[VideoView]

Christine Forestier

My Childhood
video length:
02:26
interviewer:
Ruth Deutschmann
photography:
Benjamin Epp
copyright location:
Innsbruck
date of recording:
2008-08-20
English translation by:
Sylvia Manning - Baumgartner
Italian translation by:
Nicole D´Incecco
event
[1935-10-03] Abyssinian - War The Abyssinian war ends with the annexation of Ethiopia, the then kingdom of Abyssinia and the founding of the colony of Italian East Africa, by fascist Italy. Italy warfare is characterized by the use of poison gas, of retaliatory massacres, the destruction of Red Cross hospitals, mass liquidation of the local elites and clergy, the contamination or burning of villages, livestock and fields. In this war, more Ethiopian civilians are killed than soldiers.
place of recording
Brixen
???iuimd_video_v_zeit_zuordnung_en???:
1922
transcription:
My childhood. My mother said I was the first of her children that she nursed herself. In those days, in good families mothers didn't nurse their children. My grandfather was a doctor and broke with that stupidity right away. He threw out all tight corsets and advocated a natural life. He was good friends with Father Kneipp. So I grew up quite naturally. In a nice family. I had five brothers and sisters at the time. Two more were born after me. So ? four, five, six, seven siblings. We had a very nice childhood, a villa with a large garden. There wasn't that much to eat because the First World War had just ended. Then we became Italian; I think in 1917, when I was born. The Italians were waging the Abyssinian war and also fighting in Libya and Eritrea. We were very hungry at the time. We didn't have any bread, only bread made from cornmeal which was always mouldy. Those were hard times. But food wasn't so important in my family. We didn't have any toys either. We had a tyre we pushed around. Or some stilts we made ourselves. My oldest brother organized fun games for us like blind man's buff and cops and robbers. We played such games. It was always fun. He also taught us to act. We performed plays. Once a year we performed small plays. My oldest brother directed us. He wanted to become an actor but became a doctor. What else do you want to know?