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Archduchess Helene, Archduchess Ferdinand of Austria

b. 1937

Born
20 May 1937, Winhöring
Country of birth
Germany

Living person. The family sees only the name, dates and photo; everything else stays private unless they choose to share it.

facts
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sources
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Facts and their sources

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A life in time

  1. Born · Winhöring

    Birth, Winhöring

What was it like?

The world around Winhöring, 1937: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Archduchess was born around the same time as Terence Hill, Elvis Presley, and John Lennon.

Born around the same time

  • Terence Hill

    1939 · Italian actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer

  • Elvis Presley

    1935 · American singer and actor (1935–1977)

  • John Lennon

    1940 · British musician (1940–1980)

  • Pelé

    1940 · Brazilian footballer (1940–2022)

  • Jackie Stewart

    1939 · Scottish racing driver

  • Yuri Gagarin

    1934 · Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, first human in space (1934–1968)

Fashion
Around 1925–1933

Functional fashions replaced the corset

In the 1920s, the corset fell out of fashion, replaced by functional dresses without emphasized waists and shorter hemlines ranging from knee to calf length. Women often used foundation garments like hip-shaping belts to achieve the modern silhouette.

Around 1925–1933

Special attire for Jewish festive occasions

Jewish women often purchased new, luxury outfits specifically for high holidays and festive occasions like Purim or Hanukkah, though they were sometimes cautioned by community leaders against wearing excessive, flashy displays of wealth in public.

Music
Around 1925–1933

Popular dances and home music consumption

People embraced new dances like the Charleston, foxtrot, shimmy, and tango, often using record players and radios to enjoy the music at home.

Around 1920–1930

Popular singing and songs

Singing was a popular pastime, with groups like the Comedian Harmonists rising to fame and children frequently singing songs like Three Chinese with the Double Bass.

Getting around
Around 1930–1930

Record-breaking train journey times

The futuristic Schienenzeppelin train set a world record by traveling from Hamburg to Berlin in only 1 hour and 38 minutes.

Around 1925–1933

Rural goods transport by horse carriages

Despite the growth of automobiles and trucks, horse-drawn carriages remained the dominant method for transporting goods in rural areas.

Daily life

Schooling and Daily Costs for Children

Children typically attended day schools, carrying their books and lunches in long tin satchels. At schools like the Pestalozzi Fröbel Haus, pupils could purchase milk for 5 pfennigs or dine at school for 10 pfennigs.

Around 1925–1933

Modern Apartments with Running Water

New public housing apartments offered improved living conditions with central heating, built-in kitchens, and private bathrooms featuring hot and cold running water. Such modern units were rare and highly sought after, with some families waiting years on urgent priority lists to secure them.

Food
Around 1920–1933

Daily shopping and dishwashing routines

Because food could not be kept fresh without refrigerators, working-class housewives shopped daily for small amounts, spending at least an hour each day comparing prices. Dishes were washed in two basins pulled from under the kitchen table, using soda instead of soap and drying them with care, as there was no running warm water.

Prices and wages
Around 1932–1932

Worker family budget in 1932

In 1932, a worker in a Berlin transformer factory took home 109.56 Reichsmarks monthly. After paying for rent and household supplies, the family had only 38 Pfennigs per person per day for food and drink.

Work
Around 1925–1933

Memorable Factory Work Facts

Factory tasks often relied on team piecework where productivity quotas were strictly enforced, and breakfast breaks were sometimes staggered so machines would not stop running. Workers in textile factories sometimes operated a neighboring worker's machine during their own designated break times to ensure continuous output.

Around 1925–1933

The Reality of the Working Day

Although an eight-hour day was a major victory in 1918, it was frequently violated; some workers reported days starting at 7:00 a.m. and ending at 5:00 p.m., while others worked until 7:30 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. Shifts were common, and factory work often continued on Saturdays, with some employees working every other Saturday.

News and letters

Berlin pneumatic tube mail system

Berlin used a pneumatic tube system (Rohrpost) with speeds up to 50 km/h to rapidly transport urgent documents like telegrams across the city through 255 kilometers of tubes.

Around 1939–1945

Field post delivery times during wartime

During World War II, field post delivery times varied by front; for example, mail to the northern Eastern Front took 5 to 9 days, while mail to the southern Eastern Front took 12 to 16 days.

During their lifetime

  1. 1961

    Berlin Wall separates nation in 1961

    The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 ended free movement from East Germany and created a death strip that separated families for decades.

  2. 1992

    Record asylum applications in 1992

    In 1992, the number of asylum seekers in the Federal Republic reached a record high of over 438,000, following the collapse of the Eastern bloc.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.