were glad that the imperial court was over and done with, and only a few shed a tear for the old system. The Viennese were hungry and cold. There wasn’t enough accommodation. Traumatised soldiers were coming home and the city was full of refugees. Shell-shocked soldiers, invalids with prosthetic limbs and on crutches, beggars, tuberculosis sufferers – these were the daily reality. Countless widows, fiancÊes abandoned forever and daughters in mourning-dress stood in line every day for a little bread.
Elfriede Mejchar: Hermesvilla with barred windows, around 1960
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