Hermine Diwald

Hermine Diwald - photo by Nigel A. JAMES

Connecting the Good


There are some people who have an enormous reserve of deep inner passion; they have a certain “peace” about them that provides strength and meaning to those that they meet - and one such person is Hermine Diwald. But, Hermine’s strength didn’t come about by chance, it grew out of cunning and stealth!

It all began at the end of the 2nd world war. All over the world, people were returning to their homes, not so for the Donauschwaben, they were being driven from theirs! And, amongst them were Hermine and her family, they were from Werschetz in the Banaat, and they, like thousands of others had been sent to a transit camp! They had a choice - and it was simple, stay put in internment and end up somewhere in Russia (and possibly even dead), or escape and take your chances. And so it was, that the 13 year old Hermine, her family, and others as well, left through a gap in the fence and started their sometimes hard, but always dangerous flight to the west!

Hermine’s family ended up in Vienna where they all succeeded very well. Other Donauschwaben went further a field, and some of them didn’t stop until they had reached America, or, in some cases, even further.

People don’t flee from places, they flee from people; and people who have fled and survived have one very big thing in common, the place that they came from, and the place that they came from will always be home!

And home needs keeping alive! From Vienna, Hermine and others are still busily producing and sending out the Werschetzer Zeitung, a periodical journal containing all that is of interest to this group of very unique survivors. Its news is interesting and factual, but there is one thing that will never be found amongst its pages, and that is bitterness. Yesterday was yesterday, now is now, and Werschetz will always be Werschetz; and the Werschetzer Zeitung will always continue to connect!

The Werschetzer Zeitung is a very big part of Hermine’s life, and, thanks to her efforts, an important tradition has taken on the importance of historical reality, not only “abroad” but “at home” in Werschetz as well!


If you wish to drop me a line, my e-mail address is the following, njmailboy@gmail.com

Leopold Hawelka

Whilst Being Served at a Viennese Coffee House - Pencil drawing by Nigel A. JAMES


Hawelk's - More Real than Tradition

Coffee houses are, without any doubt at all, the most important Viennese institution of all. Without them, Vienna wouldn’t be the place that it is; for it is within their walls that life on all different levels takes place. Nearly everyone can count a coffee house as an important part of their present, their past, and, without any doubt at all, their future, too. Coffee houses are important because they are special.

But there are a few of them which are somehow more special than the rest; and the thing that distinguishes them are the people who run them; and, high up on the list is Hawelkas, small in size, but very big in feeling, and run by Leopold Hawelka, a man who has become a real life legend!

Leopold Hawelka, has just celebrated his 99th birthday! And he celebrated it, of course, where he still works, in his coffee house.

The Hawelkas opened their coffee house within the shadow of St. Stephen’s cathedral in the centre of Vienna in 1939. It survived the war with them, and, since then it has been sung about by Georg Danzer, created in, debated in, fought in, loved in, and everything else that is expected to be done in a coffee house – and all of the time within the same non-changing décor of ever yellowing walls and the same Thonet chairs.

Sadly, Mrs Hawelka passed away five years ago, but if she were still to be with us, she, too would still be standing and keeping order and directing people to impossible to find tables. At Hawelka’s there’s always a place to be had.

I started going to Hawelka’s about thirty five years ago. To my way of thinking, Herr Hawelka hasn’t changed at all, I’m the one who has put on years, not he!

And the future? Rest assured, the future generation of Hawelkas has become the present and is already in place. Hawelka’s is set to out-live us all!

And keeping up with the times? Hopefully, Hawelka’s will remain unchanged for ever; people, after all, feel comfortable in familiar surroundings, and places that one knows are always fun to go back to.

I have decided to celebrate my 99th at Hawelka’s too!



If you would like to contact me, my address is, njmailboy@gmail.com

Have you read my This Month’s Short Story yet? Click on to “short story” under "pages" at the top right hand corner of your screen! By the way, it’s a true story!

Marathon Aches!

Marathon Torture - photo by Nigel A. JAMES

Last Sunday was the Vienna marathon, and with only one hundred meters to go, the thought of the finish and the end of the pain was the thing that was driving this runner on. He finished near the end, but he finished all the same. Well done!

Robert Rutöd

Keeping the Record - pencil drawing by Nigel A. JAMES

Confirmed Expectations

There is, on at the moment, an exhibition of Robert Rutöd’s photography at the Galerie Ruth Maier in Vienna. And, after having read about it in the Wiener Zeitung, my expectations were high!

