6/7 Plan 1932I hope this has been helpful.
Sincerely
Dr. Josefine Rumpf
Helene says that she was referred to Goethe Haus by author and art critic Alfred Werner. We learned about their connection in the June 25 post.
In 1823, Goethe wrote a poem about his unrequited love for Ulrike von Levetzow (1804-1899). There is a museum dedicated to her in Třebívlice. One site I saw mentioned that by the end of her life, it was likely that Ulrike was the last person living who would have known Goethe personally.
A friend sent me a fun video about the life of Goethe, including mention of his infatuation with Ulrike.
I have vague memories of my mother telling me that one of her ancestors had been Goethe’s mistress. This letter clarifies the story - it turns out that it wasn’t a relative, but a client of my great-great-grandmother Babette Kraus as we see in the letters below, and she wasn’t his mistress but his late-in-life unrequited love. We learned about Babette in the February 16 post and that she loved Goethe — a love that was passed on to her granddaughter.