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The journey of her life

1. April 2019 | Martina Gosteli | Keine Kommentare |

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Anna Heer and Ida Schneider’s cruise to northern Europe

Chief physician Anna Heer and head nurse Ida Schneider were close friends – even a couple perhaps – and spent their spare time together. They had known each other for exactly two decades, when they dared a great travel adventure. Instead of taking their usual holidays in the surrounding area, for example on the Üetliberg or in Ägeri, they decided on a cruise.

On the “Viktoria Luise”

Ida Schneider described the plans in the Blätter für Krankenpflege in promising terms. “Our way goes to the far north, to Scotland, Iceland, Spitzbergen and Norway, always on the sea, so that we can not only take advantage of the beauties offered by such a trip, but also of the nerve-boosting and stimulating sea air.” (1) On 30 July 1912, the two friends embarked in Hamburg on the “Viktoria Luise”, a true sea palace that offered space for five hundred guests.

Advertising brochure HAPAG Nordlandfahrten, 1912

No seasickness

The seafarers were lucky. Unlike in Zurich, it only rained on two days and they were even spared a violent storm. The advertising had promised reassuringly: “Above all, seasickness will be a rare guest on the new steamer, because the ship is equipped with anti-rolling tanks invented by the German shipyard director Frahm. (…) This facility will be greeted with joy by travelers who have hitherto been afraid of seasickness and have not been able to travel by sea.”(2)

Ida Schneider’s report after her return suggests that the women also occasionally went on mountain tours in Switzerland. “Our hikes in Spitzbergen were somewhat reminiscent of the ascent of the Säntis peak, except that here we climbed over boulders and scree without a trail and occasionally slipped down over snow and that we did not hike across pastures first but climbed steeply directly from sea level”(3).

Anna Heer (1863-1918) and Ida Schneider (1869-1968) were close friends (Gosteli-Stiftung, Worblaufen)

Postcard from the far north

As it was proper at the time, the travelers sent postcards. A greeting from Tromsö went to the nursing students and caused a sensation in Zurich. “Our two highest superiors had embarked on a trip to the North of Europe, as they were fashionable at the time. This holiday card moved our minds; it showed the view of a seaside resort, where we also discovered our superiors in bathing suits.”(4)

Ida Schneider stayed silent about bathing pleasures, while she described in detail the midnight sun and “nomadic Lapps” that had set up their summer camp in the Tromsö area.

Itinerary (advertising brochure HAPAG Nordlandfahrten, 1912)

Comfort at sea

It is not known how the two friends felt in the company on board. “A large, splendidly equipped dining room with 490 seats offers all passengers the opportunity to have their meals together and at the same time. It has long round tables in the center and small round tables on the sides, so that larger and smaller parties can dine together. This will suit the groups who by experience are formed on longer pleasure cruises.” (5) Most women on board were wives, widows or daughters. Anna Heer and Ida Schneider as working women were certainly the absolute exception.

Hall on the steamer “Viktoria Luise” (advertising brochure HAPAG Nordlandfahrten, 1912)

A well-deserved holiday

Back at work, the professional reality immediately caught up with the travelers. “But even though some of the pictures are quite vivid and clearly in my memory, after hardly eight weeks of work I sometimes almost want to think that the whole experience was only a dream, if something so great and beautiful had not remained of it, something that cannot be the product of a dream!”(6)

The report on this holiday trip is revealing in one particular respect: it gives an idea of Anna Heer’s professional success. The prices for a twin cabin ranged from 550-6000 German Marks, to which 125 Marks were added for shore excursions. In 1912, the city of Zurich published a list of taxpayers. Anna Heer’s sister Lina, a tailor, declared an annual income of 800 Swiss francs, while her sister the doctor paid tax on an income of 10,000 Swiss francs. She could afford the exclusive holiday trip.

Text: Verena E. Müller

Quotes (all translated from German):

  1. Blätter für die Krankenpflege 5 (1912), Nr. 6, S. 113
  2. Werbebroschüre HAPAG Nordlandfahrten, 1912, S. 9
  3. Blätter für die Krankenpflege 5 (1912), Nr. 11, S. 183 ff.
  4. Anna von Segesser, Dr. med. Anna Heer 1863-1918, Zürich: Schulthess, 1948, S. 45
  5. Werbebroschüre HAPAG Nordlandfahrten, 1912, S. 10
  6. Blätter für die Krankenpflege 5 (1912), Nr. 11, S. 184

Abgelegt unter: ExhibitionsHistory of Medicine
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