There I found more than just very good pictures! What I discovered was a collection of excellently photographed moments - the split seconds in life that add up to the whole.

Moments are important! And life, one could say, is made up of them; and it is the role of photography (I believe) to capture them; and Robert Rutöd has successfully positioned himself at the front of a long-standing tradition that started with Alfred Stieglitz, and, along the way, has included such great names as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Brassai.

Simple snaps have a role to play, too. But only the practiced eye is able to pick out, recognize and shoot the essential– and all within the space of a very quick second. This is Robert Rutöd’s forte. He is recording our life!

And how he is reporting it is important, too. In Robert Rutöd's style there is an unusual colourful clarity of simplicity that doesn't fog the importance of the moment. What's important is the preserving of the split second of the now before it is gone for ever!

And this is the point of his photography. Moments very soon become the past; and it is the past that is interesting for the future; and, in years to come, Robert Rutöd’s pictures are the ones that people will be looking at and saying that that’s what life was like in those days!

I arrived at the exhibition with high expectations – they were confirmed. This exhibitio is to be seen!

This exhibition, which includes one or two small surprises as well, is on at Galerie Ruth Maier, the address is 1070 Vienna, Siebensterngassse 25. It is on until the 25th of April and is open from 4 in the afternoon until 7 in the evening.

The telephone number of the Galerie is 01 944 5500

Also of interest is Robert Rutöd’s home page, www.rutoed.at

My e-mail address is the following, njmailboy@gmail.com

For Those We Have Loved

Maxi Lighting a Candle - Photo by Niigel A. JAMES

For Those We Have Loved - A Weekend of Tragedy in Europe!

Candles not only provide a warmth of memory, but also a comforting light in our moments of darkness!

Halina Seidl

Halina Seidl - Photo by Nigel A. JAMES

The Clearing of the Fog


Big chances in life often come about by taking advantage of circumstances at the time; and, sometimes it’s better to go where life leads you than to try and plan it and shape it in advance.

Halina Seidl grew up amongst the dying dreams of socialist Poland. Things weren’t easy and the prospects for improvements and great advancements were practically non-existent. The future, it seemed at the time, was like a fog on the horizon - and no different at all from the ever rolling mists of the moment.

Being the youngest of a very large family, Halina knew how to fight and manipulate; and so, being armed with the confidence of success, she set out on her way through life. One of her brothers had already left Poland, and it was to him in Vienna that she went for a holiday one summer.

Her vacation turned into a working holiday. A friend of her brother’s needed some help in his restaurant. For three weeks she saw no sun, nor did she lay on the beach, but what she saw was better than even the most breathtakingly beautiful sunrise! Appearing before her were all of the opportunities that were waiting to be picked. For Halina, the fog had suddenly cleared and the sun had come out! Vienna had decided to keep her.

Starting anew in a foreign country means more than just getting a job, there is also a new language to be learned. This proved no problem for Halina. Soon her German was fluent enough for her to take over and run one of the greatest Viennese institutions of all, a sausage stand. Halina was in business for herself. And to run a sausage stand successfully means acceptance, and the number of regular customers that she had was also proof of her popularity.

Business grew, and the sausage stand soon gave way to a small restaurant in the 13th district of Vienna. On the menu are the popular dishes that are part of the fabric of the Viennese soul, and because sausages, too, are part of the Viennese heart, Halina has kept the street side of her tiny restaurant as a sausage stand. But if sausages are the food of today, children are the hope of tomorrow!

And children are very important for Halina. As well as building up and running a very successful catering business, she has also been quietly running a family and bringing up two beautiful girls. Most people complain about the lack of time, but the truth is, we all have as much of it as each other! Halina has been leading more than just one parallel life, she has been leading four! She started a new life, she learned a new language, she launched her own business and she founded a family! What is she going to do next?

Halina’s restaurant is to be found in the 13th district of Vienna in the Hietzinger Hauptstrasse at number 90 (just where the railway crosses the street).

If you would like to send me a mail, my address is njmailboy@gmail.com

Ps. You might like to read my short essay on doors. http://lexmatica.blogspot.com

Frozen Spring Moments

Early Spring Coffee - I took this picture whilst walking around Vienna last week. Winter had given way to spring and everyone was out enjoying themselves. If you look carefully, I am somewhere in the picture - not only once, but also twice! I wish you all a very happy happy Easter!