A dissertation and our marriage
Back to Utrecht in the fall of 1967 I lived with Willem in his student´s room. After having made a set-up of the content, I started writing the thesis on the typewriter. It was an old typewriter, where the letter “r” did not function well so that I had to push it by hand. But that was a minor inconvenience. Willem pursued his own studies and we saw each other in the evenings. As he was curious about my writing, he read each chapter and gave me his comments. I was very glad about his critical reading since it improved the logic of the text and gave me some confidence that my supervisors in Vienna would accept the thesis.
Since the study for his master´s degree was not enough for Willem he run again a student bar in the centre of Utrecht. To do something else and to earn some extra money I worked there once a week as a waitress and cleaner. For me the work was very colourful. Next to students I met there bosses of the local underworld whom I had to treat like gentlemen in order to avoid trouble.
At the end of the spring of 1968 I had finished the thesis and I went back to Vienna.
Since the study for his master´s degree was not enough for Willem he run again a student bar in the centre of Utrecht. To do something else and to earn some extra money I worked there once a week as a waitress and cleaner. For me the work was very colourful. Next to students I met there bosses of the local underworld whom I had to treat like gentlemen in order to avoid trouble.
At the end of the spring of 1968 I had finished the thesis and I went back to Vienna.
Preparation for the PhD degree
The first thing I had to do was to submit the thesis to my supervisors. The approval of Prof. Lhothsky, my first supervisor, was crucial because without it, I could not present myself for the exams. After a month of waiting he called me to come to his office. I was very nervous when I entered the department and announced my presence to the caretaker. He looked at me and said: “You are lucky, today Lhothsky is in a very good mood! He said that he had read a very good thesis.”
I hope it is mine, I thought by myself and entered his office. Prof. Lhothsky shook my hand and congratulated me. The formal paper of the approval he would send directly to the chancellor´s office. So with great relief I could concentrate on the exams. Three of them I could do before the summer vacation and the last one in the beginning of October. This meant that the promotion ceremony would be around middle of November and our wedding too.
I was studying for my first exam when a friend of mine brought me bad news: Prof. Lhothsky had left the university because he was terminally ill.
The first thing I had to do was to submit the thesis to my supervisors. The approval of Prof. Lhothsky, my first supervisor, was crucial because without it, I could not present myself for the exams. After a month of waiting he called me to come to his office. I was very nervous when I entered the department and announced my presence to the caretaker. He looked at me and said: “You are lucky, today Lhothsky is in a very good mood! He said that he had read a very good thesis.”
I hope it is mine, I thought by myself and entered his office. Prof. Lhothsky shook my hand and congratulated me. The formal paper of the approval he would send directly to the chancellor´s office. So with great relief I could concentrate on the exams. Three of them I could do before the summer vacation and the last one in the beginning of October. This meant that the promotion ceremony would be around middle of November and our wedding too.
I was studying for my first exam when a friend of mine brought me bad news: Prof. Lhothsky had left the university because he was terminally ill.
What now?
Although I was shocked by his private fate, I thought I had to check whether his approval of my thesis had reached the chancellor´s office. With a copy of my thesis in the hand I enquired at the office, but my worst fear became true, there was no approval document. What should I do? I was in despair. I decided to contact immediately another professor in this field. Prof. Zöllner was very empathetic and searched in vain in Lhothsky´s office for the approval document. Thereafter he contacted my second supervisor and approved very quickly my thesis so that I could do the exams. As planned, I passed them before the summer vacation.
Although I was shocked by his private fate, I thought I had to check whether his approval of my thesis had reached the chancellor´s office. With a copy of my thesis in the hand I enquired at the office, but my worst fear became true, there was no approval document. What should I do? I was in despair. I decided to contact immediately another professor in this field. Prof. Zöllner was very empathetic and searched in vain in Lhothsky´s office for the approval document. Thereafter he contacted my second supervisor and approved very quickly my thesis so that I could do the exams. As planned, I passed them before the summer vacation.
Organizing our wedding
Showing my parents the approval document of the thesis and the reports of the three exams, I did not expect any objection to organize in Vienna our wedding ceremony in the middle of November. But again my mother opposed the plan. “The ceremony in Vienna is too costly. But here in our village we have all facilities and a large audience”, she remarked. Did she want to make a big show for herself or was it only to save costs and force me to obey again? Although I was very enraged I did not say anything. After a while I went to my father´s office. As he seemed very pleased with the results of my study, I thought he might help me once. I told him that the wedding in the village was out of the question for me. There were only two options left: no wedding ceremony or a not too costly wedding in Vienna, where all my friends lived. To my surprise he immediately agreed with the last option.
The wedding
Willem had a lot of trouble to arrive on time for our wedding. His car broke down in Bavaria and he had to catch a train to Vienna. Happily we embraced each other when he reached my grandmother´s apartment just the evening before the wedding. On the 18th of November, however, all the Dutch guests and my friends were present when the ceremony took place, accompanied by music, in a small gothic chapel in the centre of the town. After an official dinner we had an enjoyable party with people of our age in a Viennese wine cellar. Also Mohammed, who had helped us after Willem´s and Piet´s car accident, was invited and made a lot of photos. But later he didn´t show them to us. Asked about it, he said to our surprise “Allah had not provided a film roll in my camera”.
Showing my parents the approval document of the thesis and the reports of the three exams, I did not expect any objection to organize in Vienna our wedding ceremony in the middle of November. But again my mother opposed the plan. “The ceremony in Vienna is too costly. But here in our village we have all facilities and a large audience”, she remarked. Did she want to make a big show for herself or was it only to save costs and force me to obey again? Although I was very enraged I did not say anything. After a while I went to my father´s office. As he seemed very pleased with the results of my study, I thought he might help me once. I told him that the wedding in the village was out of the question for me. There were only two options left: no wedding ceremony or a not too costly wedding in Vienna, where all my friends lived. To my surprise he immediately agreed with the last option.
The wedding
Willem had a lot of trouble to arrive on time for our wedding. His car broke down in Bavaria and he had to catch a train to Vienna. Happily we embraced each other when he reached my grandmother´s apartment just the evening before the wedding. On the 18th of November, however, all the Dutch guests and my friends were present when the ceremony took place, accompanied by music, in a small gothic chapel in the centre of the town. After an official dinner we had an enjoyable party with people of our age in a Viennese wine cellar. Also Mohammed, who had helped us after Willem´s and Piet´s car accident, was invited and made a lot of photos. But later he didn´t show them to us. Asked about it, he said to our surprise “Allah had not provided a film roll in my camera”.
A honeymoon trip, the PhD and back
The next day we travelled to Passau (an unplanned honeymoon trip) in order to get the car. A week later I received in a ceremony at the university my doctoral degree certificate.
Thereafter we drove to the Netherlands to start our new life which was for me full of uncertainty whether or not I would find a suitable job.
The next day we travelled to Passau (an unplanned honeymoon trip) in order to get the car. A week later I received in a ceremony at the university my doctoral degree certificate.
Thereafter we drove to the Netherlands to start our new life which was for me full of uncertainty whether or not I would find a suitable job.