Leben im Orient 18896 - 1932. In Briefen erzählt von Etty HadjiLazaro
Christine Rillig
ISBN 978-3-86705--090-6
562 p., 76 pic.
 

After her wedding to a Macedonian landowner, Etty v. Stein moved to Salonique in 1896, then still part of the Ottoman Empire.
The first years are characcterized by curiosity about the new, foreign country. This changed with the harbingers of the political upheavals of the 20th century. In the face of war, hardship and refugee misery, Etty von Stein engaged herself on a large scale in the organization of soup kitchens, child- and refugee care, often to the point of complete exhaustion. To add to that, there was also personal blows of fate. The family's estate got destroyed and her husband sufferd a stroke.

"Not knowing what she was doing, went abroad, and homesick all her life!" this is how she describes her darkest moments. But how much she loved her new home in the south is nevertheless shown by the fact that she never seriously entertained the thougt of returning to Germany.

In over 1000 preserved letters to her family she talks about her life abroad - an unusual and touching testimoy to the life of a fascinating woman in a time full of upheaval.