Getting Lost

FAO headquarter in Rome has access to all facilities. Whereas I had completed all the prescribed medical shots in Rome before travelling, Lavinia had not been vaccinated against hepatitis. This was our first priority as we reached outskirts of Vienna.

We stayed in a hotel on the southern side of the Danube river, with excellent view of the city across it. A medical clinic was noticed nearby.  She arranged to get the vaccine injection next morning,  whereas I already had an appointment to visit the forestry specialist recommended to me in Rome.

I called Dr. Kronfelnor-Kraus, on phone as his office opened and told him about my arrival and where I was staying. He immediately recognized the place and offered to pick me up.

As I had a car, I informed him that I could drive to his office. He gave me instructions how to reach there. As these were unfamiliar German names for the roads and streets, I tried to jot
down as much as I could and started driving towards the desired location.

After covering a few miles, I had the feeling that I should ascertain my directions by calling him again.  So I stopped at a petrol station where I could read the street name clearly and rang him. He gave me fresh instructions, with equally complex street names, along with the usual go straight for so much distance and trurn right and then left, and so on.

I tried my best but evidently I was not any nearer to his office even then.

I was in a quandary and not sure what to do. In a state of sheer uncertainty, I called him again to get further directions.

Did it help?  Definitely not!

As he had already provided instructions twice,  I decided not bother him anymore.

Seeing a hotel nearby, I decided to go in for a cup of coffee. As soon as I finished drinking it,  I came outside and signalled for a taxi, with the written address in my hand.

I showed it to the driver. He opened the door for me to be seated but I declined, and told him that I would rather prefer to go there driving my own car.

He had a quick look at the bright new car in the nearby parking lot and asked me to follow him driving his cab in front of me.

We drove our cars along the highway, with a few right and left turns, and soon found the Institute I had been looking for. The cab driver stopped and pointed to the door that was the entrace to the big building that looked quite impressive in full sunshine and clear blue sky.

I paid him what he asked and thanked him for his assistance.

The scientist and his much younger and attractive Secretary were waiting and greeted me with a warm welcome. They soon had a big smile when I narrated my cab story.

Surrounded by mountains, Vienna is known for research in snow hydrology. The Institute of Avalanche and Torrent Research had projects relating to avalanches, such as avalanche dynamics and avalanche forecasting.

Dr. Kronfelnor-Kraus briefed me on research related to the role of forests in risk handling on mountain watersheds in Austria.

 I spent a memorable afternoon discussing the mountain watershed research project he had been working on.

Global Tragedy

I soon realized that Austria, the capital of western classical music, had also given Hitler to the world. A memorial stone for the victims of the Nazi regime is located in front of Salzburger Vorstadt 15, Braunau am Inn, Upper Austria. This was where Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 and spent his first three years.

The charming town, about 60 km north of Salzburg, is on the south bank of the Inn river which marks international boundary of Austria with Germany. The inscription translated into English is: "For Peace, Freedom and Democracy. Never Again Fascism. Millions of Dead Warn (us)".  Estimates of total dead range from 50 million to over 70 million.

Hitler’s first name "Adolf", meaning "noble wolf", was from Old High German. As a boy he was often whipped by his father. He was a good student in elementary school, but failed in the sixth grade and had to repeat it.

His teachers noticed that he had no desire to work. At age 16, he dropped out of high school. From 1905 on, he lived a bohemian life in Vienna on an orphan's pension and some support from his mother.

Hitler wanted to be a painter by profession,  but was rejected twice by the Academy of Fine Arts.  He struggled in Vienna, copying scenes from postcards and selling his paintings to tourists and merchants. When he ran out of money, he sought  refuge in a homeless shelter and settled into a house for poor workers.

During First World War,  he served in France and Belgium as a runner for the Bavarian Reserve Regiment. This exposed him to enemy fire. He drew cartoons and instructional drawings for the army newspaper. In 1914, he was decorated for bravery and awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class, followed by the First Class four years later.

Having been a long admirer of Germany, he had become a passionate German patriot during the war, even though he did not become a German citizen until 1932.

After the Nazi Party seized power in 1933,  Hitler pressured Austria into unification with Germany.  In 1938 his troops invaded Austria and he made a triumphal entry into Vienna with a cheering crowd of several thousands.

The annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany was proclaimed by Hitler from the balcony of the city hall in Linz. This was in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, the terms of which had been drawn up by the victorious Allies without the participation of Germans.

Hitler’s first act of aggression against an independent sovereign nation was the start of the events that ultimately led to World War II, a global tragedy.  His rapid rise from almost total deprivation to the zenith of power in a few years ultimately ended in losing it all, including his own life and those of sixty million,  after becoming so ruthless and oppressive.