Here I am again: Luisella Von Schönberg. A fearless life from Baroness to the Gulag and back($14.99Value)

Description

Here I am again. Luisella Von Schönberg: A fearless life from Baroness to the Gulag and back. My grandmother, Luisella, vanished behind the Iron Curtain in 1947, and I grew up thinking she was dead. My father rather hoped that she was dead. Then suddenly here she was again. Luisella von Schönberg was fearless, an attribute inherited from her adventurous grandfather, Wolf Erich - a friend of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. Wolf Erich had bought Conak, 8,000 hectares of wilderness in the Carpathian Mountains, sight unseen, in 1850. This spontaneous decision brought more tragedy than pleasure. Luisella loved Conak and her life there so much that she stubbornly resisted leaving it even when the Russians invaded, believing she was invincible. This decision led to her spending a decade behind the Iron Curtain, first as a servant living in a pigsty and then in a Gulag far from her beloved home.The unusually strong women in this story, ahead of their times, chose to live their lives as they wished and paid the price. Among them the famous Anna Constantia von Cosel, who was imprisoned for 49 years because of her love for Augustus the Strong, Ruler of Saxony and King of Poland. Historical events, wars, social etiquette, religion, prejudices, humour and lies are all part of the unique fabric woven from the lives in this fascinating and gripping family story. I was born in 1943 in post-war Austria into an impoverished aristocratic family. Through political circumstances we were refugees in our own country, having lost everything. My brother and I grew up thinking our paternal grandmother had died somewhere in Russia. We lived in a small village surrounded by high mountains covered in snow. Skiing came naturally to me and I became a member of the Austrian National Ski Team (1961-1967) which opened a window to the world for me. In 1968 I retired from ski racing and came to Australia as a ski instructor for the winter months. Back in Austria, I started a marketing career in the ski business promoting Tyrolia ski bindings, now known under the famous brand name of HEAD. Eventually my job took me to Japan where we increased the market share dramatically, which earned me the AMF Chairman's Business Award 1983 - the highest award given to a woman. After 17 years with HEAD, I decided to start my own business - Christina Consulting Japan - which provided me with a number of roles: a Cultural Lecturer for Asahi Shinbum, running Elegance Seminars for ladies, a 'Pin Up Girl' for White Pia Ski resort, and consultant for Hayman Island on the lucrative Japanese market when it reopened in the 1980s. I published three books in Japan covering lifestyle, business and marriage. I was a Special Correspondent during the Nagano Olympics in 1998 for Shinano Mainichi, the local newspaper, and had a regular column in Ski Graphic. The most challenging writing experience was as an 'Agony Aunt' for the Japanese Magazine MIL. I have also written a book about my time as a ski racer: "The World is my Home" (Die Welt ist meine Heimat) 2006. Skiing is still my greatest passion and I aim to keep helicopter skiing in Kamchatka, Russia. I married John L. Stitt in 1993. We live in Sydney and have no children.