Hera Lind brings real-life novel protagonists together in Fuschl

Bestselling author Hera Lind brought several people whose lives inspired her novels together in Fuschl am See over the weekend, ORF reported. Since 2010, Lind has written only books based on true stories and the life paths of real people.

Among those attending was Claudia Holzgartner, who became a mother of quintuplets as a young woman and inspired Lind’s latest book, Löwenmutter.

Two of the children died relatively soon after birth, Lind said, while the triplets who survived also needed additional support. Holzgartner’s marriage later came under strain. After her husband more or less forced her to move five times for professional reasons, she fell in love with the removal man. Both of them attended the meeting in Fuschl.

Holzgartner said Lind had handled her story respectfully and empathetically. “You do, in a way, put part of your life into the hands of someone who is initially a stranger,” she said.

The meeting took place at a hotel in the centre of Fuschl am See and brought Lind together with protagonists from several of her books. For the women whose personal stories became novels, it was a particularly significant occasion. Lind’s latest book spent several weeks at the top of the bestseller lists this year.

Lind’s next book tells Tamar Dreifuss’s story

Lind’s next factual novel focuses on the story of Tamar Dreifuss and her five-year-old daughter, who were interned in a concentration camp during the Nazi era.

Lind said she was particularly impressed by the mother’s courage. Although she had nothing left to lose, Dreifuss acted “with her head held high”, the author said. From a pile of clothes, she selected the finest and most elegant items, including fur-trimmed clothing, patent leather shoes and a velvet ribbon for her daughter. Dressed in that way, she walked out of the concentration camp with the child “with her head held high”.

The five-year-old girl was Tamar Dreifuss. For decades, she worked to pass on her story and raise awareness of the circumstances faced by Jewish women and men during the Nazi period. Dreifuss died at the age of 85 in the autumn of the previous year.

Her daughter Iris Hagedorn attended the Fuschl meeting, where Lind discussed the new book. Hagedorn said the story was more than a family memory. “For me, it is not only the story of my family, of my mother and my grandmother. It is a story that must not be forgotten.”

Lind’s novel about Tamar Dreifuss will be published on November 11 under the title Erhobenen Hauptes.