Tragedy of the runaway Empress
Suffocated by court life: Empress Elisabeth, who married aged 16
QUESTION Why did Empress Elisabeth of Austria abandon her royal duties?
EMPRESS Elisabeth of Austria was born into the royal Bavarian house of Wittlesbach on December 24, 1837. she enjoyed a carefree childhood with nine siblings. When she was 16, she was chosen by the 23-year-old Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph I, to be his wife, though it had been long intended that he would marry her elder sister.
Taken from home so young, Elisabeth, or sissi as she was known, was unprepared for the formalities and restrictions of Hapsburg court life and her domineering mother-in-law Archduchess sophie.
Tall and stunningly beautiful, with ankle-length hair, Elisabeth captivated the public and her husband alike, but she did not reciprocate his feelings. she found him dull and controlled by his mother and her spanish court ceremonial in his public and private life.
Often abandoned due to the many civic duties her husband was obliged to undertake, Elisabeth read, wrote poetry and studied the culture of the nations of the Empire, primarily Hungary, which she visited as often as possible. Franz Joseph indulged her wanderings, but throughout their marriage he tried to persuade her — with little success — to remain in Vienna with him and their children.
‘I always want to be on the move,’ she wrote. ‘Every ship sailing away fills me with the greatest desire to be on it.’ soon after the birth of her first child, the Empress became obsessed with her diet, weight and beauty routine.
she followed a strict exercise regime, went for long walks of up to ten miles and took daily steam baths to keep her weight at just under eight stone. she rarely ate in front of others and would go for days without eating to lose weight. Her corseted waist measured 16in, her hips 24in. Today, her lifelong obsession would be described as anorexia.
After the suicide of their only son, rudolph, in 1889, Elisabeth suffered a severe bout of depression and left Franz Joseph again to wander incognito across the Continent and North Africa, dressed in clothes of mourning. During her search for peace of mind, she refused police protection, wishing to avoid press attention and curious members of the public.
On september 10, 1898, aged 60, she was on her way to board a boat in Geneva for a trip to montreux when she was stabbed to death by Luigi Lucheni, a 25-year-old Italian anarchist.
Anne Morgan York, Bournemouth.
QUESTION Is it true that birds do not fly over Auschwitz?
I HAVE heard this story from many a good authority over the years. The idea is that the birds have some innate understanding of the atrocities that had occurred at the concentration camp.
Visiting Auschwitz in 2009 and 2018, I decided to observe for myself if this claim was true. On the way by coach, I saw many birds and large flocks flying around on a sunny, but cold, day.
Once inside, I clearly saw birds flying and even landing on some of the buildings. I spoke to the polish guide and he told me he had heard the story many times and it was one of the most common questions from visitors.
He told me how he thinks the story came about, saying: ‘Where the place has such tragic human stories and atrocities were committed here, people liked to think that even the birds had an opinion on what happened there.’
But birds have no reason not to fly over this place and do so in blissful ignorance of what we humans can do to each other.
Other stories of other animals, such as hares, rabbits and mice, refusing to enter the camp have proved false, as these creatures can be seen running around. I hope this puts the myth and rumours firmly away and people will remember this place for what it represents.
Gary Litchfield, Portsmouth, Hants.
COLIN RUSHTON’S book The saboteur Of Auschwitz is the account of Arthur Dodd’s incarceration in the concentration camp. The final part of the story concerns his return to Auschwitz in 1999.
The last paragraph reads: ‘The most uplifting moment of Arthur’s momentous return to Auschwitz came when he suddenly became aware of scores of swallows, chattering loudly as they swooped like spitfires from the skies.
‘After the total absence of bird life over that death camp during the years 1943 to 1945, they represented a symbol of victory. Good had triumphed over evil.’
John Whapshott, Westbury, Wilts.
I HAVE never forgotten the school visit I made to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany.
We listened to a recording of the commanding officer who had liberated the camp. He talked of the eerie silence and the fact there were no birds when the camp was liberated. He said it was the stench of rotting corpses that kept them away. He added you could smell the camp when flying above it in a plane. This might explain how this story began. Sandra Morrison, Tenby, Pembs.
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