In March, Christina Szápáry, the niece of the Countess Gabrielle Szápáry, who played an important role in helping to organise and secure funding for the camps, got in contact. She had seen Philip Seddon’s account of a visit he made on behalf of CHV to Vienna in 1969, during which he met the Countess. His notes observed the extraordinary commitment she showed to the work of CHV, which seems to have come about through her links with Caritas in Austria or some personal connections.

Below is the correspondence that followed.

2 March 2020, comment below Philip’s website article:

Hello Philip, this is Christina (Tina) Szápáry, daughter of Count Lászlo and Countess Charlotte Szápáry of Dobersberg, Austria. I stumbled over your article by chance. I believe that you came to visit Dobersberg through recommendation of my aunt Countess Gabrielle Szápáry (my father’s youngest sister), who worked for Caritas for decades and dedicated her life to the underprivileged. Also it would have been her who attended the concert you mentioned, she was a highly accomplished singer in her own right. She died in November 2007, close to 95 years old. We were close with her until the end. However, it is very possible, that my father and mother contributed to the summer camps financially. Your description of Dobersberg and my flamboyant and witty mother are very fitting! Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you are interested in more information.

Kind regards

Christina Szápáry

5 March, email from Philip Seddon: 

Dear Christina

How extraordinary and how amazing that you came across our recently constructed CHV web-site ‘by chance’! It has been wonderful to hear from you; and your letter to me, you will see, has already been added to the site.

I am quite sure that you will be able to correct a number of errors in my account, if only because of the number of question-marks in my own writing. I wonder, for instance, if your aunt Gabrielle was the ’sister (also Countess, living near Vienna)’ who featured (if it is there) on the right hand side of my little ‘heredity’ diagram quite near the beginning of my account of ‘Sunday, 29th June, lunch with Gräfin László Szapáry’? In that case, there was either some sense of mistaken identity at our end about your mother (Gräfin Charlotte) and your aunt (Gräfin Gabrielle), and which of the two was most connected to Caritas, CHV, etc.; how was it that we knew so little of your aunt?  Peter himself, in a letter to me, wonders:  ‘I think she (the Gräfin Szapáry we knew) helped set up the Austrian camps by introducing F-D to Caritas in Vienna and to her relations in Mariapfarr to find a site.’

That makes me wonder whether she is – was – also a missing link in the account of your family (as much as we were able to grasp it). We attributed everything to your mother, when in fact it was your aunt who was (?perhaps) the ‘mover and shaker’ in the work we undertook with her assistance. I feel sure that this is an area you could help us with, in filling in some of the forgotten – or never known – details, and balancing out my own account. I and we would be delighted if you felt you were willing to pass on any further information from your side; equally, if you needed to correct details and errors in my account, please do so.  But I am glad you liked my description of your mother; at least that seems to have been accurate!

It would be lovely to hear further from you in any way you wish … I hope we can build up a larger picture of events of many years ago. You may feel entirely free to write as you wish. Other topics may emerge, but I think that is enough questions for now!

With warmest good wishes in the happy surprise of 50 years vanishing overnight!

Philip Seddon

16 April 2020, email from Christina Szápáry: 

Dear Philip,

apologies for this long pause, I have not forgotten to respond and am happy to fill some of the gaps. These are challenging times with this dreadful virus holding the world in it’s grip. Hopefully you and your family are well – under the circumstances.

Indeed it was my aunt Gabrielle who was the “mover and shaker” and missing link in your story,  everything is to be attributed to her. She dedicated her life to the less privileged and worked for Caritas in many different roles over the course of decades, up to the very end of her life.  My mother (Charlotte) was not involved in any of that, except that she obviously welcomed you to our home in Dobersberg. I’m sure it was my aunt Gabrielle who suggested you visited them. Did you also meet my father (Lászlo, Gabrielle’s older brother) while in Dobersberg? He himself was a refuge from Hungary shortly after WWII, when the communists took over the country in 1945/46. Later on, in 1956 during the Hungarian revolution, he personally risked his life to help a great number of friends and family cross the border to Austria, into freedom. He also arranged to find housing, financial support and work for many of them – and took over quite a bit of this himself. He was a great sportsman, three times member of the Austrian Olympic clay-pigeon-shooting team, European skiing champion, excellent tennis player and much more.

My mother’s sister Tanja Trauttmansdorff is the other countess you mentioned, living in Vienna. Neither my mother Charlotte nor her sister Tanja were involved in the kind of charitable work your organisation was about. You might have met Tanja in Dobersberg during your visit, the sisters were very close and spent much time together.

To correct and add to the family tree:

My grandparents:

Count Friedrich Szápáry (1867-1932) married Princess Hedwig Windisch-Graetz (1878-1918) – she was the granddaughter of Field Marshall Prince Alfred I Windisch-Graetz (played a role in the Napoleonic wars)

Children:

1. Count Lászlo Szápáry (1910-1998) married Charlotte Star-Busmann (1932-2012) – daughter of the Netherlands Ambassador to Vienna (at that time)
children: Christina (1958-) lives in Los Angeles, CA and Berlin, Germany
Nikolaus (1959-) lives in Dobersberg/Austria and Florida, US
Peter  (1963-) lives in Kenya and London

2. Countess Maria Anna Szápáry (1912-1987) married Baron Gunther von Reibnitz, divorced ca 1946, emigrated to Australia in 1947, there second marriage with Count Thadeus Rogala-Koczorowski
children: Friedrich (Frederick) von Reibnitz (1942-)  lives in Australia
Marie Christine (1945-) married Prince Michael of Kent, lives in London
Mariusz Rogala-Koczorowski (1952-) ives in Australia

3. Countes Gabrielle Szápáry (1913-2006) – no marriage or offspring
She was in her earlier years a high class tennis player (Wimbledon quarter finals) and highly accomplished classically trained singer.

Hopefully this gives you a little more insight. I’m happy to follow up with more, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Kind regards,

Christina Szápáry