When I talk about my parents' forced departure from Vienna, I generally focus on the tragic outcome: the death of almost all their immediate family members, except for my father's brother, Fritz. On this Father's Day, I'd like to focus on the bravery -- combined with what must have been ingenuity and a bit of luck -- that got Paul Jarolim to America from Nazi-occupied
Austrian history
Survival in Vienna: My Badass Cousin Bruno
Here's another long-time-coming post from my blog archive, this one dating back to July when my cousin Andreas Oberndorfer first discovered this blog and contacted me. I wrote about Andreas's fascinating past, the missing links in his family -- and mine -- in the post Redheads, Resisters, & Red Light Districts, 1: Valerie Oberndorfer-Kornmehl. I have many excuses,
19 Berggasse: A Twice-Famed Address
I've mentioned many times that this blog is a cousin magnet. I don't even have to try to attract relatives; they just gravitate towards the Kornmehl name. This is a wonderful thing, especially when I've been too busy to blog and I can entice one of the cousins to write a guest post. A brief note. You'll be hearing more soon about Lary Ecker, my third cousin once removed